Auto-update brew before the outdated check

[dergachoff]

What and why

Problem: the Upgrades tab does not show new upgrades until you run brew update in a terminal. Refresh does not help.

Root cause: the list comes from brew info --installed --json=v2.

• brew info does not trigger Homebrew's auto-update.
• With the API on (the default), it re-downloads package data only when the cache is 7 days old (DEFAULT_API_STALE_SECONDS in Library/Homebrew/api.rb).
• The app's brew update step (dd9452a) only runs when HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API is set.

Fix: run brew outdated --quiet before brew info.

• outdated is an auto-update command, so Homebrew itself decides when to update.
• It respects HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE and HOMEBREW_AUTO_UPDATE_SECS, and refreshes API data after 450s. This works in both API and tap modes.
• Calling brew update --auto-update directly skips those checks, so I replaced it.
• The brew config check is no longer needed, so I removed it.
• The test doubles for brew info now answer only info calls.
• The app's 300s throttle is unchanged.
• Refresh, Try Again and ⌘R run brew update instead, since the user asked for it.

Fixes #235

Validation

• scripts/test: pass (also passes on base a9920b4)
• SwiftFormat lint, SwiftLint --strict, BrewUILint, scripts/localize verify: clean
• xcodebuild test -scheme Brew-Unit with CI flags: pass
• Refresh tests: user refresh always runs update; launch, stale cache and the refresh after installs run throttled outdated.
• App smoke test. I set the API cache date 6 days back, then opened the app:
  • 0.4.4: cache stays old (bug)
  • this branch: cache refreshed
  • this branch with HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1: cache stays old (setting respected)
• Not run: scripts/test-ui. The runner was killed before connecting under local ad-hoc signing.

macOS 27.0, Apple silicon, Xcode 27.0 (27A5194q), Swift 6.4.

• I followed the conventions and workflow, checked for duplicate PRs and kept this change focused.
• I added regression coverage for bug fixes or explained why automated coverage is impractical, and reported the relevant validation above.

Screenshots

Not applicable. The UI does not change, only how fresh the data behind the list is.

AI assistance

• AI was used to generate or assist with generating this PR.

Claude Code (Claude Opus 5.5) found the cause, wrote the patch and ran the checks above. Codex (gpt-6-astra) reviewed it. I reported the bug in #235 and reviewed the diff.

[Copilot]

Copilot review overview

🔵 Needs a closer look

Existing installed-package test doubles must support the new outdated --quiet invocation, and the fallback should validate exact command arguments.

Review effort: Lite
Findings: None

What changed in this PR

Updates installed-package refreshes to run brew outdated --quiet before fetching brew info, allowing Homebrew to manage auto-update timing.

Changes:

• Replaces conditional updates with auto-update-aware brew outdated --quiet.
• Removes obsolete brew config environment detection.
• Updates repository wiring, command doubles, and refresh tests.

File	Summary
Tests/​BrewRepositoriesTests/​BrewInstalledPackagesTapRefreshTests.swift	Tests refresh ordering and throttling; command fallback should reject unexpected arguments.
Tests/​BrewRepositoriesTests/​BrewInstalledPackagesRepositoryTests.swift	Updates repository test coverage and command runners.
Tests/​BrewCLITests/​BrewConfigEnvironmentReaderTests.swift	Removes obsolete reader tests.
Sources/​BrewServicesTestSupport/​InstalledPackagesTestSupport.swift	Simplifies repository test wiring.
Sources/​BrewServicesTestSupport/​CommandRunnerDoubles.swift	Updates command doubles for installed-package queries.
Sources/​BrewRepositories/​BrewInstalledPackagesRepository.swift	Runs brew outdated --quiet before fetching installed package information.
Sources/​BrewCore/​Operations/​HomebrewEnvironmentReading.swift	Removes the obsolete environment-reading protocol.
Sources/​BrewCLI/​Config/​BrewConfigEnvironmentReader.swift	Removes the obsolete configuration reader.

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[SMillerDev]

Why run brew outdated when what you need is the implicit brew update it runs?

[dergachoff]

This runs on its own, on app launch and after every install. So I kept brew's auto-update rules: calling brew update directly ignores HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE. outdated respects it.

[dergachoff]

But for intentional button press it won't work for those with "no auto" flags. Makes sense to split into outdated for background and update for hotkey/button. On it 🫪

[dergachoff]

Pushed 2b19184. Refresh, Try Again and ⌘R now run brew update. App launch and the refresh after installs still run outdated, so they follow the user's auto-update settings.

[MikeMcQuaid]

App launch and the refresh after installs still run outdated, so they follow the user's auto-update settings.

Makes no sense to run brew outdated and throw away the results. Run brew update --auto-update or brew update-if-needed instead.