Homebrew installation of git won't take precedence over system version (in /usr/bin/)

Question

OS X (or Xcode) comes bundled with git 1.7.something, but after brew install git (1.8.0), which git keeps returning the old /usr/bin/git.

This is what I get when I echo $PATH right now:

/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:~/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/local/git/bin

Shouldn't Homebrew stuff take precedence?

Also, I've no idea where that usr/local/git/bin comes from at the end.

Solution 1

Got it. The answer is in your question; brew installs git to /usr/local/git/bin (not /usr/local/bin) but since that's after /usr/bin in your path, you get that one first. My comment for which -a git should have pointed you in this direction.

Solution 2

I also encountered this issue.

After installing git through homebrew, if you run brew doctor then it will warn you that, as Joe mentioned above, the system is running the old git because its install location comes first.

But, in the same warning, homebrew gives the code to fix it:

$ echo export PATH='/usr/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile

Comments

[Admin]

Have you verified that git is actually in /usr/local/bin?

[Admin]

yep. ls /usr/local/bin shows git is there. Brew also confirms that it's installed. I even ran the git uninstaller (both by brew uninstall and using the one that comes with the official git download) and redid brew install git. I keep getting which git = = /usr/bin/git".

[Joe Bane]

Run ls -l /usr/local/bin/git too. I bet it is a symbolic link to /usr/bin/git.

[Joe Bane]

Oh, and /usr/local/git/bin appears to be where the official installer puts it too.

[Joe Bane]

You should look at /etc/paths and /etc/paths.d as well.

[o_o_o--]

here's an interesting turn of events: which -a git returns /usr/local/bin/git; /usr/bin/git; /usr/local/bin/git. So I renamed the old git usr/bin/git_old and got it out of the way. Now git --version returns 1.8, proving that brew did install git successfully. -- Again, I renamed /usr/bin/git to its original name... and suddenly it's working properly! I don't know why or how, but renaming /usr/bin/git and running git once seems to have solved the problem. Who knows what the root of the problem was. Thanks anyway :)

[Joe Bane]

That's ... odd. Glad you're up and running now at least.