Does brew have a technique to link a binary that still has access to its relative working directory in the app bundle?

[dannflor]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.2.1-18-gdbb800b
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: dbb800b7d34b36c976d94c176decb2847de7d92a
Last commit: 30 hours ago
Core tap JSON: 28 Dec 06:05 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 28 Dec 06:05 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: vim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 12
HOMEBREW_SORBET_RUNTIME: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.1.4 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.1.4/bin/ruby
CPU: dodeca-core 64-bit arm_blizzard_avalanche
Clang: 15.0.0 build 1500
Git: 2.39.3 => /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
Curl: 8.4.0 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 14.2.1-arm64
CLT: 15.1.0.0.1.1700200546
Xcode: 15.1
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

Warning: Some installed formulae are deprecated or disabled.
You should find replacements for the following formulae:
  [email protected]

Description of issue

I just merged Homebrew/homebrew-cask#163355 which was meant to allow one to invoke godot-mono from the command line similar to how godot could be. I have now realized that maybe the reason no one else thought to add a link to the binary was that it searches the working directory for .NET assemblies and fails because they aren't in /opt/homebrew/bin. I'm sure this has been run into before. Does brew have a clever way to keep the working directory set to the App Bundle, or do we just not link when they depend on any resources there?

Relevant casks

godot, godot-mono

[SMillerDev]

Try using https://docs.brew.sh/Formula-Cookbook#file-level-operations, mostly write_exec_script

[SMillerDev]

Yeah, that doesn't work in casks. In casks the assumption is that upstream can and will provide a working distribution of the software that the cask only has to install.

[dannflor]

I think you might be misunderstanding me. The software works just fine when you, for instance, double-click it. I would just like a link to the binary to be available in /opt/homebrew/bin, something the godot cask was able to pull off just fine because it doesn't depend on any relatively pathed directories in the app bundle. I feel like this has to be a pretty common need, right? Don't apps bundle necessary resources all the time? Is it just impossible to use the binary function except when the executable is completely dependency-free?

[SMillerDev]

Is it just impossible to use the binary function except when the executable is completely dependency-free?

It doesn't have to be dependency free, but it can't depend on the calling location to be the location of the binary, since that isn't always the case. This seems to be a bug upstream that needs to be resolved.

[dannflor]

I opened this issue and got directed to this technique, which appears to be the accepted way of duplicating write_exec_script's behavior on a cask.