Is there a way to restrict packages installation via brew?Getting Started

[Mariushrek]

Output of brew config

N/A

Output of brew doctor

N/A

Description of issue

Hey,

I'm looking for an option to restrict packages installation via brew (let's say whitelisted packages). Does brew allow me to do something like that? If so - how do I achieve this?

Thanks,
Mariusz

[SMillerDev]

https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#environment has some options:
HOMEBREW_ALLOWED_TAPS , HOMEBREW_FORBIDDEN_CASKS, HOMEBREW_FORBIDDEN_LICENSES

[lhaeger]

There is no whitelist option, despite being requested regularly. You can use the blacklists instead and script transforming your whitelists into blacklists with something like:

#!/bin/zsh

echo -n "Reading list of all formulae from Homebrew..."
brew search --formulae /.+/ | tee brew_form_all | wc -l

echo -n "Reading whitelisted formulae..."
cat brew_form_whitelist | wc -l 

echo -n "Calculating dependencies for formulae..."
brew deps --union --formulae --os macos $(<brew_form_whitelist) | tee brew_form_dependencies | wc -l

echo -n "Generate formulae blacklist..."
grep -vxF -f brew_form_whitelist -f brew_form_dependencies brew_form_all | sort -u | tee brew_form_blacklist | wc -l
tr '\n' ' ' < brew_form_blacklist > brew_form_blacklist_env

echo -n "Reading list of all casks from Homebrew..."
brew search --casks /.+/ | tee brew_cask_all | wc -l

echo -n "Reading whitelisted casks..."
cat brew_cask_whitelist | wc -l 

echo -n "Generate casks blacklist..."
grep -vxF -f brew_cask_whitelist brew_cask_all | sort -u | tee brew_cask_blacklist | wc -l
tr '\n' ' ' < brew_cask_blacklist > brew_cask_blacklist_env

export BREW_FORBIDDEN_FORMULAE=$(<brew_form_blacklist_env)
export BREW_FORBIDDEN_CASKS=$(<brew_cask_blacklist_env)

Obviously this has to be repeated regularly to include newly added kegs that are not whitelisted. Annoying but the best there is so far...

[gromgit]

@Mariushrek, I'm curious: what problem are you trying to solve, that "restrict Homebrew package installation" is the correct solution? Perhaps what you're trying to achieve can be done in a different way.