homebrew not working on OSX

Question

Getting this error when i run the brew command on terminal. Need help resolving.

 /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require': cannot load such file -- utils/popen (LoadError)
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /usr/local/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb:6:in `<top (required)>'
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /usr/local/Library/Homebrew/global.rb:9:in `<top (required)>'
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /usr/local/Library/brew.rb:16:in `<main>'

here are my env gem settings:

• RUBYGEMS VERSION: 2.0.14
• RUBY VERSION: 2.0.0 (2014-02-24 patchlevel 451) [universal.x86_64-darwin13]
• INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.0.0
• RUBY EXECUTABLE: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/bin/ruby
• EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /usr/bin
• RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
  • ruby
  • universal-darwin-13
• GEM PATHS:
  • /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.0.0
  • /Users/ronaldkwan/.gem/ruby/2.0.0
  • /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0
• GEM CONFIGURATION:
  • :update_sources => true
  • :verbose => true
  • :backtrace => false
  • :bulk_threshold => 1000

Answer 1

The problem mainly occurs after updating OS X to El Capitan (OS X 10.11) or macOS Sierra (macOS 10.12). This is mainly because of file permission issues with El Capitan’s or later macOS's new SIP process. Try changing permissions of /usr/local directory.

$ sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local  

If it still doesn't work, use following steps and everything will be fine. This may be because homebrew is not updated.

1. open terminal  
2. $ cd /usr/local/Library/Homebrew  
3. $ git reset --hard  
4. $ git clean -df
5. $ brew update

Answer 2

In my case I just needed to remove brew executable:

sudo rm -f `which brew`

Then reinstall homebrew again:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Answer 3

Uninstall homebrew:

 ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/uninstall)"

Then reinstall

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Warning: This script will remove: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/ - thks benjaminsila

Answer 4

This issue should be fixed in newest version of homebrew. Just try to reinstall homebrew. How to is described here: Homebrew Homepage

Answer 5

After update to El Capitan, /usr/local directory has root:wheel rights. Change rights back to me

sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local

and

brew doctor && brew update

help me to get brew working again.

Answer 6

Firstly I executed...

sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local

Then...

cd $(brew --prefix) && git fetch origin && git reset --hard origin/master