Open Source Must Be Fun (Or It Will Die)
Homebrew is thriving while other open source projects struggle. Its scarcest resource isn't money: it's maintainer motivation.
Mike McQuaid
CTPO and Homebrew Project Leader
Latest posts
In Memory of Jason Rudolph
Memories of my friend and former GitHub coworker Jason Rudolph, who died in May 2026.
Join the OSS Resistance with Mike McQuaid
Mike McQuaid discusses OSS Resistance: doing small amounts of open source work on company time, the risks involved and why it may help sustainability.
Why is Windows 11 so disliked by programmers – and can Microsoft do anything to change things?
“Stop trying to overrule my preferences on how to use my computer.”
Make GitHub Actions Do More For You
Merge-queue deploys, robust releases and chores you keep forgetting
Homebrew tightens tap security, begins work on its interface
“It’s probably aimed a little more at newcomers than experienced Homebrew users.”
Today, I’m proud to announce Homebrew 6.0.0.
Today, I'm proud to announce Homebrew 6.0.0. Since 5.1.0: secure tap trusting, faster JSON API, Linux sandboxing, better defaults, `brew bundle` improvements, improved performance, initial macOS Golden Gate support.
Flood of AI ‘garbage’ is pushing open-source developers to the limit
“The skill right now is being able to skim and spot nonsense while investing as little of your own time as you possibly can.”
The impact of AI on open source software development
Five experienced open source practitioners cut through the hype to ask what AI is actually doing to the communities, projects, and humans that keep open source alive.
“It’s the duty of all Free Software developers to steal as much time…
"It's the duty of all Free Software developers to steal as much time as they can from their employers for software freedom." Jeremy Allison, co-creator of Samba and, at the time, a Google employee. 🫡
Open source maintainers at profitable companies: stop asking…
Open source maintainers at profitable companies: stop asking permission to fix what your employer already depends on. No paperwork. No programme. No manager's blessing. Just maintain it on the clock.
Your regular reminder that shitting on OSS on social media is a…
Your regular reminder that shitting on OSS on social media is a selfish thing to do. Good job sapping volunteer maintainers' motivation in exchange for your "internet points". Next time: try rolling up your sleeves and contribute a fix to the problem you've identified.
I wonder how much of people loving or hating meetings is down to how…
I wonder how much of people loving or hating meetings is down to how well they can type or multitask.
“I’m excited to work with you, the company seems great.
"I'm excited to work with you, the company seems great. I'm a little unwhelmed with the salary, though, is there any chance you can do better?" This sentence gets most who try a 0-10% new job pay increase with zero resentments. Paraphrase it and use it (even on me).
This AI Tool Rips Off Open Source Software Without Violating Copyright
“The ethics fucking suck. Open source isn’t just source code you download once. It’s an ongoing relationship.”
This was a good read and reflects my experiences.
This was a good read and reflects my experiences. It also made me think the answer to "what do we do with juniors/students and AI" is "actually teach them software engineering best practices, not just CS fundamentals".
Sandboxes and Worktrees: My secure Agentic AI Setup
Stop babysitting one AI at a time. Sandboxing lets them run wild safely, Git worktrees let them run in parallel. Use more tokens, get more velocity.
Prompts Pranking Peers
Recreating office-style pranks in a remote AI-loving world
At work, you have two jobs: being good at your job, being pleasant to…
At work, you have two jobs: being good at your job, being pleasant to work with. You can sometimes get by for a while not doing them both but it's hard to survive doing neither.
Every time you open an issue or pull request with “No description…
Every time you open an issue or pull request with "No description provided", an open source maintainer dies.
Ruby Central report reopens wounds over RubyGems repo takeover
“If your project hasn’t argued about governance or money yet, it will one day. Be prepared and try to do this before it becomes a problem.”
One of the strengths of Homebrew, despite it being unpopular, is…
One of the strengths of Homebrew, despite it being unpopular, is being willing to break backwards compatibility when necessary. NPM's unwillingness to do so reflects GitHub's: both show excessive caution that harm both security and usability.
What happened to RubyGems and what can we learn?
Lessons for non-Ruby projects on non-profits, governance, money and access in open source, drawn from the RubyGems dispute.
Package Management Learnings from Homebrew
Homebrew 5.0.0 released in 2025. Walk through the major changes in 5.0.0, improving expectations based on other package managers and what they can learn from Homebrew's approach.
How Homebrew Became Mac’s Package Manager with Mike McQuaid
Mike McQuaid explains how Homebrew grew from a side project into macOS’s de facto package manager and how the project is sustained today.