This reference accompanies the Homebrew 7.0.0 release notes. Now means 7.0.0: disabled interfaces reject use and removed interfaces are unavailable. Deprecated interfaces warn until their listed disablement date.

Trust and environment

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
HOMEBREW_EVAL_ALL and --eval-all on brew deps, desc, info, options, readall, search, uses and tap Disabled Now Remove them; trusted-tap evaluation and tap verification are the default.
HOMEBREW_NO_EVAL_ENV_SCRUBBING Disabled Now Remove it; default behaviour.
HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_NO_SECRETS Disabled Now Remove it; secret scrubbing is the default.
brew analytics regenerate-uuid Removed Now No replacement; Homebrew has not used analytics UUIDs for years.
Setuid wrappers with mismatched real and effective UIDs Disabled Now Run as the installation’s owner without a wrapper; no replacement for shared installations.
HOMEBREW_REQUIRE_TAP_TRUST Deprecated 2027-12-11 Remove it; tap trust is the default.
HOMEBREW_NO_REQUIRE_TAP_TRUST Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use brew trust for each non-official tap, formula, cask or command.
HOMEBREW_ALLOWED_TAPS Deprecated 2027-12-11 No replacement allowlist setting.
HOMEBREW_FORBIDDEN_CASK_ARTIFACTS and HOMEBREW_FORBID_CASKS Deprecated 2027-12-11 No replacement settings for blocking cask artifact types or all casks.

Commands and configuration

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
--ask on brew install, reinstall and upgrade, and HOMEBREW_ASK Disabled Now Remove them; plan display and interactive confirmation are the default.
HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_JOBS and HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_NO_JOBS Disabled Now Use HOMEBREW_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY to control downloads.
brew bundle install --cleanup Disabled Now Run brew bundle cleanup after installation.
--describe on brew bundle add and dump, HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_DESCRIBE and HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_DUMP_DESCRIBE Disabled Now Remove them; descriptions are default.
brew list --installed-as-dependency Disabled Now Use brew list --no-installed-on-request.
brew gist-logs --with-hostname Disabled Now No replacement flag for including the hostname.
brew info --fetch-manifest Disabled Now No replacement flag; use the package information available from brew info.
brew options --command=… Disabled Now No direct replacement; use brew help <command> for command options.
brew update --merge Disabled Now No replacement for merge-based updates; use brew update with its default behaviour.
HOMEBREW_USE_INTERNAL_API Disabled Now Remove it; the internal API is the default.
HOMEBREW_BREW_WRAPPER and HOMEBREW_DISABLE_NO_FORCE_BREW_WRAPPER Removed Now No replacement for wrapper enforcement; invoke a wrapper directly.
Homebrew/brew master Upcoming removal; frozen bootstrap in 7.0.0 2027-03-01 Switch to main; branch synchronisation has ended and the compatibility bootstrap retires on 2027-03-01.
brew bundle --jobs Deprecated and ignored 2027-12-11 Use the default batched installation; HOMEBREW_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY controls downloads.
HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_INSTALL_CLEANUP Deprecated 2027-12-11 Run brew bundle cleanup after installation.
HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_FORCE_INSTALL_CLEANUP Deprecated 2027-12-11 Run brew bundle cleanup --force after installation.
HOMEBREW_BAT_CONFIG_PATH and HOMEBREW_BAT_THEME Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use BAT_CONFIG_PATH and BAT_THEME respectively with HOMEBREW_BAT=1.
HOMEBREW_FORCE_BREW_WRAPPER Deprecated and ignored 2027-12-11 Invoke the wrapper directly; internal commands invoke Homebrew directly.
HOMEBREW_FORCE_BREW_WRAPPER_HELP_MESSAGE Deprecated and ignored 2027-12-11 Implement custom help in the wrapper.
HOMEBREW_NO_FORCE_BREW_WRAPPER Deprecated and ignored 2027-12-11 Remove it; wrapper enforcement has been removed.

Cask configuration

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS_BINARIES Disabled Now Set HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS="--binaries".
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS_REQUIRE_SHA Disabled Now Set HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS="--require-sha".
HOMEBREW_UPGRADE_AUTO_UPDATES_CASKS Disabled Now Default; opt out with HOMEBREW_NO_UPGRADE_AUTO_UPDATES_CASKS.
HOMEBREW_NO_SANDBOX_CASK Disabled Now No sandbox bypass replacement.

Install-step names and options

Changes and replacements.

