Top all-time · #9678
Justin Mayer
Personal blog · justinmayer.com/postsprogrammingstartups
Justin Mayer's personal blog at justinmayer.com covers programming and startups. Since 2014, 8 different Hacker News readers have linked it 15 times, most often “Changes to Homebrew adversely affect Python development”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Justin Mayer's posts for advice on installing Python on macOS, mainly his argument against using Homebrew for Python and in favour of tools like pyenv or MacPorts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Justin Mayer is an investor, SaaS founder, software developer, and open-source maintainer.
Most-linked posts?
- Changes to Homebrew adversely affect Python development5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2021-02-03
- Don’t Pay the Early Adopter Tax2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-04-30
- "Any Updates?"2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-03-25
What Hacker News says?
After making a few needed tweaks to get libbpg to compile on Mac OS X, I used the compiled bpgenc binary to convert a test PNG to BPG format. I also converted the PNG to a JPEG for comparison purposes. You can see the results here: http://justinmayer.com/bpg-test/ Size of PNG before conversion: 186K Size after conversion to JPEG: 52K Size after conversion to BPG: 9K I took the liberty of submitting a Homebrew formul…
Comment linking /bpg-test/
on “BPG Image format”Submitted Changes to Homebrew adversely affect Python development as a story · 82 points
HN discussionAs the primary maintainer of Pelican, a Python-based static site generator, I've given several talks on the resurgence of static site generators and in which cases they are (and are not) a good fit. My most recent talk was two weeks ago at PyCon Japan. Following are my slides for that talk, in case that's useful for anyone who wants to get a better understanding of SSG history and advantages/disadvantages: http://ju…
Comment linking /talks/
on “Static Website Generators Are the Next Big Thing”Submitted "Any Updates?" as a story · 7 points
HN discussionIn the same category: https://justinmayer.com/posts/any-updates/ I find these supremely annoying.
Comment linking /posts/any-updates/
on “No Hello”Submitted Introducing Tacklebox for Fish Shell as a story · 6 points
HN discussionAlso, MacPorts or other multi-version python tools are generally better than Homebrew for Python: https://justinmayer.com/posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you...
Comment linking /posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you/
on “Show HN: We open sourced our new Mac developer setup script”Submitted Don’t Pay the Early Adopter Tax as a story · 2 points
HN discussionpro tip: don't install user python using homebrew; use a dedicated version manager (like pyenv or adsf). More info: https://justinmayer.com/posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you...
Comment linking /posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you/
on “Python 3.12”Submitted Don’t Pay the Early Adopter Tax as a story · 1 points
HN discussionPython 3.12 is now available via asdf [1]: asdf install python 3.12.0 [1]: https://justinmayer.com/posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you...
Comment linking /posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you/
on “Python 3.12”As someone who has used Apple computers for decades — including the ][+ and dozens of Macs — I feel I must rebut some of the specious arguments being made here. To wit: * Mac software quality has indeed declined precipitously over the last decade. * It is not “Apple bashing” to point out that fact. * OP never claims the failed upgrade is the only example of said quality decline, but rather that it is one of many rep…
Comment linking /posts/early-adopter-tax/
on “Mac OS update failed for the first time in 19 years”Hi folks. Fortressa creator here. Friends and family kept asking me about VPNs, and I didn’t have any good suggestions to offer, so I built a solution I felt comfortable recommending. You can learn more about my motivation in my announcement post: https://justinmayer.com/posts/introducing-fortressa/ I wanted to share this with the community in hopes of getting constructive feedback. Many thanks in advance, and pleas…
Comment linking /posts/introducing-fortressa/
on “Show HN: Fortressa – Create Your Own Private VPN in Minutes”I dunno, you could take it up with the author, I suppose. Note, though, that the article is about "the bare minimum you can get away with." Also, a little more reading might have led to you this: < https://justinmayer.com/posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you... >, which has a pretty good rationale for not using homebrew to install python. If you like homebrew, fine, knock yourself out. I've never cared for it and us…
Comment linking /posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you/
on “Installing Python: The Bare Minimum You Can Get Away With”Use a Python.org universal install binary. Install as many versions as you want. You will always be able to get a particular version by typing, e.g., `python3.10`. Then use that version to create your virtual environment: `python3.10 -m venv env`. You can start your virtual environment with `source env/bin/activate`. Here is 3.8: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3810/ Here is 3.9: https://www.python.o…
Comment linking /posts/homebrew-python-is-not-for-you/
on “What is “the right way” to install Python on a new M2 MacBook?”