Mise

The post explains why GNU Stow's symlink model broke down: edits flow back through the link into the repo, and files like ~/.zprofile already exist by the time Homebrew runs, so Stow refuses to manage them. Chezmoi's copy-and-template model fixed both.

Then the thread did its thing. Every Chezmoi pick drew a 'you're 6 months from Nix' reply, which drew a developer who rewrote Nix from scratch calling Home Manager 'demonstrably ill-posed,' which drew a wall of people who just use a git repo, Make, or rsync and never looked back.

Mike McQuaid's 6.0 also makes the faster internal JSON API the default, sandboxes builds on Linux, and turns on confirm-before-install. Intel Macs drop to Tier 3 in September, a year before Apple cuts them.

Two users with maxed-out credibility told opposite stories: one fled to Mise and MacPorts over forced upgrades; the other just came back from Nix because Homebrew's Mac support and UX won.