symlinked /home directory warning is too noisy #6350

jacktose · 2025-08-18T22:26:52Z

jacktose
Aug 18, 2025
Sponsor

Additional Info

I am using Windows Subsystem for Linux

Output of `brew config`

brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.6.4
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 160af073a53fcb23331d70d79785d17d13da41e7
Last commit: 34 hours ago
Branch: stable
Core tap JSON: 18 Aug 21:52 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY: /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CELLAR: /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_CLEANUP_MAX_AGE_DAYS: 60
HOMEBREW_CLEANUP_PERIODIC_FULL_DAYS: 7
HOMEBREW_DISPLAY_INSTALL_TIMES: set
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: vim
HOMEBREW_FORBID_PACKAGES_FROM_PATHS: set
HOMEBREW_FORCE_BREWED_CURL: set
HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN: set
HOMEBREW_GIT_PATH: /usr/local/bin/git
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 4
Homebrew Ruby: 3.4.5 => /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.4.5/bin/ruby
CPU: quad-core 64-bit broadwell
Clang: N/A
Git: 2.31.1 => /usr/local/bin/git
Curl: 8.14.1 => /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/opt/curl/bin/curl
Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-1160.90.1.el7.x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS: CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core) (Core)
Host glibc: 2.17
/usr/bin/gcc: 4.8.5
/usr/bin/ruby: N/A
glibc: 2.35_1
gcc@11: N/A
gcc: 15.1.0
xorg: N/A

Output of `brew doctor`

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: The following formulae have the same name as core formulae:
  jandedobbeleer/oh-my-posh/oh-my-posh
Their taps are in use, so you must use these full names throughout Homebrew.

Warning: Unbrewed header files were found in /usr/local/include.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected header files:
  /usr/local/include/ezs.h
  /usr/local/include/ezsthread.h
  /usr/local/include/node/*
  /usr/local/include/python3.8/*

Warning: Unbrewed '.la' files were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected '.la' files:
  /usr/local/lib/libezs.la

Warning: Unbrewed '.pc' files were found in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected '.pc' files:
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/python-3.8-embed.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/python-3.8.pc

Warning: Unbrewed static libraries were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected static libraries:
  /usr/local/lib/libezs.a

Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.


Warning: Your system glibc 2.17 is too old.
We will need to automatically install a newer version.

We recommend updating to a newer version via your distribution's
package manager, upgrading your distribution to the latest version,
or changing distributions.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.


Warning: Your Homebrew's prefix is not /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew.

Most of Homebrew's bottles (binary packages) can only be used with the default prefix.
Consider uninstalling Homebrew and reinstalling into the default prefix.

This is a Tier 3 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-3
You can report Tier 3 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.


Warning: /usr/bin occurs before /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/bin in your PATH.
This means that system-provided programs will be used instead of those
provided by Homebrew. Consider setting your PATH so that
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/bin occurs before /usr/bin. Here is a one-liner:
  echo 'export PATH="/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/bin:$PATH"' >> /usr/lusers/jacktose/.bash_profile

