Homebrew install gdb, symlink error with binutils

Question

I'm trying to install GDB via Homebrew on OSX Mavericks via the command brew install homebrew/dupes/gdb. This error message pops up during install:

gdb requires special privileges to access Mach ports.
You will need to codesign the binary. For instructions, see:

  http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/BuildingOnDarwin
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
Could not symlink share/info/bfd.info
Target /usr/local/share/info/bfd.info
is a symlink belonging to binutils. You can unlink it:
  brew unlink binutils

To force the link and overwrite all conflicting files:
  brew link --overwrite gdb

To list all files that would be deleted:
  brew link --overwrite --dry-run gdb

Possible conflicting files are:
/usr/local/share/info/bfd.info -> /usr/local/Cellar/binutils/2.24/share/info/bfd.info
/usr/local/share/info/configure.info -> /usr/local/Cellar/binutils/2.24/share/info/configure.info
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/gdb/7.8: 46 files, 8.5M, built in 2.4 minutes

I've made sure to chown the folder /usr/local, but the same message still pops up. Should I simply force the overwrite? (Admittedly a Windows refugee so I don't have a complete picture of what's going on)

Answer 1

The message is asking if brew should overwriting the documentation installed from binutils with the documentation installed from GDB, yes it's safe to overwrite those. It's generally safe to overwrite syslinks in brew, if it breaks something you can easily reinstall the package.