[Everyday Usage] brew install --HEAD suddenly requires tapping homebrew/core

[rami3l]

Output of brew config

> brew config
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.3.9-225-g0f120b0
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 0f120b0837b869e609437adb1508effee8947b93
Last commit: 5 hours ago
Core tap JSON: 15 Jul 08:35 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 15 Jul 08:35 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_BAT_THEME: base16-256
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: nvim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 12
HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS: set
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE: set
HOMEBREW_SORBET_RUNTIME: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.4 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.4/bin/ruby
CPU: dodeca-core 64-bit arm_blizzard_avalanche
Clang: 15.0.0 build 1500
Git: 2.45.2 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.6.0 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 14.5-arm64
CLT: 15.3.0.0.1.1708646388
Xcode: 15.4
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

> brew doctor
Your system is ready to brew.

Description of issue

Hi there! Current Rustup maintainer here.

I've been using brew install --HEAD for dogfooding Rustup for quite a while now, and it's been working great until a few days ago:

> brew -v install rustup --HEAD
==> Fetching rustup-init
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/9093d03de0f4dbaebcf44274b462df4c18fa32be/Formula/r/rustup-init.rb
Already downloaded: /Users/rami3l/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/5b1ce10c475fb2ead670e9d6a6eb41230fdde809d15437ed26cc16e4f18b2800--rustup-init.rb
==> Verifying checksum for '5b1ce10c475fb2ead670e9d6a6eb41230fdde809d15437ed26cc16e4f18b2800--rustup-init.rb'
==> Cloning https://github.com/rust-lang/rustup.git
/usr/bin/env git clone --branch master --config advice.detachedHead=false --config core.fsmonitor=false https://github.com/rust-lang/rustup.git /Users/rami3l/Library/Caches/Homebrew/rustup-init--git
Cloning into '/Users/rami3l/Library/Caches/Homebrew/rustup-init--git'...
/usr/bin/env git config homebrew.cacheversion 0
==> Checking out branch master
/usr/bin/env git checkout -f master --
Already on 'master'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
Error: No available tap homebrew/core.
Run brew tap --force homebrew/core to tap homebrew/core!

It is perfectly clear to me that --HEAD formula installs are not officially supported. As a matter of fact, I have added it myself solely for testing purposes.

The thing is that I don't see why tapping homebrew/core has suddenly become necessary for such a use case. Is this a regression of some sort, and how can I help to get it working again if possible?

Many thanks in advance!

[carlocab]

Yup, seems like a regression. Any chance you've been able to pin down the bad commit?

CC @Bo98

[rami3l]

Yup, seems like a regression. Any chance you've been able to pin down the bad commit?

CC @Bo98

@carlocab Thanks for your reply! Just to provide some additional info, the last dogfood build I was able to install was from 20240712, so I'd expect the breakage to have happened in the past 3 days or so.

Is there a way to bisect homebrew so I might get closer to the root cause? Oh never mind, I've found out (cd $HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY), bisecting...

[rami3l]

@carlocab @Bo98 The result of git bisect points to Homebrew/brew@119e02c:

> git bisect good
119e02ceb08293dbc5dd1546dbc16cfc6155d9b0 is the first bad commit
commit 119e02ceb08293dbc5dd1546dbc16cfc6155d9b0 (refs/bisect/bad)
Author: Rylan Polster <rslpolster@gmail.com>
Date:   Tue Jul 9 13:16:07 2024 -0400

    Cleanup `tap_git_head` and `uninstall_flight_blocks?`
    
    Co-authored-by: Kevin <apainintheneck@gmail.com>

 .../Homebrew/cask/artifact/abstract_flight_block.rb    |  6 ---
 Library/Homebrew/cask/cask.rb                          | 13 +++++--
 Library/Homebrew/cask/installer.rb                     |  2 +-
 Library/Homebrew/cask/tab.rb                           |  2 +-
 Library/Homebrew/tab.rb                                | 14 ++-----
 Library/Homebrew/test/cask/cask_spec.rb                | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++---
 Library/Homebrew/test/tab_spec.rb                      | 19 ----------
 7 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-)

> git bisect log
git bisect start
# status: waiting for both good and bad commits
# bad: [0f120b0837b869e609437adb1508effee8947b93] Merge pull request #17746 from Homebrew/tap-require
git bisect bad 0f120b0837b869e609437adb1508effee8947b93
# status: waiting for good commit(s), bad commit known
# good: [2aa86d8fd578e00ab6a49e3bfa4ca3b9fd15c371] Merge pull request #17674 from Homebrew/shellenv_eu
git bisect good 2aa86d8fd578e00ab6a49e3bfa4ca3b9fd15c371
# bad: [92ef6ef7639b08b182fc0d9154cf51561365f749] Merge pull request #17708 from Homebrew/sandbox-chmod
git bisect bad 92ef6ef7639b08b182fc0d9154cf51561365f749
# good: [c7d5e02334baf2b3c6e2f391209302ca759eb693] workflows/tests: drop my changes
git bisect good c7d5e02334baf2b3c6e2f391209302ca759eb693
# bad: [d4b7ed66e8e1c8c52ddeaf015f347b97be625bed] Merge pull request #17696 from Homebrew/portable_ruby_3.3.4
git bisect bad d4b7ed66e8e1c8c52ddeaf015f347b97be625bed
# bad: [f39b5c1426bb1c264be3adda39eb448b3b46d058] Merge pull request #17554 from Homebrew/cask-install-receipt
git bisect bad f39b5c1426bb1c264be3adda39eb448b3b46d058
# good: [79fd5ee2b75a683e5d3fa24766bb7e4c570589ec] Refactor tap and versions
git bisect good 79fd5ee2b75a683e5d3fa24766bb7e4c570589ec
# bad: [d17da89382d700450098d42be972c9bdc0b474d0] Include recursive dependencies in cask tabs
git bisect bad d17da89382d700450098d42be972c9bdc0b474d0
# bad: [119e02ceb08293dbc5dd1546dbc16cfc6155d9b0] Cleanup `tap_git_head` and `uninstall_flight_blocks?`
git bisect bad 119e02ceb08293dbc5dd1546dbc16cfc6155d9b0
# good: [dd510a5606639d57c50be2eb258dd08ea557434f] Improve test coverage
git bisect good dd510a5606639d57c50be2eb258dd08ea557434f
# first bad commit: [119e02ceb08293dbc5dd1546dbc16cfc6155d9b0] Cleanup `tap_git_head` and `uninstall_flight_blocks?`

[Bo98]

@Rylan12 looks like the removal of formula.tap&.installed? broke this.

[Rylan12]

I opened a potential fix in Homebrew/brew#17763

[rami3l]

@Rylan12 Thanks a lot for the quick fix! Looks like that's it.