Resolved HomeBrew Install Question - Directory Ownership

[TiggrToo]

So, I'm looking at installing HomeBrew on my High Sierra'd MacBook pro, however I'm holding off until I fully grasp the ramifications of installing it.

What's stopping me are the informational messages such as:

==> The following existing directories will have their owner set to [LoginAccount]:
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/include
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig
/usr/local/share/doc
/usr/local/share/man
/usr/local/share/man/man1
/usr/local/share/man/man8

==> The following existing directories will have their group set to admin:
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/include
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig
/usr/local/share/doc
/usr/local/share/man
/usr/local/share/man/man1
/usr/local/share/man/man8
​

Can anyone here tell me what the ramifications of all this is? I'm not one for changing any systemy directory ownership etc without knowing just how much this might bite me down the road. Would it be safe to reset them back to the values they currently are (root:wheel) after installation, for example?

 

[HenryAZ]

/usr/local/* is where user installed stuff is supposed to go. Those directories don't exist unless you have created them yourself for user installed stuff. I've never used HomeBrew, but I would feel comfortable letting it set whatever ownership and access permissions it wants to in /usr/local/*. I have several binaries and libraries installed there (by myself), and permissions are set to my preferences. Of course, if you already have your own stuff installed there, then I would go back and reset my own stuff to the permissions it had before HomeBrew set everything to its liking. For your own stuff (if you have any), just make sure that ownership and permissions permit it to be used.

 

[TiggrToo]

Thanks for that, Henry.

Even though it's 'local' stuff, it still grates me that HomeBrew does this because it's so unUnixy... My background goes back to System V Unix back in the 80s and so I treat any folder outside /home/login or /usr/login as sacrosanct viz-a-viz permissions and ownwership of directories set to system accounts as opposed user accounts.

Doubly so since that's two of us with accounts on my MacBook, so having HomeBrew do this without any attempt to allow options, just seems so what the grain!

Think I'll go ahead and install, then reset the permissions back afterwards.

 

[TiggrToo]

Just to close the loop, I went ahead and installed, then reverted the permissions back to as they where previously and HomeBrew still seems to be a happy little bunny.

Thanks for your help, @HenryAZ !