Can you install disabled Homebrew packages?

Question

> brew install [email protected]
Error: [email protected] has been disabled because it is not maintained upstream!

I don't want to have to install Maven 3.5, but I need to install Maven 3.5. Can I force Homebrew to install this package it clearly knows about?

Iconoclast

You can add Maven Wrapper to your project, and specify the Maven version used by Maven Wrapper. – Transpicuous

Why do you need such an old version of Maven.. use most recent one... Or if you need to stuck download it manually dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3 – Grandstand

Answer 1

You can edit the formula with:

brew edit [email protected]

Remove the line:

disable! date: "2022-07-31", because: :unmaintained

And install it with:

HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1 brew install [email protected]

Alexei

this wont work unless you set environment variable HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1 before invoking brew install – Dahlia

@Dahlia You are right. I've updated my answer. – Alexei

Answer 2

After using brew edit [formula] to remove the disable line, you can install the formula with

HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1 brew install [formula]

This is mentioned in https://docs.brew.sh/FAQ#can-i-edit-formulae-myself. Homebrew 4.0.17-67-gfff93a8 here.

Rudiger

Wonderful, the answer above didn't work without this flag (Apple M1) – Okajima

Answer 3

Slight tweak on the other answer to include HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1, without this brew will use the API formula file (not your edited one)

Edit the formula with:

brew edit [email protected]

Remove the line:

disable! date: "2022-07-31", because: :unmaintained

And install it with:

HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1 brew install [email protected]

Essary

Answer 4

By default homebrew-core is not tapped anymore. This is needed for brew edit to work though. Thus this small addition to the other answers.

Tap homebrew-core:

brew tap homebrew/core --force

Edit the formula with:

brew edit [email protected]

Remove the line:

disable! date: "2022-07-31", because: :unmaintained

And install it with:

HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API=1 brew install [email protected]

Pond