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What is the best alternative to Homebrew Cask?
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Rudix
All
5
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
3
Top
Con
Not many packages
Although Rudix is in development since 2005, there's a distinct lack of packages available. This limits the usefulness of the package manager for the user.
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Pro
Statically linked packages
Using statically liked packages allows each package to contain all of the dependencies it needs, this way the user just installs to then use the app. No muss no fuss.
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Con
Lacks man files for installed packages
The man files for tools are not installed with the binaries.
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Pro
Very easy and fast
Installing and removing packages is very easy, fast and painless thanks to using binary installs.
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Con
Not sandboxed
Binaries go directly to /usr/bin, so they are not sandboxed.
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Free
10
1
pkgsrc
All
13
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
pkgin is an apt-like tools for installing binaries from pkgsrc
pkgin aims to be a tool similar to apt/yum for managing pkgsrc binaries by relying on pkg_summary for installing, removing and upgrading packages and dependencies, using a remote repo.
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Con
Relatively complicated setup and installation
Installing and setting pkgsrc up is a bit more complicated than in other package managers where it often consists in running a single script.
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Pro
Adapted for use on over a dozen different operating systems
Has been adopted to be used on several Unix-like operating systems and Windows. It's also the default package manager of DragonflyBSD and of the (now discounted) Bluewall Linux distro.
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Con
Not so broadly used on MacOS as compared with MacPorts
You do not hear about Pkgsrc as openly as you hear the words "HomeBrew" or "MacPorts".
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Pro
Installs and works in the same way as MacPorts
Installs its own dependencies which means that it is very secure. Cannot install anything unless you use the "sudo" command which is in keeping with the Unix philosophy.
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Con
Outdated packages
Some packages are outdated.
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Pro
Both binary packages and source build possible
Fast software installation is possible by using binary packages. It's also easy to build from source which allows for different compile-time options (like different UI backends) as well as gaining access to pre-release versions of software in certain cases.
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Con
Can't install some packages
Even building well known packages (except MacPorts) from source using the ports can fail.
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Pro
Offering tooling for backporting fixes
Backporting fixes can be done by cherry-picking updates from a newer branch (pkgsrc is released every 3 months) and creating a package. Sometimes bugs need to be fixed for production and there is neither a fix in newer pkgsrc nor the softwares upstream. So pkgsrc has tools like pkgdiff, mkpatches, etc. that help with developing patches and building binary packages from that. A bit of documentation about that process can be found here.
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Pro
Does not need Xcode command line tools or Xcode.
This means that you can install it fresh on a new installation of MacOS and have all your favorite apps installed right from the start.
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Pro
Works easily with Ansible
Can be used from within Ansible to install packages on macOS.
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Pro
Easy installation if you use 3rd party scripts
This one works brilliantly.
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Specs
packages:
18560
requires sudo:
yes
Supports Apple Silicon:
Yes
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Experiences
Free
62
11
Fink
All
6
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
Doesn't support newer macOS versions
Doesn't support macOS Big Sur or Monterey. Says it's "coming soon."
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Pro
Will be familiar to apt-get users
Fink is based on apt-get making the transition to anyone used to Debian-based environments easier.
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Con
Pre-compiled packages are often out of date
It happens often that the user will come across out of date, pre-compiled packages. This can impede on using new features released in apps due to using older releases.
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Pro
Install from source
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Pro
Packages provided as binaries
Installed applications don't need to be compiled and built on the system.
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Specs
packages:
12737
Hide
Free
18
4
Homebrew
All
12
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
Quick access to a large repository of open source software
Homebrew makes it easy for people to quickly install any open source software (that is contained within the apps repositories) for Mac.
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Top
Con
May cause issues when trying to create symlinks or installing in places where SIP has changed permissions
One of the things to like about Homebrew is that it refuses to run things under sudo most of the time. This is a great policy, but it causes issues when you want to create symlinks or install in places that SIP has changed permissions on. (Alternatively, you could install Homebrew somewhere other than /usr/local, but that might break various packages that depend on having stuff in and relative to /usr/local/.)
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Pro
Easy to setup and use
Once installed, you control Homebrew using the brew command. You can find packages using brew search, install them using brew install and remove them using brew uninstall.
