Does installing MySQL with homebrew include the Workbench and GUI (is it preferred to install native)?

Question

Does installing MySQL with homebrew include MySQL workbench and GUI as if you were to run the Native installer (to be able to start and stop services)? I am trying to decide whether it is better to install using homebrew or with native.

Answer 1

homebrew mysql does not contain mysqlworkbench. Mysqlworkbench is another recipe that it is not exactly in homebrew but in homebrew cask (manager for GUI installs).

For GUI installs and 'other licence' installs there is a homebrew related package manager called homebrew cask.

You can find the caskroom recipes from homebrew,

$ brew search mysql
automysqlbackup
mysql ✔
mysql++
mysql-cluster
mysql-connector-c
mysql-connector-c++
mysql-sandbox
mysql-search-replace
mysqltuner              
homebrew/php/php53-mysqlnd_ms
homebrew/php/php55-mysqlnd_ms
homebrew/versions/mysql51
homebrew/versions/mysql56
Caskroom/cask/mysqlworkbench                 
homebrew/php/php54-mysqlnd_ms
homebrew/php/php56-mysqlnd_ms
homebrew/versions/mysql55
Caskroom/cask/mysql-utilities
Caskroom/cask/navicat-for-mysql 

but for install them you need to install cask.

brew tap caskroom/cask
brew cask search mysql
brew cask install mysqlworkbench

The workbench is installed in /opt so unless the installer makes an alias to Applications you are not going to find it easily.

NOTE: As of March 2018, the brew installer does make an alias to the Applications folder, so no further action is required.

If you are unable to see it in the Applications folder, you should follow the following:

In my installation the mysqlworkbench was not aliased to /Applications, but in the workbench folder there is a symlink to the Application folder so it is easy to create the link yourself.

$ ll /opt/homebrew-cask/Caskroom/mysqlworkbench/6.3.6
total 224
lrwxr-xr-x  1 pmg  staff      14 31 Jan 11:55 Applications -> /Applications/
drwxr-xr-x  3 pmg  staff     102 10 Dec 14:55 MySQLWorkbench.app
-rw-r--r--@ 1 pmg  staff  107640 10 Dec 14:55 background.tiff

make the alias

cd /opt/homebrew-cask/Caskroom/mysqlworkbench/6.3.6/
ln -s MySQLWorkbench.app Applications

You can run the application now from Apps