The following tools exist at both paths:
  attr
  awk
  bash
  bashbug
  bison
  bunzip2
  bzcat
  bzcmp
  bzdiff
  bzgrep
  bzip2
  bzip2recover
  bzless
  bzmore
  cal
  captoinfo
  chacl
  chmem
  chrt
  clear
  col
  colcrt
  colrm
  column
  compile_et
  corelist
  cpan
  curl
  curl-config
  dmesg
  eject
  fallocate
  findmnt
  flock
  gawk
  getfacl
  getfattr
  getopt
  gfortran
  gss-client
  h2ph
  h2xs
  hexdump
  i386
  infocmp
  infotocap
  instmodsh
  ionice
  ipcmk
  ipcrm
  ipcs
  isosize
  json_pp
  k5srvutil
  kadmin
  kdestroy
  kinit
  klist
  kpasswd
  krb5-config
  ksu
  kswitch
  ktutil
  kvno
  last
  lastb
  ldapadd
  ldapcompare
  ldapdelete
  ldapexop
  ldapmodify
  ldapmodrdn
  ldappasswd
  ldapsearch
  ldapurl
  ldapwhoami
  less
  lessecho
  lesskey
  libnetcfg
  linux32
  linux64
  logger
  look
  lsblk
  lscpu
  lsipc
  lslocks
  lslogins
  lsmem
  lsns
  lz4
  lz4c
  lz4cat
  m4
  mcookie
  mesg
  more
  mount
  mountpoint
  namei
  nsenter
  openssl
  patch
  perl
  perlbug
  perldoc
  perlivp
  perlthanks
  piconv
  pkg-config
  pl2pm
  pod2html
  pod2man
  pod2text
  pod2usage
  podchecker
  prlimit
  prove
  ptar
  ptardiff
  ptargrep
  rename
  renice
  reset
  rev
  script
  scriptreplay
  setarch
  setfacl
  setfattr
  setsid
  setterm
  shasum
  sim_client
  splain
  sqlite3
  tabs
  taskset
  tic
  toe
  tput
  tset
  ul
  umount
  unlz4
  unshare
  unxz
  utmpdump
  uuclient
  uuidgen
  wall
  wdctl
  whereis
  whois
  x86_64
  xmlwf
  xsubpp
  xz
  xzcat
  xzcmp
  xzdec
  xzdiff
  xzegrep
  xzfgrep
  xzgrep
  xzless
  xzmore
  yacc
  zipdetails

Warning: Homebrew's "bin" was not found in your PATH.
Consider setting your PATH for example like so:
  echo 'export PATH="/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/bin:$PATH"' >> /usr/lusers/jacktose/.bash_profile

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

Description of issue

#20416 (which shipped in v4.6.4) is titled Add brew doctor warning for symlinked /home directories on Linux, but it actually prints the warning on every brew command. It's now about half the lines in my terminal when working with homebrew, which makes it hard to work:

Example:

$ brew upgrade -n jandedobbeleer/oh-my-posh/oh-my-posh
==> Auto-updating Homebrew...
Adjust how often this is run with `$HOMEBREW_AUTO_UPDATE_SECS` or disable with
`$HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1`. Hide these hints with `$HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
jandedobbeleer/oh-my-posh/oh-my-posh 26.17.0 -> 26.19.1
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Would install 2 dependencies for oh-my-posh:
binutils 2.44 -> 2.45 [email protected] 1.24.5 -> 1.24.6
==> Would run `brew cleanup` which has not been run in the last 7 days
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).

$ brew upgrade -n atuin
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
atuin 18.7.1 -> 18.8.0
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Would install 1 dependency for atuin:
binutils 2.44 -> 2.45
==> Would run `brew cleanup` which has not been run in the last 7 days
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).

$ brew upgrade -n ca-certificates
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
ca-certificates 2025-07-15 -> 2025-08-12
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Would run `brew cleanup` which has not been run in the last 7 days
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).

$ brew upgrade ca-certificates
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
ca-certificates 2025-07-15 -> 2025-08-12
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Fetching downloads for: ca-certificates
==> Fetching ca-certificates
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/ca-certificates/blobs/sha256:80f4508a2a5711fcabeeaafdeebb88c9eec6b0e834e75f47b837ffe3da60c7d3
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Upgrading ca-certificates
  2025-07-15 -> 2025-08-12
==> Pouring ca-certificates--2025-08-12.all.bottle.1.tar.gz
🍺  /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/ca-certificates/2025-08-12: 4 files, 234.8KB
==> Running `brew cleanup ca-certificates`...
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).
Removing: /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/ca-certificates/2025-07-15... (4 files, 227.9KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/ca-certificates_bottle_manifest--2025-07-15... (2.0KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/ca-certificates--2025-07-15... (126.4KB)
==> No outdated dependents to upgrade!
==> `brew cleanup` has not been run in the last 7 days, running now...
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/libgit2_bottle_manifest--1.9.1... (12.3KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/libgit2--1.9.1... (2.5MB)
==> Autoremoving 1 unneeded formula:
go
Uninstalling /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/go/1.24.5... (14,120 files, 247.5MB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/java_cache... (104B)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/icu4c@77_bottle_manifest--77.1... (10.9KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/libxml2_bottle_manifest--2.13.8... (11.2KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/asdf_bottle_manifest--0.18.0... (19.0KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/api-source/Homebrew/homebrew-core/bd444e1c39c6d70466f6e03a803162179f8b05fe/Formula/binutils.rb... (2.4KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/bootsnap/9cbe640eeb7efac8860875ba5539a2d9d4bffba6060f6102ad6431f833bba300... (702 files, 5.4MB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/Logs/gdbm... (6 files, 219.8KB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/Logs/binutils... (18 files, 3.2MB)
==> Installation times
ca-certificates           0.380 s