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Con
Command line tools for XCode required
Once xcode is installed you can install Homebrew, including new(er)/different versions of most of the build stuff that xcode-select installed, like a newer gcc, newer git, etc.
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Pro
Open Source
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Con
Relies on outdated system libs
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Pro
Less maintenance than Macports
Macports seems to be able to get into a bad state where new packages are unable to be installed, or installed software was unable to be updated. This simply hasn't happened with Homebrew. In addition to not having to deal with corruption problems, Homebrew installs packages in userland. Not requiring root to install software is a big win.
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Pro
Builds quickly and requires few dependencies
Homebrew as much as possible uses already existing libraries and tools to install software thus making builds quick and requiring few dependencies.
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Pro
Unintrusive
Homebrew installs packages to their own directory and then symlinks their files into /usr/local. Homebrew won’t install files outside its prefix, and you can place a Homebrew installation wherever you like.
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Pro
Does not require using sudo
One of the things to like about Homebrew is that it refuses to run things under sudo most of the time. This is a great policy, but it causes issues when you want to create symlinks or install in places that SIP has changed permissions on.
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Pro
Homebrew tries very hard to use existing tools and libraries
Homebrew’s recipes try very hard to use the existing tools and libraries in OS/X, so they tend to build much faster and require fewer dependent libraries.
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Specs
requires sudo:
no
packages:
4635
Hide
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Experiences
Free
635
73
Nix
All
9
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
4
Top
Pro
No side effects when building packages
Nix is a purely functional package management system. This means that the act of building a package does not have side effects, such as destructively updating or deleting files that may be used by other packages.
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Con
Does not work well for services on non-NixOS systems
When using Nix with anything other than NixOS you can run into difficulties with trying to start up services. For example, you can install docker with Nix, but it won't integrate with the host system's systemd leaving you to handcraft awkward workarounds in order to start the background service that docker requires. This seems like a critical flaw when using Nix on anything that is not NixOS, and it's unfortunate because this affects many of the packages many users would be most interested in using Nix to handle.
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Pro
Isolated development environments
Nix allows the creation of project-specific shell and build environments which are isolated from the rest of the system. These environments are defined declaratively to ensure reproducibility.
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Con
Steep learning curve
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Pro
Can replace docker in some places
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Con
Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions
While the functional approach that Nix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions. Especially in Debian/Ubuntu it can cause severe problems where the upgrade process blocks and the user needs to resolve the 3-way merge.
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Pro
Can use multiple versions of the same package
Because of the functional approach it takes, Nix makes it easy for systems to use multiple versions of the same package simultaneously, and ensure that updating or removing a package can't break other packages.
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Con
Feels slightly over-complicated
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Pro
The configuration works on "All machines"
No more of the traditional: "it works on my machine". When it says reproducible, this is the real deal.
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Experiences
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81
17
Nix package manager
All
13
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
Steep learning curve
There are lots of unfamiliar concepts and jargon (e.g. fixpoint, instantiate, realise).
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Top
Pro
It's easy to revert any change in your environment
Every time your profile changes, you get a new generation of your profile and older generations are kept around, so you can easily (and atomically) revert to older version of your profile.
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Top
Con
Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions
While the functional approach that Nix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions. Especially in Debian/Ubuntu it can cause severe problems where the upgrade process blocks and the user needs to resolve the 3-way merge.
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Top
Pro
Packages installed with Nix don't overlap with packages installed in /usr/local
Since packages are stored in the /nix directory, it won't overlap with anything you'd install in /usr/local or wherever else.
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Top
Pro
Can keep around several profiles for you to use
You can have different (probably overlapping) sets of software installed in two or more profiles that will be handled (changed, versioned, upgraded, reverted) independently. All software will be installed in the same /nix/store, so any overlaps between your sets will be physically installed only once.
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Pro
You always and atomically get an isolated consistent profile
Every time you install, delete or change anything you get a new fresh copy of your user environment (set of symlinks to files in /nix/store) that's stored in the same /nix/store and handled mostly the same way. Your "profile" (symlink to one of environments) is updated after everything else is ready, so you'll never end up in a half-finished state of your system.
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Pro
Does not require root priviledges
Everything is owned by your user (unless you use more powerful multiuser mode that doesn't require root either).
