Homebrew-core: Regression (of #26444): imagemagick not built with HEIF support, nor is there an option to enable that

[pmonks]

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brew_doctor.txt
brew_config.txt

To help us debug your issue please explain:

• What you were trying to do (and why)
• What happened (include command output)
• What you expected to happen
• Step-by-step reproduction instructions (by running brew install commands)

What I was trying to do
Install imagemagick with support for image files in HEIF format. This is quite important since HEIF is now the default image format on iOS devices.

I've marked this as a regression, as this had previously been possible by providing the --with-libheif option when installing via Homebrew (this option was removed in a recent commit - this removal appears to be part of a new strategy regarding Homebrew options).

What happened (include command output)

$ brew install --with-libheif imagemagick
Usage: brew install [options] formula

Install formula.

formula is usually the name of the formula to install, but it can be specified
in several different ways.

    -d, --debug                      If brewing fails, open an interactive
                                     debugging session with access to IRB or a
                                     shell inside the temporary build directory
        --env                        If std is passed, use the standard build
                                     environment instead of superenv.If super
                                     is passed, use superenv even if the formula
                                     specifies the standard build environment.
        --ignore-dependencies        Skip installing any dependencies of any
                                     kind. If they are not already present, the
                                     formula will probably fail to install.
        --only-dependencies          Install the dependencies with specified
                                     options but do not install the specified
                                     formula.
        --cc                         Attempt to compile using provided
                                     compiler. compiler should be the name
                                     of the compiler's executable, for instance
                                     gcc-7 for GCC 7. In order to use LLVM's
                                     clang, use llvm_clang. To specify the
                                     Apple-provided clang, use clang. This
                                     parameter will only accept compilers that
                                     are provided by Homebrew or bundled with
                                     macOS. Please do not file issues if you
                                     encounter errors while using this flag.
    -s, --build-from-source          Compile the specified formula from source
                                     even if a bottle is provided. Dependencies
                                     will still be installed from bottles if
                                     they are available.
        --force-bottle               Install from a bottle if it exists for the
                                     current or newest version of macOS, even if
                                     it would not normally be used for
                                     installation.
        --include-test               Install testing dependencies required to
                                     run brew test.
        --devel                      If formula defines it, install the
                                     development version.
        --HEAD                       If formula defines it, install the HEAD
                                     version, aka. master, trunk, unstable.
        --fetch-HEAD                 Fetch the upstream repository to detect if
                                     the HEAD installation of the formula is
                                     outdated. Otherwise, the repository's HEAD
                                     will be checked for updates when a new
                                     stable or development version has been
                                     released.
        --keep-tmp                   Don't delete the temporary files created
                                     during installation.
        --build-bottle               Prepare the formula for eventual bottling
                                     during installation.
    -f, --force                      Install without checking for previously
                                     installed keg-only or non-migrated
                                     versions.
    -v, --verbose                    Print the verification and postinstall
                                     steps.
        --display-times              Print install times for each formula at the
                                     end of the run.
    -i, --interactive                Download and patch formula, then open a
                                     shell. This allows the user to run
                                     ./configure --help and otherwise
                                     determine how to turn the software package
                                     into a Homebrew package.
    -g, --git                        Create a Git repository, useful for
                                     creating patches to the software.
    -h, --help                       Show this message.
Error: invalid option: --with-libheif

What you expected to happen
Homebrew installs imagemagick with HEIF support.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions (by running brew install commands)

$ brew install --with-libheif imagemagick

In looking at the output from brew info imagemagick, as well as the master imagemagick.rb file, I don't see any way to instruct Homebrew to install imagemagick with HEIF support.

[pmonks]

While I'm by no means a Homebrew / ImageMagick expert, one possible solution might be to include libheif as a mandatory dependency. Most macOS users are going to increasingly have to deal with image files in HEIF format, so this seems to me to be a reasonable default.

[javian]

As @pmonks pointed out you can submit a PR to have it included as part of the default installation. The removal of the options is normally based on statistics so if the user base wasn't large enough at the time of the removal then it got axed but that doesn't mean it can't be added back in. Post a PR and make an argument for it there.

[pmonks]

@javian I am the creator of the issue. 😉

If I were more familiar with Homebrew and/or Ruby I probably would have submitted a PR, but given I'm not I chose an issue to avoid wasting everyone's time in an "education via rejected PRs" cycle. 😉

[slhck]

There's an open PR here: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/pull/36336

It just needs to be merged.

[pmonks]

@slhck great! Weird that my searches for “HEIC” didn’t turn anything up. Chalk it up to GitHub search, I guess...

[javian]

@pmonks Sorry I was probably tired when I responded ^^ I don't think it takes too much knowledge to put it back in and you need to do something similar to https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/pull/36336/files . Looking at the old formula you might just need to readd the dependency to make it work since I can't see a configure option to turn it on.