brew install mongodb error: Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew install' Mac OSX Lion
homebrew, macos, mongodb, osx-lion, ruby-on-rails-3
Solution
The lazy (brew) way:
ls -al /usr/local/bin/brew #confirm brew ownership
sudo chown root:wheel /usr/local/bin/brew
sudo brew install mongodb
sudo chown <your user>:<your group> /usr/local/bin/brew #revert ownership
The non-brew way:
- Download mongodb distribution from 10gen: http://www.mongodb.org/downloads
- Install files in /usr/local/bin/
- Create a config file in /etc/mongo.conf (minimum, tell it where to store data, and probably tell it to bind only to localhost): http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/File+Based+Configuration
- Create a startup script that calls `mongod -f /etc/mongo.conf`
Problem
I am not sure why I'm getting this error: ``` $ brew install mongodb ==> Downloading http://fastdl.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-x86_64-2.0.4.tgz ######################################################################## 100.0% Error: Permission denied - /usr/local/var/log/mongodb ``` So I try to run it with sudo: ``` $ sudo brew install mongodb Password: Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew install' ``` If I try to create the file myself I get this: ``` Error: File exists - /usr/local/var/log/mongodb ``` It gets even more interesting when you read this thread on homebrew's github about the error: https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/issues/9953 They state that brew can't write the file because it's not root, then they say it's because they think it shouldn't run as root. These are the official install instructions, what's up? If you have a better suggestion for installing it, then I'll forget about homebrew.