swupd-client VS mas

I have tried a simple recreate making a tar with a few hard linked files and not hit the problem. The closest equivalent I could find was this but they were writing their own extract code and messing with paths during the extract. That shouldn't happen with the tar command.

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.