jdx/mise · error · RuntimeError

inreplace in #{path} made no substitutions — the formula may

Error message

inreplace in #{path} made no substitutions — the formula may need updating

What it means

inreplace audits its own result: if the file content after replacement is identical to before (audit_result enabled), the search pattern matched nothing. The shim raises to surface stale patches early — typically because upstream changed and the formula's search string no longer exists.

Source

Thrown at src/system/packages/brew/shim.rb:777

  def inreplace(paths, before = nil, after = nil, audit_result = true, &block)
    Array(paths).each do |path|
      path = Pathname.new(path.to_s)
      content = path.read
      replaced = content.dup
      if block
        ext = InreplaceText.new(replaced)
        block.call(ext)
        replaced = ext.text
      else
        raise "inreplace: missing before/after" if before.nil?
        case before
        when Regexp then replaced.gsub!(before, after.to_s)
        else replaced = replaced.gsub(before.to_s, after.to_s)
        end
      end
      if audit_result && replaced == content
        raise "inreplace in #{path} made no substitutions — the formula may need updating"
      end
      path.write(replaced)
    end
  end

  def cd(path, &block) = Dir.chdir(path.to_s, &block)

  def mkdir(name, &block)
    path = Pathname.new(name.to_s)
    path.mkpath
    block ? Dir.chdir(path.to_s, &block) : path
  end

  def loader_path = OS.mac? ? "@loader_path" : "$ORIGIN"

  def rpath(source: bin, target: lib)
    "#{loader_path}/#{Pathname.new(target.to_s).relative_path_from(Pathname.new(source.to_s))}"
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

Update the search string to match the current file content (inspect the file)
Read the target file to confirm the pattern exists and its exact spelling
Make the before pattern more tolerant (use a Regexp) or guard with a conditional inreplace only when needed
Ensure inreplace isn't applied twice to the same file in one install

Example fix

# before
inreplace "config.mk", "CC = gcc", "CC = #{ENV["CC"]}"
# after
inreplace "config.mk", /^CC\s*=\s*\S+$/, "CC = #{ENV["CC"]}"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

content = File.read(path)
raise "pattern not found in #{path}" unless content.include?(search)
inreplace(path, search, replacement)

Try / catch

begin
  inreplace f, old, new
rescue RuntimeError => e
  raise unless e.message.include?("made no substitutions")
  warn "formula needs updating: #{e.message}"
end

Prevention

Verify the search string exists in the file on every version bump
Use tolerant regexes instead of exact strings where formatting varies
Never run inreplace twice on the same content
Read the target file when updating a formula to refresh search patterns

When it happens

Trigger: The `before` string/regex no longer appears in the file (upstream refactor); the file path is empty or already rewritten; case/formatting drift in the target text; running inreplace twice on the same file.

Common situations: Version bumps where the edited config file changed format; formulas editing generated files whose content varies by platform or toolchain version; patches kept across many versions until they silently stop matching.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5efd2cc5b1cdffea. Report an issue: GitHub.