[SOLVED] Is it safe to overwrite /usr/local/bin/convert on OS X?

Is it safe to overwrite /usr/local/bin/convert on OS X?

I am trying to install imagemagick on OS X Mavericks. When I run brew install imagemagick I get this output at the end:

Warning: Could not link imagemagick. Unlinking...
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
You can try again using `brew link imagemagick'

Possible conflicting files are:
/usr/local/bin/convert
/usr/local/share/man/man1/convert.1
==> Summary

I tried some of the solutions listed here (not all though), but didn't get further. I also tried brew link imagemagick, but I get:

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/imagemagick/6.8.7-7... Warning: Could not link imagemagick. Unlinking...

Error: Could not symlink file: /usr/local/Cellar/imagemagick/6.8.7-7/bin/convert
Target /usr/local/bin/convert already exists. You may need to delete it.
To force the link and overwrite all other conflicting files, do:
  brew link --overwrite formula_name

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

So my question: is it safe to run brew link --overwrite imagemagick? What could go wrong if I overwrite /usr/local/bin/convert?

Solution

I had the same problem, and after a bit of investigation, I'm pretty sure that the existing /usr/local/bin/convert was installed with MacTeX, which I did not install through homebrew. Replacing it with the homebrew installed 'convert' worked fine - you might want to back up the existing files beforehand just in case though.