[MikeMcQuaid]

• Restrict default formula and cask lookup to names, with explicit APIs for audited path, bottle and content loading.
• Remove the internal environment override and make the old path restriction setting a no-op, including for developers.
• Deprecate retired loader entry points without restoring source evaluation when notices are suppressed.
• Cover rejection of implicit paths, source and installed fallbacks, and document the supported internal loading APIs.

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• Have you followed our Contributing guidelines?
• Have you checked for other open Pull Requests for the same change?
• Have you explained what your changes do? Performance claims (e.g. "this is faster") must include brew benchmark results.
• Have you explained why you'd like these changes included, not just what they do?
• For bug fixes, have you given step-by-step brew commands to reproduce the bug?
• Have you written new tests (excluding integration tests)? Here's an example.
• Have you successfully run brew lgtm (style, typechecking and tests) locally?

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• I did not use AI/LLM to create this PR, or I disclosed the tool/model below and reviewed its output; I did not attribute commits to AI and will answer maintainer questions and review comments myself without AI/LLM.

Codex with GPT 6 Astra at High effort, with local review and testing.

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[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review.

Recent review info

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• Review profile: CHILL
• Plan: Advanced
• Run ID: 3469e07b-db2b-4e90-8998-9370aad178ca

Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 439bc43 and 44f93e4.

Files selected for processing: 6

• Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb
• Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb
• Library/Homebrew/test/loader_deprecations_spec.rb
• Library/Homebrew/test/path_loading_spec.rb
• Library/Homebrew/utils/path.rb
• docs/Homebrew-Package-Policies.md

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 10 included reviews per hour; 3 remain after this review.

Summary

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Behaviour Changes

  • Formulae and casks can no longer be loaded through local paths, including in developer mode. Loading by package name remains available.
  • Implicit path- and URL-based loading is no longer supported. Deprecated loading methods may show notices or return errors; explicit source-loading methods remain available where supported.
  • Removed casks raise an unavailable error by default instead of loading from installed metadata.
  • HOMEBREW_FORBID_PACKAGES_FROM_PATHS no longer affects whether local packages can be loaded.

• Documentation

  • Updated package policy and command-line documentation to explain the local-path restriction and the setting’s no-op status.

Formula and cask lookup now uses package names instead of implicit paths, URLs, source strings, or object references. Path-based package loading is disabled, including in developer mode. Explicit source-loading methods remain available, and legacy loader entry points are deprecated or restricted.

Changes: Package loading

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Disable package-path loading Library/Homebrew/env_config.rb, Library/Homebrew/utils/path.rb, Library/Homebrew/brew.sh, Library/Homebrew/test/path_loading_spec.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/utils/path_spec.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/env_config_spec.rb, docs/Homebrew-Package-Policies.md, docs/Manpage.md, manpages/brew.1	The path-loading setting is now a no-op, and loadable_package_path? always returns false. Tests and documentation reflect the restriction.
Formula name lookup and source loading Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb, Library/Homebrew/formula.rb, Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/system_config.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/formulary_spec.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/loader_deprecations_spec.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/path_loading_spec.rb	Formula loader selection uses names. Implicit path, URL, cache, and keg discovery is removed or deprecated. factory no longer accepts from:; keg lookup retries an unqualified name and can fall back to the keg’s .brew file.
Cask name lookup and installed-file loading Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/cask/*, Library/Homebrew/test/support/helper/cask.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/loader_deprecations_spec.rb, Library/Homebrew/test/path_loading_spec.rb	Cask loader selection uses names. Installed-file loading checks the recorded metadata path. Legacy selectors and URL loading are deprecated or restricted.

Merge Risk: Minimal · up to 44f93

The previously reported lookup and documentation issues appear corrected. No actionable merge-blocking risk is established.

Pre-merge checks: 4

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: requiring explicit internal package source loading.
Description check		The description directly explains the changes to formula and cask lookup, path restrictions, loader deprecations, tests, and documentation.
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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