Re: [PATCH] ci: drop no-op gettext link on macOS

[Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>]

On Sat, Sep 12, 2026 at 07:55:39AM +0000, Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget wrote:
> From: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
> 
> gettext ships already linked on the macOS CI runner image, so this
> command never links anything. It only emits a spurious "Already
> linked" warning in every macOS job's log.

I feel like this is oversimplifying things a bit. The commit message
doesn't explain why we even orignially had it, and consequently it's not
really explaining why we don't anymore.

The gettext dependency in Homebrew is keg-only, which means that it will
typically never be linked anywhere visible into your system. Instead, it
is only being installed into your Homebrew cellar, which means that it
will not interfer with anything. And trying to link such a dependency
will not do anything, as Homebrew refuses such an operation.

By using `brew link --force` though you override that and thus override
any system-provided equivalents by symlinking the dependency into a
central place. Now the question is whether this is still needed. But
that question is not answered by your commit message. The warning that
you mention is this one:

  + brew link --force gettext
  ✔︎ JSON API formula_tap_migrations.jws.json
  ✔︎ JSON API cask_tap_migrations.jws.json
  Warning: Already linked: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/gettext/1.0
  To relink, run:
    brew unlink gettext && brew link gettext

But that warning only complains that gettext is already linked into your
cellar. It does not say whether it may have linked the library into your
system's path now.

So I'm still left wondering whether it really isn't required anymore,
and if so why it stopped being required. Links to passing GitHub and
GitLab pipelines with that change would've in this case also helped to
demonstrate that it works without that line.

Thanks!

Patrick