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Top
Pro
Uses binary caches (that are provided) so you don't have to build anything locally
Due to its functional nature, it can just download a binary package with the same hash if its available and it'll get the very same package as you'd build locally (to the last bit that is).
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Pro
Packages don't change after they are built
Nix treats packages like values in a functional language. Since they are built by functions without side effects they never change after they are built.
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Pro
Very easy to share compiled binaries between machines
You can share packages via HTTP or SSH (push or pull) with just some simple commands.
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Pro
Easy to install
Requires just one shell script to install, only one directory is created via sudo. This makes for a pretty simple install method that most can grasp.
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Top
Pro
Many apps
Since it is compatible on Mac and Linux, there are many apps in their repos.
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Specs
packages:
15858
requires sudo:
no
Hide
See All
Experiences
Free
41
11
MacPorts
All
20
Experiences
Pros
15
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
Provides a consistent experience across OS X versions
MacPorts eschews Apple-supplied libraries and links sources against its own making sure that the experience is the same regardless of what OS X version is used.
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Con
New Packages and Updates take time
Macports isn't the first choice for developers producing new packages or binaries for macOS. Nor is it the fastest in getting updates. But in general, it usually is one of the most up to date and will be updated eventually. Some would see this as a con in comparison to Homebrew.
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Top
Pro
Easy to use
Detailed instructions on the homepage are easy to follow. Official GUI app is also available
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Con
Bad at limiting dependencies
MacPorts has a habit of pulling very specific versions of dependencies for each package. It downloads different version of already existing dependencies even in cases where the existing dependency version would have worked seamlessly.
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Pro
Generally very up to date
MacPorts generally gets new software soon after it's available. This way users will not have to worry if their software is up to date.
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Con
Downloads unneeded libraries duplicating functionality already provided by Apple's libraries
As MacPorts eschews Apple-supplied libraries and links sources against its own a large duplication of functionality across MacPorts and Apple libraries can be found.
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Pro
Nice variants system
MacPorts has a variants system that allows customizing builds with author provided options.
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Con
Requires root permissions (sudo) for installation of packages
A really good security feature, but some see it as a con.
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Top
Pro
Has many more packages than its competitors
As of this writing, 20K packages. 3 to 5x more than other current package managers.
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Top
Pro
Requires SUDO to install apps
No need to worry if some rogue app will change your binaries or configuration.
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Pro
Download libraries instead of relying on Apple's caprices
Considering just how often Apple breaks things, any reduplication of of Apple-supplied libraries with the canonical sources is an asset.
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Pro
Fast
Written in Tcl & C, it's generally significantly faster than the competition. Tcl is also quite readable and comparable to Ruby, so it's also friendly to newcomers.
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Pro
Supports older Mac operating systems
Homebrew dropped support for old Macs. MacPorts still supports them.
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Pro
MacPorts is a native application: C + TCL
No need to install Ruby, or any other programming language.
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Pro
More packages than competition
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Pro
Apple Silicon Ready
With Apple moving over to its own silicon, macports has been ready for the move to ARM since 2.6.4
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Pro
Initially started and developed by Apple employees and supported by Apple itself
Reading the story behind MacPorts, it is the only one that was developed by Apple by an Apple employee. In fact it is the same person that was responsible for creating the FreeBSD port system.
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Pro
Great support for older systems
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Pro
Most of the available packages work
For example, trying to install Finch using Pkgsrc doesn't work, while installing it using MacPorts works perfectly. Finch isn't even on Homebrew's radar.
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Specs
requires sudo:
yes
Supports Apple Silicon:
Yes
Hide
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Experiences
Free
92
25
Conda
All
6
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
3
Top
Con
Doesn't have everything
Conda is relatively new and has a smaller user-base, so the set of packages available is limited.
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Top
Pro
Binary installs
They are fast and reliable as they do not need to compile before installation.
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Top
Con
No way to resume downloads
Any download that is canceled or interrupted will have to be started over from the beginning as there is no built in solution for resuming downloads.
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Pro
Allows for multiple environments
It is great for developers since you can easily switch between complete environments with different versions of packages, for testing and development.
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Top
Con
Installs huge collection of default unneeded libraries
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Pro
Open source
Conda is open source and on Github, so if you see something wrong you can fix it and submit a patch.
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Free
34
15
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