1e04a7f16a
More proposed documentation updates. Acceptable Formulae: * Adds Perl to the list of stuff we offer Dupes of in the Core. * Notes that OS X’s OpenSSL is usually horribly outdated. * Removes the incorrect space between font and forge. Common Issues: * We said three issues, we listed four. Oops. External Commands: * The cache is usually at /Library rather than ~/Library, and the rest of the documentation says /Library, so this makes the referencing consistent. FAQ: * Adds a tiny section on pinning formulae. Interesting-Taps-And-Branches: * Notes gaming-emulation software belongs in Homebrew/Games as well. * nolith/Embedded hasn’t been touched for 28 months. I’ve cut it. * anarchivist/forensics hasn’t been touched for 35 months. I’ve cut it. * codebutler’s GTK+ experiment seems to have been terminated after one commit. I’ve cut it. * paxam/linux hasn’t been touched for 34 months. I’ve cut it. * rmyers/homebrew hasn’t been touched in 42 months. I’ve cut it. * nddrylliog/winbrew has moved, I’ve changed the URL to the new one. Winbrew.md: * Removed. It’s referenced in the prior file, and doesn’t really need its own. Closes Homebrew/homebrew#34599. Signed-off-by: Mike McQuaid <mike@mikemcquaid.com>
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Acceptable Formulae
Some formulae should not go in Homebrew/homebrew. But there are additional Interesting Taps & Branches and anyone can start their own!
We try hard to avoid dupes in Homebrew/homebrew
Stuff that comes with OS X or is a library that is provided by RubyGems, CPAN or PyPi should not be duplicated. There are good reasons for this:
- Duplicate libraries regularly break builds
- Subtle bugs emerge with duplicate libraries, and to a lesser extent, duplicate tools
- We want our formulae to work with what comes with OS X
There are exceptions:
- OpenSSL - Apple has formally deprecated OpenSSL on OS X in favour of their own Security Framework & consequently the OS X OpenSSL is rarely updated and frequently falls behind important security updates. Homebrew endeavours to use our shipped OpenSSL as much as possible.
- Programs that a user will regularly interact with directly, like editors and language runtimes
- Libraries that provide functionality or contain security updates not found in the system version
- Things that are designed to be installed in parallel to earlier versions of themselves
Examples
| Formula | Reason |
|---|---|
| ruby, python, perl | People want newer versions |
| bash | OS X's bash is stuck at 3.2 because newer versions are licensed under GPLv3 |
| zsh | This was a mistake, but it’s too late to remove it |
| emacs, vim | Too popular to move to dupes |
| subversion | Originally added for 10.5, but people want the latest version |
| libcurl | Some formulae require a newer version than OS X provides |
| openssl | OS X's openssl is deprecated & outdated. |
| libxml2 | Historically, OS X's libxml2 has been buggy |
We also maintain a tap that contains many duplicates not otherwise found in Homebrew.
We don’t like tools that upgrade themselves
Software that can upgrade itself does not integrate well with Homebrew's own upgrade functionality.
We don’t like install-scripts that download things
Because that circumvents our hash-checks, makes finding/fixing bugs harder, often breaks patches and disables the caching. Almost always you can add a resource to the formula file to handle the separate download and then the installer script will not attempt to load that stuff on demand. Or there is a command line switch where you can point it to the downloaded archive in order to avoid loading.
We don’t like binary formulae
Our policy is that formulae in the core repository (Homebrew/homebrew) must be built from source. Binary-only formulae should go to Homebrew/homebrew-binary.
Stable versions
Formulae in the core repository should have a stable version tagged by the upstream project. Tarballs are preferred to git checkouts, and tarballs should include the version in the filename whenever possible.
Software that does not provide a stable, tagged version, or had guidance to always install the most recent version, should be put in Homebrew/homebrew-headonly.
Bindings
First check that there is not already a binding available via
gem or pip
etc..
If not, then put bindings in the formula they bind to. This is more useful to people. Just install the stuff! Having to faff around with foo-ruby foo-perl etc. sucks.
Niche (or self-submitted) Stuff
The software in question must be
- maintained
- known
- stable
- used
- have a homepage
We will reject formulae that seem too obscure, partly because they won’t get maintained and partly because we have to draw the line somewhere.
We frown on authors submitting their own work unless it is very popular.
Don’t forget Homebrew is all git underneath! Maintain your own fork or tap if you have to!
Stuff that builds a .app
Don’t make your formula build an .app (native OS X Application), we
don’t want those things in Homebrew. Make it build a command line tool
or a library. However, we have a few exceptions to that, e.g. when the
App is just additional to CLI or if the GUI-application is non-native
for OS X and/or hard to get in binary elsewhere (example: fontforge).
Check out the homebrew-cask
project if you’d like to brew native OS X Applications.
Building under “superenv” is best
The “superenv” is code Homebrew uses to try to minimize finding
undeclared dependencies accidentally. Some formulae will only work under
the original “standard env” which is selected in a formula by adding
env :std. The preference for new formulae is that they be made to
work under superenv (which is the default) whenever possible.
Sometimes there are exceptions
Even if all criteria are met we may not accept the formula. Documentation tends to lag behind current decision-making. Although some rejections may seem arbitrary or strange they are based from years of experience making Homebrew work acceptably for our users.