jdx/mise · error

brew-cask: pkgutil receipt check for '{pkg_id}' is only avai

Error message

brew-cask: pkgutil receipt check for '{pkg_id}' is only available on macOS

What it means

pkg_id_installed checks macOS's pkgutil receipt database to see whether a cask's .pkg installer receipt exists. Homebrew only records pkg receipts on macOS, so calling this on any other platform is a programming error and mise bails immediately instead of returning a misleading result.

Source

Thrown at src/system/packages/brew/cask/state.rs:131

}

pub(super) fn homebrew_metadata_present(token: &str) -> Result<bool> {
    let path = caskroom_token_dir(token).join(".metadata");
    match path.symlink_metadata() {
        Ok(_) => Ok(true),
        Err(err) if err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => Ok(false),
        Err(err) => Err(err).wrap_err_with(|| {
            format!(
                "brew-cask:{token}: failed to inspect Homebrew metadata at '{}'",
                path.display()
            )
        }),
    }
}

pub(super) fn pkg_id_installed(pkg_id: &str) -> Result<bool> {
    #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
    bail!("brew-cask: pkgutil receipt check for '{pkg_id}' is only available on macOS");

    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
    // Homebrew's pkgutil metadata is a regular expression, not a literal ID.
    // Match it with pkgutil itself to preserve its nonstandard regexp semantics.
    // Like Homebrew, use the returned IDs rather than the exit status because a
    // query with no matches may exit unsuccessfully.
    let output = std::process::Command::new("pkgutil")
        .arg(format!("--pkgs={pkg_id}"))
        .stdin(std::process::Stdio::null())
        .stderr(std::process::Stdio::null())
        .output()?;
    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
    Ok(pkgutil_output_has_match(&output.stdout))
}

#[cfg(any(target_os = "macos", test))]
pub(super) fn pkgutil_output_has_match(output: &[u8]) -> bool {
    output.iter().any(|byte| !byte.is_ascii_whitespace())

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

1. Only call pkg_ids_installed/pkg_id_installed on macOS (guard with cfg(target_os = "macos") or an OS check at the call site)
2. Skip pkg-receipt validation for casks on non-macOS platforms
3. If you need equivalent checks elsewhere, use the platform's own package receipt mechanism instead

Example fix

// before
let installed = pkg_ids_installed(&receipt.pkg_ids)?;
// after
#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
let installed = pkg_ids_installed(&receipt.pkg_ids)?;
#[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
let installed = false;

#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
let installed = pkg_ids_installed(&receipt.pkg_ids)?;
#[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
let installed = false;

const fn pkg_receipts_supported() -> bool { cfg!(target_os = "macos") }

When it happens

Trigger: pkg_id_installed is invoked on a non-macOS target (the #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))] arm), reached via pkg_ids_installed during cask state/receipt evaluation.

Common situations: Running mise cask management code paths on Linux/Windows CI; cross-platform code that unconditionally queries pkg receipts for a brew cask.

Understand the failure class

Background: "unsupported platform" / "not supported on this platform" errors: what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 47 libraries.

Related errors

• mas cannot install a pinned version ('{p}')
• `defaults {display}` failed: {}
• `defaults {}` failed: {}
• only available on unix
• ditto failed copying {} to {}

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f55f58e48a846b6e. Report an issue: GitHub.