Interesting-Taps-&-Branches.md



Interesting Taps & Branches
A Tap is homebrew-speak for a git repository containing extra formulae.
Homebrew has the capability to add (and remove) multiple taps to your local installation with the brew tap and brew untap command. Type man brew in your Terminal. The main repository https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core often called "Homebrew/core" is always built-in.

Main Taps


homebrew/apache: A tap for Apache modules, extending OS X's built-in Apache. These brews may require unconventional additional setup, as explained in the caveats.


homebrew/binary: Precompiled binary formulae.


homebrew/boneyard: Formula are not deleted, they are moved here.


homebrew/bundle: Bundler for non-Ruby dependencies from Homebrew.


homebrew/completions: Shell completion formulae.


homebrew/devel-only: A tap for brews that only have pre-release/development versions.


homebrew/dupes: Need GDB or a newer Tk? System duplicates go here.


homebrew/emacs: A tap for Emacs packages.


homebrew/games: Game or gaming-emulation related formulae.


homebrew/head-only: A tap for brews that only have unstable, unreleased versions. This tap is deprecated and doesn’t accept new formulae.


homebrew/nginx: Feature rich Nginx tap for modules.


homebrew/php: Repository for php-related formulae.


homebrew/python: A few Python formulae that do not build well with pip alone.


homebrew/science: A collection of scientific libraries and tools.


homebrew/versions: Need e.g. older or newer versions of Postgresql? Older versions of GCC?


homebrew/x11: Formulae with hard X11 dependencies.


brew search looks in these main taps and as well in Homebrew/homebrew. So don't worry about missing stuff. We will add other taps to the search as they become well maintained and popular.
You can be added as a maintainer for one of the Homebrew organization taps and aid the project! If you are interested write to our list: homebrew-discuss@googlegroups.com. We want your help!

Other Interesting Taps


InstantClientTap/instantclient: A tap for Oracle Instant Client. The packages need to be downloaded manually.


besport/ocaml: A tap for Ocaml libraries, though with caveats, it requires you install its customized ocaml formula. Perhaps a template for more work.


osx-cross/avr: GNU AVR toolchain (Libc, compilers and other tools for Atmel MCUs, useful for Arduino hackers and AVR programmers).


petere/postgresql: Allows installing multiple PostgreSQL versions in parallel.


titanous/gnuradio:  GNU Radio and friends running on OS X.


Interesting Forks


mistydemeo/tigerbrew: Experimental Tiger PowerPC version


homebrew/linuxbrew: Experimental Linux version


nddrylliog/homebrew-mingw: An experimental port of Homebrew for Windows (with an MSYS/MinGW environment).


Technical Details
Your taps are git repositories located at $(brew --prefix)/Library/Taps.