How can I integrate Homebrew with non-managed software in /usr/local?

Solution 1:

I use 1.

I just compile my software using /usr/local as the prefix and I'm done. I had no problem so far. I don't know whether I'll experience problems, but I started ~1y ago and so far so good.

However…

If I'd have to start again today, I'd follow 2 (which I didn't know at the time). That way it's easy enough to know where everything is and what, exactly, the software has installed (since the hierarchy for /usr/local/Cellar/foo/1.0 is something like

bin/      etc/      include/  lib/      share/

)

3 doesn't seem worth.

Solution 2:

Homebrew tolerates non-homebrew things in /usr/local just fine. You can confirm that all is well by doing brew doctor - if anything is likely to conflict, homebrew will warn you.