Apple - Set macvim as default application after homebrew installation

I had the same issue. I moved MacVim.app to /Applications and then symlinked it into the Homebrew cellar directory.

mv /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-65/MacVim.app /Applications/  
ln -s /Applications/MacVim.app /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-65/

Correction: This is no longer the case, see https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/issues/8699

Note that brew linkapps puts links in ~/Applications, not /Applications. I had to follow the symlink (select your home directory from Favorites, select the Applications icon in the main pane, and click Open), then pull down the path list-box near the top of the dialog box (or hit Command+Up) to go one level back up the physical path. Then you can see the icon for the actual .app folder.


You can set the default app from Finder.

  1. Select the file (e.g. foo.rb) and then choose 'Get Info' (command I, or File | Get Info).
  2. Open the 'Open with' section.
  3. Select your default app and then press 'Change All...'.