47 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
47 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
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# brew tap
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The `brew tap` command is powerful, but has a few subtleties worth describing.
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**tl;dr** `brew tap` allows you to add more Github repos to the list of formulae that `brew` tracks, updates and installs from. When naming tap repos and formulas, however, there are a few gotchas to beware of.
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## The command
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* If you run `brew tap` with no arguments, it will list the currently
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tapped repositories. Example:
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```bash
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$ brew tap
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homebrew/dupes
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telemachus/desc
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telemachus/vim
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```
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* If you run `brew tap` with a single argument, `brew` will attempt to
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parse the argument into a valid 'username/repo' combination. If the argument is a valid name, then `brew tap` will attempt to clone the repository and symlink all its formulae. (See below for what it means to be a 'valid name'.) After that, `brew` will be able to work on those formulae as if there were in Homebrew's canonical repository. You can install and uninstall them with `brew [un]install`, and the formulae are automatically updated when you run `brew update`. (See below for a few exceptions on names and installation.)
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* In you run `brew tap --repair`, then `brew` will check for dead symlinks
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and relink all valid formulae across all your taps.
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* You can remove a tapped repository using the `brew untap` command.
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## Naming conventions and limitations
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`brew tap username/repo` employs some shortcuts and has some limitations.
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* On Github, your repository must be named `homebrew-something`.
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The prefix 'homebrew-' is not optional.
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* When you use `brew tap` on the command line, you can leave out the
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'homebrew-' prefix in commands.
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That is, `brew tap username/foobar` can be used as a shortcut for the long version: `brew tap username/homebrew-foobar`. The command will automatically add back the 'homebrew-' prefix.
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## Formula duplicate names
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If your tap contains a formula that is also present in master, that's fine, but it means that you must install it explicitly.
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For example, you can create a tap for an alternative `vim` formula, but in that case when you install from there you must run the command with a more explicit installation target:
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```bash
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brew install vim # installs from Homebrew/homebrew
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brew install username/repo/vim # installs from your custom repo
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```
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