$ brew upgrade -n krb5
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
krb5 1.21.3 -> 1.22
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Would install 1 dependency for krb5:
openssl@3 3.5.0 -> 3.5.2

$ brew upgrade -n openssl@3
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
openssl@3 3.5.0 -> 3.5.2
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

$ brew upgrade krb5
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
krb5 1.21.3 -> 1.22
Warning: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Fetching downloads for: krb5
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/72644e1707593362590ea9a35372e5abd77bba1d/Formula/k/krb5.rb
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Fetching dependencies for krb5: openssl@3
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/72644e1707593362590ea9a35372e5abd77bba1d/Formula/o/[email protected]
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Fetching openssl@3
Warning: Building openssl@3 from source as the bottle needs:
- `HOMEBREW_CELLAR=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar)
- `HOMEBREW_PREFIX=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew)
==> Downloading https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/L/LE/LEONT/Test-Harness-3.52.tar.gz
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/E/EX/EXODIST/Test-Simple-1.302214.tar.gz
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/B/BI/BINGOS/ExtUtils-MakeMaker-7.76.tar.gz
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://github.com/openssl/openssl/releases/download/openssl-3.5.2/openssl-3.5.2.tar.gz
==> Downloading from https://release-assets.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset/7634677/de48a7fc-93b5-47ca-9b00-ec7d9ee86a60?sp=r&sv=2018-11-09&sr=b&spr=https&se=2025-08-18T22%3A26%3A33Z&rscd
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Fetching krb5
Warning: Building krb5 from source as the bottle needs:
- `HOMEBREW_CELLAR=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar)
- `HOMEBREW_PREFIX=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew)
==> Downloading https://kerberos.org/dist/krb5/1.22/krb5-1.22.tar.gz
########################################################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
==> Upgrading krb5
  1.21.3 -> 1.22
==> Installing krb5 dependency: openssl@3
==> perl Makefile.PL INSTALL_BASE=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2
==> make PERL5LIB=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2/lib/perl5 CC=gcc-15
==> make install
==> perl Makefile.PL INSTALL_BASE=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2
==> make PERL5LIB=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2/lib/perl5 CC=gcc-15
==> make install
==> perl Makefile.PL INSTALL_BASE=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2
==> make PERL5LIB=/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2/lib/perl5 CC=gcc-15
==> make install
==> perl ./Configure --prefix=/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/openssl@3/3.5.2 --openssldir=/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/etc/openssl@3 --libdir=lib no-ssl3 no-ssl3-method no-zlib linux-x86
==> make
==> make install MANDIR=/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/openssl@3/3.5.2/share/man MANSUFFIX=ssl
==> make HARNESS_JOBS=4 test TESTS=-test_afalg
Last 15 lines from /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/Logs/openssl@3/13.make.log:
  Non-zero exit status: 22
  Parse errors: No plan found in TAP output
70-test_tls13psk.t                    (Wstat: 5632 (exited 22) Tests: 0 Failed: 0)
  Non-zero exit status: 22
  Parse errors: No plan found in TAP output
70-test_tlsextms.t                    (Wstat: 5632 (exited 22) Tests: 0 Failed: 0)
  Non-zero exit status: 22
  Parse errors: No plan found in TAP output
Files=341, Tests=4229, 194 wallclock secs ( 8.74 usr  0.84 sys + 365.79 cusr 144.73 csys = 520.10 CPU)
Result: FAIL
make[2]: *** [run_tests] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2'
make[1]: *** [_tests] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/opensslA3-20250818-24479-kypziv/openssl-3.5.2'
make: *** [tests] Error 2

