Wanted: Linuxbrew

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folderer
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:23 am

Wanted: Linuxbrew

Post by folderer »

Image

What it is: A version of the Homebrew package manager ported from OS X to Linux.

Why: It builds and installs programs from source, rather than being dependent on pre-built packages in a repository (i.e. Entware-NG).

I have tried to get this rolling on my system, but have run into a few issues that are beyond my skill level. The setup is simple enough – can be installed via git or a single-line script. It's the differences between more standard Linux installations, versus the QNAP way of doing things that I think are in the way of making it work.

Sources:
Homepage: http://brew.sh/linuxbrew/
Git: https://github.com/Homebrew/linuxbrew
Installation Wiki: https://github.com/Homebrew/linuxbrew/w ... stallation
Sinister Stairs
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:43 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Re: Wanted: Linuxbrew

Post by Sinister Stairs »

I love Homebrew, but getting it onto a QNAP isn't as trivial as "install via git or a single-line script." Those scripts have dependencies that aren't available on a vanilla QNAP machine (gcc and glibc), and the only way to get them would be to install pre-built binaries/libraries from somewhere like....well, Entware. (You could also cross-compile them from another system too; but that gets even further away from the ideal of a single script installation, while still pre-building.)

I know your original post is nearly 6 years old now, and Entware has come a long way in that time. Entware comes in a QPKG so it's just a matter of adding Qnapclub to your store and installing Entware like you would any other QTS app. Entware isn't fundamentally different than Homebrew (which doesn't really "install [most] programs from source"), so give it another try. (`opkg' is Entware's `brew' command. If you were dreaming of installing Homebrew's myriad casks, the majority are for the Mac and may not won't work on Linux.)

Having said that all, I'm still going to toy with this because I'm curious how much Homebrew for Linux resembles the Mac version. EDIT: Deleted some thinking out loud of how I might approach it -- half-baked ideas.
Sinister Stairs
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:43 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Re: Wanted: Linuxbrew

Post by Sinister Stairs »

I spent a few hours getting Homebrew for Linux successfully installed on QNAP. Was it worth it? No...and various formulae still couldn't be installed without additional monkeying.

The biggest problem is that the install script and base brew command use tools such as /bin/ps and /usr/bin/ldd with hardcoded paths, and the QTS versions don't support the various command switches that are expected (or don't exist as all, like stty). If you do fix them to use, say, Entware's GNU version, the changes get reverted the next time you do a brew update. And I will not replace QTS's commands.

I briefly considered contributing to the Homebrew for Linux project to make it smarter about detecting what other alternative commands are available or use BusyBox-compatible switches, but at that point, you've got a full-blown Entware or GNU library installed, so what's the point?

I can't think of a compelling reason to install Homebrew on a QNAP box, other than I like brew better than opkg.
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