> [Max Howell] should go to a few conferences, introduce himself under another name, and bring up brew. I'd guess after half a dozen encounters he'd stop incessantly bragging about being the creator of brew.
I share your opinion of the technical execution of Homebrew— probably anyone with a deep Linux background would. But I think Howell is well aware of those deficiencies by now (and many may even have been clear to him at the start).
I also think that it's worthwhile for us haters to take seriously what Homebrew gets right, and that means admitting that it's a tool that many, many people have experienced as pleasant and useful. The tidy subcommand interface, relative simplicity, choice of popular/trendy tools (Ruby, at the time of Homebrew's creation), inviting and consistent (if controversial) use of metaphor, and playful tone (small jokes on the docs, use of emoji in CLI output), are all things that have proven to make a real difference in Homebrew's success. None of those speak to package management fundamentals, but they're real strengths and they are visible to all users of Homebrew right away, whether they know much about package management or not.
I feel you about being basically forced to use Homebrew, though. That sucks. It's frustrating to feel hampered by the tools your team uses when you know there are better ones out there but you just can't reverse the team's inertia.
I share your opinion of the technical execution of Homebrew— probably anyone with a deep Linux background would. But I think Howell is well aware of those deficiencies by now (and many may even have been clear to him at the start).
I also think that it's worthwhile for us haters to take seriously what Homebrew gets right, and that means admitting that it's a tool that many, many people have experienced as pleasant and useful. The tidy subcommand interface, relative simplicity, choice of popular/trendy tools (Ruby, at the time of Homebrew's creation), inviting and consistent (if controversial) use of metaphor, and playful tone (small jokes on the docs, use of emoji in CLI output), are all things that have proven to make a real difference in Homebrew's success. None of those speak to package management fundamentals, but they're real strengths and they are visible to all users of Homebrew right away, whether they know much about package management or not.
I feel you about being basically forced to use Homebrew, though. That sucks. It's frustrating to feel hampered by the tools your team uses when you know there are better ones out there but you just can't reverse the team's inertia.