Hosting a Homebrew 'tap'

[jld01]

Those of you who have tried setting up CDT for native development on macOS on Apple silicon will be aware that GDB does not support aarch64-apple-darwin. It is necessary to use the LLDB-MI debug process launcher provided by the optional C/C++ LLDB Debugger Integration feature instead. For new users, it is not at all obvious how to obtain a working installation of the LLDB-MI tool since this is no-longer built as part of the LLVM releases.

As part of some recent usability improvements to CDT for macOS native development (#1175), I have created a Homebrew formula script that will download LLDB-MI source code, build it locally and install the resulting executable into an existing Homebrew installation. This provides a convenient way to setup LLDB-MI on macOS alongside other tools such as CMake and Ninja. Unfortunately, the script cannot be contributed to the Homebrew project at present because LLDB-MI has not yet reached version 1.0.0. Instead, I plan to create a Homebrew tap repository specifically to host the formula script. The use of a tap makes it particularly easy to install a Homebrew package using a single brew install command at a shell prompt. The tap could be hosted anywhere, but I think it would be preferable to host it here under github.com/eclipse-cdt until such time as the formula can be contributed to Homebrew core. I am therefore proposing to create a homebrew-tools repository (using the "homebrew-" prefix allows the installation command to be simplified). This repository would contain just the LLDB-MI formula script and a top-level README.md initially. We could then add installation information to the CDT "Before you Begin" help page.

Any thoughts/comments?

[jld01]

Are you OK with this proposal, @jonahgraham? If so, is creating a new repository with correct permissions something I can do myself?

[jonahgraham]

Yes, I am ok with this.

To create a new repo, edit https://github.com/eclipse-cdt/.eclipsefdn/blob/main/otterdog/eclipse-cdt.jsonnet and create a PR with the new repo.

[jonahgraham]

Offline @jld01 and I discussed licensing and I got confirmation back from [email protected] that the new repo can use BSD-2-Clause:

The BSD-2-Clause requires a copyright header. I recommend that you use the copyright header that we use in the EDL (BSD-3-Clause) in the project's LICENSE file.

Copyright (c) 2025, Eclipse Foundation, Inc. and its licensors.

It's common practice to include the entire BSD-2-Clause in file headers. For file headers, follow the usual conventions regarding copyright statements.

[jld01]

That's great @jonahgraham, this will enable contribution of the formula up to Homebrew core in due course. Thanks for checking.

A GitHub repo has a license setting in addition to the LICENSE file. Is there a way to specify this when requesting creation of the new repo?

[jonahgraham]

A GitHub repo has a license setting in addition to the LICENSE file. Is there a way to specify this when requesting creation of the new repo?

I assume you are referring to the license question when making a new repo in the GitHub UI.

If so and IIUC, that simply controls the initial content of the LICENSE file. Changing the contents of the LICENSE file changes the detected license in the GitHub UI.

See https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/licensing-a-repository#detecting-a-license for how the detection works.

[ruspl-afed]

The tap could be hosted anywhere, but I think it would be preferable to host it here under github.com/eclipse-cdt until such time as the formula can be contributed to Homebrew core.

What is the scenario of accessing such a resource? In other words, what is expected URL and content behind it to be consumed by external tooling?
I'm asking because hosting a file in GitHub repository may be not sufficient.

[jld01]

What is the scenario of accessing such a resource? In other words, what is expected URL and content behind it to be consumed by external tooling?

A formula file at github.com/MYUSER/homebrew-MYREPO/Formula/MYFORMULA.rb would be accessed using the brew package manager tool as:

brew install MYUSER/MYREPO/MYFORMULA

Examples of formula files at: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/tree/main/Formula

Note that the brew tool will build the package locally if pre-built versions are not specified in the formula file.

[ruspl-afed]

Now I see. Well, if it works for one GitHub repo, why not to work for another one.

[jld01]

Homebrew formula for lldb-mi: eclipse-cdt/homebrew-tools#2

[jld01]

The Homebrew 'tap' is now created at: https://github.com/eclipse-cdt/homebrew-tools