Not to mention that the recommended way of installing certain packages changes seemingly randomly sometimes. Python, PHP, OpenJDK are ones that I've specifically had issues with. It starts with finding some random blog post on Google that differs from every other blog post on Google about how to accomplish the install. Then you spend a bit looking for other references to see if the one you're following is the new way or the old way that won't work right anymore.

I also very rarely update my Homebrew packages because there is no telling what will break half the time due to this.

And the fact that simply installing a package force updates every other package by default! I needed a single tiny utility while on a screen share recently, I `brew install` it. 15 minutes later Brew was still figuring the world out and it ended up being faster to just find the utility on Github and download it manually to use while letting Brew do its thing in the background. Still no idea if it ever ended up installing...

Don't get me wrong, I still think brew has been handy for me over the years. But I breathe a sigh of relief whenever I `apt-get` something on a Debian box and it behaves in a sane manner.