The Homebrew package manager may be used on Linux and [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about). Homebrew was formerly referred to as Linuxbrew when running on Linux or WSL. It can be installed in your home directory, in which case it does not use *sudo*. Homebrew does not use any libraries provided by your host system, except *glibc* and *gcc* if they are new enough. Homebrew can install its own current versions of *glibc* and *gcc* for older distributions of Linux.
[Features](#features), [installation instructions](#install) and [requirements](#requirements) are described below. Terminology (e.g. the difference between a Cellar, Tap, Cask and so forth) is [explained in the documentation](Formula-Cookbook.md#homebrew-terminology).
The installation script installs Homebrew to `/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` using *sudo* if possible and in your home directory at `~/.linuxbrew` otherwise. Homebrew does not use *sudo* after installation. Using `/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` allows the use of more binary packages (bottles) than installing in your personal home directory.
The prefix `/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` was chosen so that users without admin access can ask an admin to create a `linuxbrew` role account and still benefit from precompiled binaries. If you do not yourself have admin privileges, consider asking your admin staff to create a `linuxbrew` role account for you with home directory `/home/linuxbrew`.
Follow the *Next steps* instructions to add Homebrew to your `PATH` and to your bash shell profile script, either `~/.profile` on Debian/Ubuntu or `~/.bash_profile` on CentOS/Fedora/Red Hat.
If you're using an older distribution of Linux, installing your first package will also install a recent version of *glibc* and *gcc*. Use `brew doctor` to troubleshoot common issues.
Homebrew can run on 32-bit ARM (Raspberry Pi and others) and 64-bit ARM (AArch64), but no binary packages (bottles) are available. Support for ARM is on a best-effort basis. Pull requests are welcome to improve the experience on ARM platforms.
You may need to install your own Ruby using your system package manager, a PPA, or `rbenv/ruby-build` as we no longer distribute a Homebrew Portable Ruby for ARM.
Homebrew does not currently support 32-bit x86 platforms. It would be possible for Homebrew to work on 32-bit x86 platforms with some effort. An interested and dedicated person could maintain a fork of Homebrew to develop support for 32-bit x86.