# Install install-nothing with Homebrew, Nix, winget

Simulates installing things but doesn't actually install anything. Version 0.5.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#install-nothing.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:install-nothing
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install install-nothing
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#install-nothing
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/in/install-nothing/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Windows

- winget (92%):

```sh
winget install --id buyukakyuz.install-nothing -e
```

  Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: buyukakyuz.install-nothing from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:install-nothing
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.5.0
- **Source summary:** Simulates installing things but doesn't actually install anything
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/buyukakyuz/install-nothing>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/buyukakyuz/install-nothing>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- install-nothing (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.5.0
## Project history and usage

install-nothing is a Rust terminal application that simulates installing things while deliberately not installing anything. Its package history is short, but it fits a recognizable CLI culture niche: a package-manager joke that is still distributed as a real executable.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in 2025. The README describes a terminal program that simulates installing things, includes an asciinema demo, and documents binary, source, and Docker usage.

Tagged releases began with early 0.x versions and reached v0.5.0 in 2025. The README exposes small controls for selecting or excluding simulated installation stages, keeping the joke interactive rather than a static message.

### Adoption history

The package crossed from a GitHub novelty into package-manager distribution. The input metadata records Homebrew, Nix, and Winget entries, and Homebrew packages the v0.5.0 source archive.

### How it is used

Users either run the downloaded binary, run it from source with Cargo, or run it in Docker. The command accepts optional stage names and an exclusion flag, then prints simulated installation progress until interrupted or completed.

### Why package nerds care

For package nerds, install-nothing is mostly a meta-package joke: a real formula whose purpose is to parody installer progress, bootstrap rituals, and the emotional texture of watching dependencies install.

Its significance is in the contradiction between function and packaging. The package has install instructions, releases, binaries, Docker support, and package-manager entries for a tool whose documented job is to do no real installation work.

### Timeline

- 2025: GitHub repository created.
- 2025: v0.3.0, v0.4.x, and v0.5.0 tags appear.
- 2025: Homebrew packages v0.5.0 from the GitHub source archive.

### Related projects

- install-nothing is related more to terminal demos, installer parodies, Rust CLIs, Cargo-built novelty tools, Homebrew joke packages, Nix packaging, and Winget distribution than to a functional dependency manager.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/buyukakyuz/install-nothing>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/buyukakyuz/install-nothing/releases>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/install-nothing.json>
- <https://github.com/buyukakyuz/install-nothing>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - install-nothing: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/in/install-nothing/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- winget - buyukakyuz.install-nothing: normalized package name match | Windows Package Manager source index: buyukakyuz.install-nothing from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/install-nothing.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/install-nothing.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph