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The Brew, The Choco, and The Scoop: A Developer’s Tale of Package Managers Across OSs

#programming #terminal #tooling #beginners

Imagine you’ve just set up a brand-new laptop.

You’re excited, coffee in hand ☕️, ready to code. But before you can write even a single line, you need your toolkit — Git, Node.js, Python, Docker, VS Code.

Now comes the ancient developer’s question:

👉 “Should I download them one by one… or is there a magical tool that installs everything for me?”

That magical tool is called a package manager. And in this article, we’ll walk through the developer-friendly package managers across Windows, macOS, and Linux distros, with a story-like journey and step-by-step guides.

The Origins: Linux, the Old Wise One

Linux has had package managers since forever. That’s why it’s often called the “wise old grandparent” of developer tooling.

Depending on your Linux distro:

Debian/Ubuntu → apt

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git
sudo apt install python3
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Fedora/RHEL →dnf

sudo dnf install git
sudo dnf install nodejs
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Arch Linux → pacman

sudo pacman -S git
sudo pacman -S docker
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With Linux, you’ve always had the comfort of typing a command and watching the system do the rest. But what about Windows and macOS?

Enter Homebrew: The Rebel on macOS

Back in the day, macOS users struggled — you had to click, drag, and install everything manually. Then came Homebrew (or just “brew”), calling itself “the missing package manager for macOS.”

🔧 Installing Homebrew

Open Terminal and paste:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
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After installation, you might need to add it to your PATH:

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
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Using Homebrew

Install Git:

brew install git
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Install Node.js:

brew install node
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Install apps (like Chrome, VS Code):

brew install --cask google-chrome
brew install --cask visual-studio-code
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And suddenly, macOS wasn’t behind Linux anymore.

Windows Joins the Party: Chocolatey, Scoop, and WinGet

Windows devs had it the hardest. Download → Next → Next → Finish → Reboot. Repeat × 10.

Then came the heroes:

🍫** Chocolatey (the Classic)**

Chocolatey is like the old guard of Windows package managers — huge library, lots of community support.

Install Chocolatey
Run PowerShell as Administrator:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
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Use Chocolatey

choco install git
choco install nodejs
choco install vscode
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Scoop (the Minimalist)

Scoop is for devs who don’t like “admin permissions” or clutter. Everything installs in your home folder.

Install Scoop
Run PowerShell (non-admin):

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression
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Use Scoop

scoop install python
scoop install ffmpeg
scoop install docker
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WinGet (Microsoft’s Official Knight)

Finally, Microsoft gave Windows an official package manager: WinGet.
It’s already built into Windows 10 (latest) and Windows 11.

Use WinGet

winget install git.git
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
winget install Google.Chrome
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WinGet is slowly catching up with Chocolatey and Scoop, but it’s great because it’s native.

Cross-Platform Heroes

If you’re the kind of dev who works on multiple OSs (like coding on mac, testing on Linux server, gaming on Windows), these tools feel like part of the same story:

  • Linux: apt, dnf, pacman → the originals
  • macOS: brew → the rebel

  • Windows: choco, scoop, winget → the trio of saviors

  • Package managers save time, clicks, and headaches.

  • They turn a 2-hour setup into a 10-minute script.

  • The next time you get a fresh laptop or set up a dev environment, don’t go the “download → next → finish” route. Instead, pick your tool:

  • Linux → apt, dnf, pacman

  • macOS → brew

  • Windows → choco, scoop, winget

And you’ll feel like a magician, installing an entire dev environment with just a few commands.

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