Convert each hook’s implementation to declared actions using the Formula Cookbook or Cask Cookbook. Their formula and cask interpolation references explain supported tokens, path bases and when values are expanded.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
name Deprecated 2027-12-11 formula_name
mkdir Deprecated 2027-12-11 mkdir_p
mv Deprecated 2027-12-11 move
move_children Deprecated 2027-12-11 move_contents
ln_s Deprecated 2027-12-11 symlink
ln_sf Deprecated 2027-12-11 symlink(..., overwrite: true)
link_dir Deprecated 2027-12-11 symlink_tree
link_children Deprecated 2027-12-11 symlink_children
write Deprecated 2027-12-11 write_file
gio_querymodules Deprecated 2027-12-11 update_gio_modules_cache
gdk_pixbuf_query_loaders Deprecated 2027-12-11 update_gdk_pixbuf_loaders_cache
gtk_update_icon_cache Deprecated 2027-12-11 update_gtk_icon_cache
delete_keychain_certificate Deprecated 2027-12-11 delete_keychain_certificates
force: in move or symlink Deprecated 2027-12-11 overwrite:
uninstall: in symlink Deprecated 2027-12-11 remove_on_uninstall:
base: :path Deprecated 2027-12-11 base: :search_path

Formula and cask DSLs

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
Cask bare depends_on :macos combined with a versioned macOS dependency Disabled Now Keep only depends_on macos: or depends_on maximum_macos:.
Formula bare depends_on :macos combined with top-level depends_on macos: or depends_on maximum_macos: Disabled Now Keep the bare dependency and put the versioned dependency inside on_macos.
ENV.no_weak_imports Disabled Now Linker flag -Wl,-no_weak_imports.
ENV.no_fixup_chains Disabled Now Default linker behaviour.
MacOS.sdk_path_if_needed Disabled Now MacOS.sdk_path.
HOMEBREW_ORIGINAL_BREW_FILE Removed Now HOMEBREW_BREW_FILE for the actual Homebrew executable.
Hash arguments to Homebrew::Livecheck::Options#merge and #merge! Removed Now Another Options object.
Cask pkg allow_untrusted: Deprecated 2027-12-11 Trusted package; no bypass replacement.
Cask url verified: Deprecated 2027-12-11 Default URL verification.
Cask containers :cab, :rar, :sit and :xar Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use :generic_unar.
Cask container :air Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use an app or pkg artifact.
BazaarDownloadStrategy and using: :bzr Deprecated 2027-12-11 GitDownloadStrategy or a stable archive with CurlDownloadStrategy.
UnpackStrategy::Air Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use an app or pkg cask artifact.
UnpackStrategy::Bazaar Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use UnpackStrategy::Git or a stable archive URL.
UnpackStrategy::Cab, ::Lha, ::Rar, ::Sit and ::Xar Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use UnpackStrategy::GenericUnar.
UnpackStrategy::Lzma Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use UnpackStrategy::Xz.
UnpackStrategy::Pax Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use UnpackStrategy::Tar.
Automatic browser-user-agent fallback in livecheck Deprecated 2027-12-11 Explicit user_agent: :browser.
ENV.libxml2 Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use pkg-config or explicit include paths.
Language::Python.each_python Deprecated 2027-12-11 Formula#python3 or explicit Python dependencies.
Language::Python.user_site_packages Deprecated 2027-12-11 Python’s site.getusersitepackages().
Language::Python.in_sys_path? Deprecated 2027-12-11 Python’s sys.path.
Language::Python.reads_brewed_pth_files? Deprecated 2027-12-11 Isolated Python virtual environment.
Language::Python.homebrew_site_packages Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use HOMEBREW_PREFIX/Language::Python.site_packages(python).
Language::Python.site_packages without an interpreter Deprecated 2027-12-11 Explicit Python interpreter.
Cask container :seven_zip Deprecated 2027-12-11 Use :p7zip.
DevelopmentTools.llvm_clang_build_version Deprecated 2027-12-11 LLVM compiler’s --version.

Pathname public APIs

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
Pathname#ds_store? Removed Now Compare path.basename.to_s with ".DS_Store".
Pathname#magic_number, #file_type and #zipinfo Removed Now No public replacement.
Pathname#cp_path_sub Deprecated 2027-12-11 Utils::Path.cp_path_sub(path, pattern, replacement)
Pathname#rmdir_if_possible, #text_executable?, #resolved_path, #resolved_path_exists?, #install_info, #uninstall_info Deprecated 2027-12-11 Same method on Utils::Path, with the path as its first argument.
Pathname#ensure_writable Deprecated 2027-12-11 Utils::Path.ensure_writable(path) { … }

Maintenance commands

Changes and replacements.

Interface or platform Status in 7.0.0 Timing Replacement
--eval-all on brew audit, bump, determine-test-runners, livecheck and unbottled Disabled Now Remove it; these commands use trusted taps by default.
brew audit --signing and --no-signing Disabled Now No replacement flag; use the default audit checks.
--committer= on brew bottle, pr-pull and pr-upload Disabled Now Git committer configuration; no flag replacement.
brew irb --pry and HOMEBREW_PRY Disabled Now Default IRB; Pry is unmaintained.
brew test-bot --skip-recursive-dependents and --no-skip-recursive-dependents Disabled Now Direct dependants tested by default.
-s or --silent on brew update-python-resources and brew update-perl-resources Disabled Now Use --quiet.
brew tap-new --pull-label= Disabled Now Manual publishing workflow; no flag replacement.
Homebrew’s assert_equal(nil, …) compatibility wrapper Removed Now Use assert_nil(…) in formula tests.
Returning false to fail a formula test Removed Now Raise an error with a reason for the failure.
External Ruby commands without an AbstractCommand subclass Removed Now Subclass Homebrew::AbstractCommand.