Products · Product
Homebrew
Raised as a usability problem by 123 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 84 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Installing one package forces updating everything, taking 20 minutesUnreviewed
20102026- Installs are so slow the user goes looking for other install methods2026-03-25
- Re-running brew against an unchanged Brewfile is very slow, delaying every config switch2026-03-24
- Homebrew became slow to install and update packages2025-11-13
Needs repair after major macOS updates to work againUnreviewed
20102026- Homebrew breaks or confuses the system Python and its own Python installs2024-02-07
- Homebrew gets in the way and annoys users who don't upgrade to new macOS2023-09-27
- Unrelated installs break existing PHP and Python versions, taking hours to repair2023-02-16
Updating one package randomly breaks other toolsUnreviewed
20102026- Upgrades have repeatedly broken installed tools because of shared dependency handling2026-06-11
- Hard to switch back to old package versions after upgrades, and conflicting dependencies are a nightmare2024-04-25
- Installing packages breaks on macOS versions more than two releases old, forcing tedious workarounds2023-02-16
Mistakes are hard to fix in the package managerUnreviewed
20102026- Package management feels much worse than apt, making daily work frustrating2022-04-12
- Package manager is unreliable and frustrating, forcing manual dependency compilation2021-11-02
- Package manager feels frustrating compared to Linux package managers2021-02-03
Using it for project dependencies causes trouble, being poorly suitedUnreviewed
20102026- Managing multiple Ruby and PHP versions on Mac without Homebrew is excruciatingly hard and time consuming2025-10-04
- Installing Homebrew packages on colleague's machine requires manual dependency setup2025-03-28
- Using Homebrew for project dependencies causes trouble for people because it is poorly suited to that role2023-10-26
Uninstalling leaves dependencies installed, requiring manual cleanupUnreviewed
20102026- Uninstalling leaves orphaned dependencies behind, so unused packages pile up as cruft2021-05-26
- Slow, and keeps old package versions installed unless user manually cleans up2020-06-24
- Uninstalling a package leaves its dependencies installed, so users must clean up manually2017-05-01
Installs leave cluttered junk files and directories in /usr/localUnreviewed
20102026- Installs leave cluttered junk files and extra directories all over /usr/local2026-10-08
- Packages break unless installed in /usr/local and everything breaks if not updated often2025-04-22
- Installs and config files land in non-standard places, and builds break when installed elsewhere2020-04-23
Installing from a second user account needs awkward workaroundsUnreviewed
20102026- Installing as one account makes packages unusable for a separate build user, with permission failures2021-02-05
- Can't install packages with two user accounts without manual group setup hacks2019-02-03
- Installing packages from a second user account requires awkward workarounds that cause trouble2016-11-07
Installing packages overwrites system files, so updates wipe themUnreviewed
20102026- Installing one program also updates every package on the system2025-04-21
- Installing software leaves files strewn around and causes package conflicts2020-10-25
- Installing packages overwrites system files, so updates wipe them out2016-02-15
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Installs leave cluttered junk files and extra directories all over /usr/local2026-10-08
- Command names like brew and tap are unintuitive for newcomers2026-06-12
- Forced upgrades break things and can't be pinned to a version2026-06-11
- Upgrades have repeatedly broken installed tools because of shared dependency handling2026-06-11
- Packaging a Python app requires a painful, slow process with many manual steps2026-06-11
- Confusing mix of formulae, taps, casks and cellar makes it annoying to use2026-04-09
- Installs are so slow the user goes looking for other install methods2026-03-25
- Installing AWS CLI takes around 30 minutes, too slow to use2026-03-24
- Re-running brew against an unchanged Brewfile is very slow, delaying every config switch2026-03-24
- Hits repeated Homebrew problems when trying to get MySQL 9 working on dev machine2025-12-02
- Homebrew became slow to install and update packages2025-11-13
- Compiling C/C++ libraries like GDAL is much more painful on macOS2025-10-15
- Managing multiple Ruby and PHP versions on Mac without Homebrew is excruciatingly hard and time consuming2025-10-04
- Can't install old PHP versions since Homebrew removed deprecated ones, forcing workarounds2025-07-20
- An unrelated brew install trashes all of the user's Python virtualenvs2025-07-20
- Installing one new package unexpectedly upgrades all installed packages, with no prompt2025-05-19
- New behaviors are quietly enabled by default, forcing users to opt out2025-05-19
- Forced to update many unrelated packages and long delays after commands2025-04-29
- Impossible to tell how it broke, with poor documentation and no help2025-04-23
- Packages break unless installed in /usr/local and everything breaks if not updated often2025-04-22
- Installing one program also updates every package on the system2025-04-21
- Installing Homebrew packages on colleague's machine requires manual dependency setup2025-03-28
- Constant issues with installs and packages polluting the system2024-10-09
- Brew commands are painfully slow when run from activation scripts2024-07-31
- Homebrew is very slow, even when it has nothing to do2024-04-25
- Hard to switch back to old package versions after upgrades, and conflicting dependencies are a nightmare2024-04-25
- Homebrew breaks or confuses the system Python and its own Python installs2024-02-07
- Auto-update silently uninstalled working software when newer build failed2023-12-03
- Using Homebrew for project dependencies causes trouble for people because it is poorly suited to that role2023-10-26
- Installing a new tool auto-updates others and breaks the dev environment2023-10-26
- Every brew command invocation feels slow to run2023-10-25
- Installs a dedicated extra Python, adding confusion about which Python is in use2023-10-08
- Installed libraries aren't found by pkg-config, gcc, or ld without manually printing paths2023-09-27
- Homebrew gets in the way and annoys users who don't upgrade to new macOS2023-09-27
- Configuration page opens as an overlay that is hard to read on mobile2023-09-18
- Runs very slowly when used2023-07-20
- Package manager auto-updates itself for minutes each time, stalling the user's workflow2023-07-20
- Every command waits while it silently updates, interrupting the user's flow2023-06-24
- Needs a separate user and alias workaround to run brew2023-03-19
- Users must understand arbitrary implementation details like local versus remote index2023-02-17
- Installing packages breaks on macOS versions more than two releases old, forcing tedious workarounds2023-02-16
- Users must remember whether update or upgrade applies; the interface doesn't reconcile them2023-02-16
- Unrelated installs break existing PHP and Python versions, taking hours to repair2023-02-16
- Installing something makes users wait for a slow update first2023-02-16
- Opting out of analytics requires setting environment variables with no hints or tips given2023-02-16
- Opting out of analytics requires setting environment variables or knowing a hidden command; default is opt-in2023-02-16
- Users must read a long analytics page to find how to disable telemetry2023-02-08
- Dependency updates break packages and the failure is not obvious, forcing a restart from scratch2023-01-17
- Brew on macOS felt awkward and extremely finicky to work with2022-12-13
- Install waits about 30 seconds while brew auto-updates unprompted2022-11-20