情况大概是这样的：执行sudo brew update之后，提示：
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require': cannot load such file -- utils/popen (LoadError) from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require' from /usr/local/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb:6:in `<top (required)>' from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require' from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require' from /usr/local/Library/Homebrew/global.rb:9:in `<top (required)>' from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require' from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require' from /usr/local/Library/brew.rb:16:in `<main>'
不管执行什么brew命令提示依旧，这种情况多发生在 El Capitan系统上，原因大概是更新失败，下面是stackoverflow找到的答案，亲测有效：
The problem mainly occurs after updating OS X to El Capitan (OS X 10.11). This is mainly because of file permission issues with file El Capitan’s new SIP process. Try changing permissions of/usr/local directory.
$ sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local
If it still doesn't work, use following steps and everything will be fine. This may be because homebrew is not updated.
1. open terminal 2. $ cd /usr/local 3. $ git reset --hard 4. $ git clean -df 5. $ brew update