I've installed Postgres on my Mac with Homebrew, Docker, and https://postgresapp.com. There are arguments for each of them. On the pro side:
- Homebrew is a general purpose package manager, and Postgres is a package you might want managed.
- If you're using Docker/Docker Compose for a project anyway, that's the obvious way to do it.
- Postgres.app is a specialized tool just for managing Postgres installs, so it's hard to beat if that's what you need.
Some thoughts on the tradeoffs though:
- Homebrew really doesn't like the idea of "versions". It wants everything to be on the latest. That can be fine if you just need a tool locally, but if you want dev and prod to match, it is a pain in the ass.
- Docker isn't really very good at persistence. That's probably not a problem for local development, but you should be aware of it. Running it on a Mac introduces speed and memory issues you wouldn't otherwise have. And now obviously there's the M1 problem.
- Postgres.app is another thing to install. If you just need Postgres for one particular project you might not know about it or want to deal with installing something new.
- Homebrew is a general purpose package manager, and Postgres is a package you might want managed.
- If you're using Docker/Docker Compose for a project anyway, that's the obvious way to do it.
- Postgres.app is a specialized tool just for managing Postgres installs, so it's hard to beat if that's what you need.
Some thoughts on the tradeoffs though:
- Homebrew really doesn't like the idea of "versions". It wants everything to be on the latest. That can be fine if you just need a tool locally, but if you want dev and prod to match, it is a pain in the ass.
- Docker isn't really very good at persistence. That's probably not a problem for local development, but you should be aware of it. Running it on a Mac introduces speed and memory issues you wouldn't otherwise have. And now obviously there's the M1 problem.
- Postgres.app is another thing to install. If you just need Postgres for one particular project you might not know about it or want to deal with installing something new.