READ THIS: https://docs.brew.sh/Troubleshooting


Error: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.


==> No outdated dependents to upgrade!

The last command there even outputs the warning twice!

Could it please be restricted to brew doctor, or suppressed with an environment variable?

Answered by jacktose

Aug 25, 2025

Fixed by PR #20511.

$ brew update
==> Updating Homebrew...
Updated 1 tap (homebrew/cask).
==> Outdated Formulae
krb5                                                             libngtcp2                                                        openldap

You have 3 outdated formulae installed.
You can upgrade them with brew upgrade
or list them with brew outdated.

$ brew update
==> Updating Homebrew...
Already up-to-date.

$ brew --version
Homebrew 4.6.7

$ brew upgrade -n krb5
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
krb5 1.22 -> 1.22.1

$ brew install -n hello
==> Would install 1 formula:
hello

View full answer

jacktose · 2025-08-22T20:09:29Z

jacktose
Aug 22, 2025
Author Sponsor

Apparently the warning is a fatal error in brew gist-logs, which used to work on this machine:

$ brew gist-logs --private util-linux --debug --verbose
Error: Your /home directory is a symlink.
This is known to cause issues with formula linking, particularly when installing
multiple formulae that create symlinks in shared directories.

While this may be a standard directory structure in some distributions
(e.g. Fedora Silverblue) there are known issues as-is.

If you encounter linking issues, you may need to manually create conflicting
directories or use `brew link --overwrite` as a workaround.

We'd welcome a PR to fix this functionality.
See https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/18036 for more context.

This is a Tier 2 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-2
You can report Tier 2 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

Error: Kernel.exit
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/diagnostic.rb:45:in 'Kernel#exit'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/diagnostic.rb:45:in 'Homebrew::Diagnostic.checks'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/install.rb:516:in 'Homebrew::Install.perform_preinstall_checks'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/install.rb:35:in 'OS::Linux::Install::ClassMethods#perform_preinstall_checks'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/install.rb:19:in 'Homebrew::Install.perform_preinstall_checks_once'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/gist-logs.rb:35:in 'Homebrew::Cmd::GistLogs#run'
/data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:110:in '<main>'

Is that intentional? Is it necessary?

2 replies

carlocab Aug 23, 2025
Collaborator

Probably not. I think you can go ahead and file a Homebrew/brew issue.

jacktose Aug 24, 2025
Author Sponsor

Thanks. Opened #20564.

jacktose · 2025-08-25T14:41:46Z

jacktose
Aug 25, 2025
Author Sponsor

Fixed by PR #20511.

$ brew update
==> Updating Homebrew...
Updated 1 tap (homebrew/cask).
==> Outdated Formulae
krb5                                                             libngtcp2                                                        openldap

You have 3 outdated formulae installed.
You can upgrade them with brew upgrade
or list them with brew outdated.

$ brew update
==> Updating Homebrew...
Already up-to-date.

$ brew --version
Homebrew 4.6.7

$ brew upgrade -n krb5
==> Would upgrade 1 outdated package:
krb5 1.22 -> 1.22.1

$ brew install -n hello
==> Would install 1 formula:
hello

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symlinked /home directory warning is too noisy #6350

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Homebrew

symlinked /home directory warning is too noisy #6350

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jacktose Aug 18, 2025 Sponsor

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Aug 18, 2025
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Output of `brew config`

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jacktose
Aug 22, 2025
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carlocab Aug 23, 2025
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