I came across several homebrew issues where symlinks couldnt be created due to permission denied errors.
TL;DR:
reset permissions to the /usr/local stack.
1) installing and fixing node.JS
brew install node
~ phabi$ brew install node ==> Downloading http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.4/node-v0.10.4.tar.gz Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/node-0.10.4.tar.gz ==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4 ==> make install Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking... Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local You can try again using `brew link node' ==> Summary 🍺 /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4: 951 files, 14M, built in 73 seconds
2) brew link node
~ phabi$ brew link node Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4... Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking... Error: Could not symlink file: /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4/lib/dtrace/node.d Target /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d already exists. You may need to delete it. To force the link and delete this file, do: brew link --overwrite formula_name To list all files that would be deleted: brew link --overwrite --dry-run formula_name
3) brew link --overwrite node
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4... Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking... Error: Permission denied - /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
4) sudo chown -R whoami /usr/local
as sudoing homebrew is a bad idea (and doesn't work either) we have to reset the permissions within /usr/local
~ phabi$ sudo chown -R `whoami` /usr/local Password: ~ phabi$ brew link --overwrite node Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.4... 5 symlinks created
WHOOPS IT WORKS! :-)
5) STEPS
brew update
brew upgrade
brew cleanup
brew install node
brew link --overwrite node
sudo chown -R whoami /usr/local