Homebrew: A Packagers Deep Dive

A deep-dive on the interesting (both good and bad) aspects of the Homebrew package manager that will be interesting to other package manager maintainers or enthusiasts.

Based on my experience as a user (and very sporadic packager) of other OS system and language package managers I detail the things I feel that Homebrew does well, badly and what we plan on changing and what we cannot.

Transcript

1. Homebrew
   
   
   A Packagers Deep Dive
   
   
   Mike McQuaid
   

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2. Project Leader (2019-Present)
   
   
   Maintainer (2009-Present)
   
   
   https://github.com/MikeMcQuaid
   
   
   https://twitter.com/MikeMcQuaid
   A
   

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3. 📜 History
   
   
   😍 Does Well
   
   
   😭 Does Badly
   
   
   ❄ Cannot Change
   
   
   🆕 Planned Change
   

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4. 📜 History
   

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5. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
   

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6. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
   

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7. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
   

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8. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
   

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9. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
   

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10. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
    

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11. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
    

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12. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
    

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13. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/commit/29d85578e
    

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14. 📚 Avoid duplication
    
    
    🧘 Focused scope
    
    
    👪 Community ownership
    
    
    👷 Easy contribution
    

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15. 😍 Does Well
    

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16. https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
    

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17. https://docs.brew.sh/How-To-Open-a-Homebrew-Pull-Request
    

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18. https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#bump-formula-pr-options-formula
    

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19. brew upgrade shellcheck
    

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20. https://docs.brew.sh/Maintainers-Avoiding-Burnout
    

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21. https://mikemcquaid.com/2018/03/19/open-source-maintainers-owe-you-nothing/
    

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22. 👪 Community ownership
    
    
    👷 Easy contribution
    
    
    👩🔬 Sensible defaults
    
    
    👩🔧 Prioritise maintainers
    

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23. 😭 Does Badly
    

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24. 👪 Community ownership
    
    
    👷 Easy contribution
    
    
    👩🔬 Sensible defaults
    
    
    👩🔧 Prioritise maintainers
    

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25. 👪 No individual ownership
    
    
    👷 Expect user contribution
    
    
    👩🔬 Bad “power user” defaults
    
    
    👩🔧 Prioritise low support load
    

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26. https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/issues/88655
    

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27. https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/issues/88660
    

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28. https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#environment
    

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29. https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#environment
    

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30. https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#developer-subcommand
    

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31. https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/issues/new?template=bug.yml
    

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32. 🆕 Cannot Change
    

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33. https://docs.brew.sh/Versions
    

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34. https://docs.brew.sh/Tips-N'-Tricks#installing-previous-versions-of-formulae
    

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35. https://docs.brew.sh/Installation
    

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36. https://docs.brew.sh/Formula-Cookbook#homebrew-terminology
    

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37. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
    

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38. 🆕 Planned Change
    

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39. https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#environment
    

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40. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/10846
    

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41. https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22help+wanted%22
    

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42. 🏎 Faster updates
    
    
    🍾 More relocatable bottles
    
    
    ❓ Who knows?
    

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43. ❤ Thanks!
    
    
    🙋 Questions?
    
    
    @MikeMcQuaid
    

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