homebrew-bundle VS mas

I maintain a Brewfile (https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-bundle) which contains the majority of the non-project specific applications that I like to install on any new Mac:

https://github.com/jonahgeorge/dotfiles/tree/main

What's really nice is the `cask` & `mas` keywords allow you to install .dmg files & directly from the App Store.

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While its not included in there yet, I've been experimenting with maintaining a private Homebrew tap which contains my ~/bin directory as opposed to shell aliases.

> It's strange that people are so against declarative systems, or even file-based OS configuration. When I get my new Macbook I was up-and-running within a few minutes. I can't imagine maintaining a list of brews I need to re-install just to set up everything + my configs + everything else.

I haven’t had time to try Nix yet, but HomeBrew does have a declarative-ish workflow that I’ve been using for years:

[Brew Bundle](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-bundle) let’s you have a plaintext file listing all packages you want installed on your system. Add a line for stuff you want installed, delete a line for stuff you want removed, invoke it the right way and it will install/remove packages until your system matches the list. The initial list can be generated by “brew bundle dump” or something like that.

For configuration, I find that a normal dotfile repo cloned into my ~/.config (with a script that maintains symlinks to config files in e.g. ~/Library) works well enough for my use.

Brew supports dumping installed things into a brewfile: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-bundle

I was using text files before as well to manage it.

Assuming everyone's on a Mac, I'm actually surprised there isn't that much use of something like homebrew-bundle[1]. It's definitely nicer to have your tooling run natively rather than, say, trying to wrap everything in Docker, or trying to get everybody on board with nix or guix.

I think the only real issue here is that you can't really pin to specific versions unless a formula exists, and there is no guarantee that a formula with a pinned version will stick around because homebrew likes to stay lean.

[1]https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-bundle/

You should checkout Homebrew bundle and create a Brewfile instead. That will let you install both stuff from brew, casks and Mac AppStore apps in one go.

If you use brew bundle and create your own Brewfile, you can store this with your personal dot files and automate bootstrapping (auto-installing all your system tools) a new or recently reformatted Mac by including auto-trader-pro in your Brewfile.

And if you're already loving Homebrew, definitely check out Homebrew Bundle!

If you like homebrew, definitely give homebrew bundle a whirl if you haven't already

I have a script that installs Homebrew and App Store CLI. Then it automatically installs most of the apps I need. I use homebrew to create an up to date list for this script.

More info on Mac App Store integration: https://github.com/mas-cli/mas

Command Line Tools: iTerm 2 alternative to the default Terminal homebrew mas homebrew bundle

I mainly use the Homebrew to manage almost every app or program, even apps on the App Store using mas. It becomes a bit of a pain when I set up a new MacBook because it takes time for me to look for the list of the apps and programs on my main MacBook and install one them by one on my new MacBook.

Most of my workflow could replicated under Mac. For the "horrible" window management I use amethyst (auto tiling) and Magnet (windows like) for search I use raycast and for software management I do use the cli with homebrew, mas and ports. The cool thing with homebrew cask you can install all programms from the web that aren't in the App Store and the App Store apps will be updated via mas. You can even update your mac with the terminal so everything like in linux.

I found this. https://github.com/mas-cli/mas

Instead, perhaps consider file based backups, and reloading apps. For example, you can have a shell script that can fetch Homebrew, from there, fetch most non-App Store apps with brew install commands, and for App Store apps, use mas for those.