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I see there are a few package managers for the Mac from this question.

Apple / Mac OS X - Is there a Package Manager like Linux

It looks like Homebrew is pretty good but I see it wants to change permissions on many system directories. I occasionally will find and fix permissions with Disk Utility and if I use Homebrew that could be a problem. I also question if changing these permissions could represent a security problem. Key directories being group writable is definitely a concern. I prefer to keep things owned by root:wheel instead of changing the group to admin and making it writable which opens up all sorts of issues to any user account which is a member of admin, like my account.

Should I just use MacPorts or Fink? (I see finkproject.org is not online ATM.)

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I would prefer to just use sudo with Homebrew to keep the permissions as they are if that is an option. – Brennan Stehling Mar 3 at 22:36
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As a long time user (~2005 probably, I didn't keep track), I must say "YES". If something is changing permissions and ownership/groupship on sensitive files directories, that's a red flag to me. But, I'm a bit of a paranoiac. – killermist Mar 3 at 23:00
There's no /usr/local on OS X by default, so it depends on your POV if you consider that a "system directory". Closing this question as it's polling for opinion. – Daniel Beck♦ May 3 at 12:49

closed as not constructive by Daniel Beck♦ May 3 at 12:49

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