/usr/local is for machine local packages vs. packages that are meant to be shared across multiple machines. /usr/local is still under the control of the local s

/usr/local is for machine local packages vs. packages that are meant to be shared across multiple machines. /usr/local is still under the control of the local sysadmin though and not a user. http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#USRLOCALLOCALHIERARCHY http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#USRLOCALLOCALHI... Really brew should always be installing somewhere under ~/ if you are installing packages as a user.