Mike McQuaid | Thoughts

Today, I’m proud to announce Homebrew 6.0.0.

2026-06-11T13:17:32+00:00

Today, I’m proud to announce Homebrew 6.0.0.

Since 5.1.0: secure tap trusting, faster JSON API, Linux sandboxing, better defaults, brew bundle improvements, improved performance, initial macOS Golden Gate support.

“It’s the duty of all Free Software developers to steal as much time…

2026-05-14T12:19:32+00:00

“It’s the duty of all Free Software developers to steal as much time as they can from their employers for software freedom.”

Jeremy Allison, co-creator of Samba and, at the time, a Google employee.

🫡

Open source maintainers at profitable companies: stop asking…

2026-05-13T14:43:46+00:00

Open source maintainers at profitable companies: stop asking permission to fix what your employer already depends on.

No paperwork. No programme. No manager’s blessing. Just maintain it on the clock.

Your regular reminder that shitting on OSS on social media is a…

2026-05-08T11:36:35+00:00

Your regular reminder that shitting on OSS on social media is a selfish thing to do.

Good job sapping volunteer maintainers’ motivation in exchange for your “internet points”.

Next time: try rolling up your sleeves and contribute a fix to the problem you’ve identified.

I wonder how much of people loving or hating meetings is down to how…

2026-05-04T13:54:30+00:00

I wonder how much of people loving or hating meetings is down to how well they can type or multitask.

“I’m excited to work with you, the company seems great.

2026-04-21T11:20:42+00:00

“I’m excited to work with you, the company seems great. I’m a little unwhelmed with the salary, though, is there any chance you can do better?”

This sentence gets most who try a 0-10% new job pay increase with zero resentments.

Paraphrase it and use it (even on me).

This was a good read and reflects my experiences.

2026-04-14T12:39:24+00:00

This was a good read and reflects my experiences. It also made me think the answer to “what do we do with juniors/students and AI” is “actually teach them software engineering best practices, not just CS fundamentals”.

At work, you have two jobs: being good at your job, being pleasant to…

2026-04-02T16:46:00+00:00

At work, you have two jobs: being good at your job, being pleasant to work with.

You can sometimes get by for a while not doing them both but it’s hard to survive doing neither.

Every time you open an issue or pull request with “No description…

2026-04-01T11:35:45+00:00

Every time you open an issue or pull request with “No description provided”, an open source maintainer dies.

One of the strengths of Homebrew, despite it being unpopular, is…

2026-03-31T18:28:49+00:00

One of the strengths of Homebrew, despite it being unpopular, is being willing to break backwards compatibility when necessary.

NPM’s unwillingness to do so reflects GitHub’s: both show excessive caution that harm both security and usability.