Install juliaup with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• julialauncher
• juliaup

Project history

Juliaup was announced to Julia users on May 27, 2021 as a preview Windows Store installer and version manager. The announcement described it as a way to keep Julia installations up to date, manage multiple Julia versions on one system, and own PATH setup for the `julia` command.

The project later grew beyond the Windows Store path into a cross-platform installer. Its README documents install routes for Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Homebrew, openSUSE, Solus, Cargo, and CI use through `julia-actions/install-juliaup`.

Adoption history

Juliaup matters because it shifted Julia installation from a one-off binary download model toward a managed toolchain model. Homebrew, Scoop, openSUSE, and Cargo packaging made it visible outside Julia's own install script, while the Julia README continued to recommend the Juliaup installer path for routine installs.

The tool also became part of Julia workflow automation: the README documents GitHub Actions support and named release channels such as `release`, `lts`, `beta`, `rc`, nightly channels, PR builds, exact versions, and minor-version channels.

How it is used

Users install Juliaup, then use commands such as `juliaup add`, `juliaup default`, `juliaup update`, `juliaup remove`, `juliaup link`, and `juliaup override` to manage Julia versions. The `julia` launcher resolves a command-line selector, environment variable, directory override, project-based version selection, or default channel.

Juliaup stores Julia versions and its configuration in the Julia depot under `~/.julia` unless `JULIAUP_DEPOT_PATH` is set, and it can download binaries from a mirror via `JULIAUP_SERVER`.

Why package nerds care

For package managers, Juliaup is a small but interesting inversion: the package installs a tool that installs and selects Julia itself. It lets system package managers ship one multiplexer while Julia's upstream release channels remain under Julia's control.

Its channel abstraction is especially useful for reproducible development and CI because it separates the executable name from the concrete Julia build selected for a directory or command.

Timeline

• 2021-05-27: Juliaup preview announced to Julia users as a Windows Store installer and version manager.
• 2021-06-30: GitHub release v1.0.39 was published during the early public release stream.
• 2021-12-03: GitHub release v1.5.0 was published.
• 2023-05-09: GitHub release v1.10.0 was published.

Related projects

• Juliaup is directly tied to the Julia language distribution and launcher workflow.
• Its README points Julia CI users to `julia-actions/install-juliaup`.
• Conceptually it sits in the same package-manager family as Rustup, SDKMAN, pyenv, and other language toolchain multiplexers.

Sources

• https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-juliaup-preview-julia-version-manager-and-windows-store-installer/61920
• https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup
• https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup/releases