Developing A Cask For pre-release software

[tmrdev]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.0.28-74-g8ffac3e
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 8ffac3e2ac680bd8167e85390e843950bd3b63e3
Last commit: 2 days ago
Core tap origin: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: aa410805836c56bfebd2d856eab60a1ef9f0c886
Core tap last commit: 5 months ago
Core tap branch: master
Core tap JSON: 17 Jul 06:11 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /usr/local
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.10_1/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit kabylake
Clang: 12.0.5 build 1205
Git: 2.30.1 => /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
Curl: 7.64.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 11.6-x86_64
CLT: 13.2.0.0.1.1638488800
Xcode: 12.5

Output of brew doctor

Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
with debugging if you file an issue. If everything you use Homebrew for is
working fine: please don't worry or file an issue; just ignore this. Thanks!

Warning: Some installed formulae are deprecated or disabled.
You should find replacements for the following formulae:
  hping

Warning: You have unlinked kegs in your Cellar.
Leaving kegs unlinked can lead to build-trouble and cause formulae that depend on
those kegs to fail to run properly once built. Run `brew link` on these:
  openssl@3

Warning: You have uncommitted modifications to Homebrew/homebrew-cask.
If this is a surprise to you, then you should stash these modifications.
Stashing returns Homebrew to a pristine state but can be undone
should you later need to do so for some reason.
  cd /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask && git stash -u && git clean -d -f

Uncommitted files:
  ?? Casks/.greenery.rb.swp

Warning: Some taps are not on the default git origin branch and may not receive
updates. If this is a surprise to you, check out the default branch with:
  git -C $(brew --repo homebrew/cask) checkout master

Warning: Homebrew's "sbin" was not found in your PATH but you have installed
formulae that put executables in /usr/local/sbin.
Consider setting your PATH for example like so:
  echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:$PATH"' >> /Users/sonicbur/.bash_profile

Warning: Your Xcode (12.5) is outdated.
Please update to Xcode 13.2.1 (or delete it).
Xcode can be updated from the App Store.

Description of issue

I am trying to submit a GUI app called Greenery, there will not be a CLI component for Greenery so all I need to do is submit my Cask file, correct? If the app is GUI only then a Formulae is not needed?

Our app is in a pre-release state at 0.9.0 and we may have a release candidate in about two to three months. Is there a proper Cask configuration for pre-release software?

I have forked the official homebrew-cask repo to my personal account here: https://github.com/tmrdev/homebrew-cask/tree/greenery

I created a branch called greenery which is also the name of my cask. It looks like my PR was submitted but I need to double check that.

I also was testing a 1.0 version of the Greenery app to see if I could get them to work and I get the following with the cask audit command:

brew audit --new-cask greenery

audit for greenery: failed

• Version '0.9.0' differs from '1.0' retrieved by livecheck.
• Version '0.9.0' differs from '1.0' retrieved by livecheck.
• v0.9.0 is a GitHub pre-release.
• GitHub repository not notable enough (<30 forks, <30 watchers and <75 stars)

Thanks in advance for any help with these issues.

[SMillerDev]

Our app is in a pre-release state at 0.9.0 and we may have a release candidate in about two to three months. Is there a proper Cask configuration for pre-release software?

Homebrew as a whole prefers not to ship pre-releases. Your software can wait for inclusion until it's stable.

Version '0.9.0' differs from '1.0' retrieved by livecheck.

Your repo has a 1.0 tag, that is semantically higher than the version in your cask. Why include software that is not the latest version?

GitHub repository not notable enough (<30 forks, <30 watchers and <75 stars)

https://docs.brew.sh/Acceptable-Casks#rejected-casks

[SMillerDev]

Additionally, please don't email individual maintainers. Someone will respond when they want to, it's really rude to demand volunteers spend their time on you like that.

[tmrdev]

I referenced this thread in my email to you. I was not demanding that you respond to it. I'm sorry that you took offense to the email.

In regards to the apps pre-release state, the app is functional and stable. The UI needs more work and we are close to a 1.0.0 release.

As for the 1.0 tag, I was testing a 1.0 version of the app on the relevant github repo. I removed the 1.0 version from the github repo but the brew audit commands still show it as being active. I need to do more testing and I believe the 1.0 version is cached (I see a local cache on macOS).

brew doctor shows this:

• Warning: You have uncommitted modifications to Homebrew/homebrew-cask.
  If this is a surprise to you, then you should stash these modifications.
  Stashing returns Homebrew to a pristine state but can be undone
  should you later need to do so for some reason.

  cd /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask && git stash -u && git clean -d -f

I'm going to look into stashing my changes and starting over.

[tlk]

Check out https://docs.brew.sh/How-to-Create-and-Maintain-a-Tap#creating-a-tap - if you create a "custom tap", your users can install your software like this brew install xyz/repo/yoursoftware where xyz is your github username. You do not need approval or permission from homebrew maintainers if you go in this direction.