Brew info reports a formula installed that is not installed

[jasonkarns]

brew doctor output

$ brew doctor
Your system is ready to brew.

Verification

• My "brew doctor output" above says Your system is ready to brew. and am still able to reproduce my issue.
• I ran brew update twice and am still able to reproduce my issue.
• This issue's title and/or description do not reference a single formula e.g. brew install wget. If they do, open an issue at https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/issues/new/choose instead.

brew config output

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.4.20
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 47ef1a3b0b742a78be35c016df6a0279d6035ebb
Last commit: 9 days ago
Branch: stable
Core tap JSON: 12 Feb 17:09 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 12 Feb 17:09 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_BUNDLE_USER_CACHE: /Users/jason.karns/.cache/bundler
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: vim
HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN: set
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 12
HOMEBREW_SORBET_RUNTIME: set
HOMEBREW_UPDATE_TO_TAG: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.7 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.7/bin/ruby
CPU: dodeca-core 64-bit arm_blizzard_avalanche
Clang: 16.0.0 build 1600
Git: 2.48.1 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 15.3-arm64
CLT: 16.2.0.0.1.1733547573
Xcode: 16.2
Rosetta 2: false

What were you trying to do (and why)?

I was trying to find the url for a formula that i have installed in order to share it with colleagues.

The utility I wanted to share was git-sync, but the one I have installed is from a tap, not core. There is a conflicting formula on core titled git-sync.

What happened (include all command output)?

I ran:

$ brew info git-sync
==> git-sync: stable 4.4.0 (bottled), HEAD
Clones a git repository and keeps it synchronized with the upstream
https://github.com/kubernetes/git-sync
Conflicts with:
  git-extras (because both install `git-sync` binaries)
Installed
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/git-sync/1.0.0 (7 files, 1.8MB) *
  Built from source on 2025-02-12 at 12:07:43
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/g/git-sync.rb
License: Apache-2.0
==> Dependencies
Build: go ✘
Required: coreutils ✔
==> Options
--HEAD
	Install HEAD version
==> Analytics
install: 44 (30 days), 81 (90 days), 331 (365 days)
install-on-request: 44 (30 days), 82 (90 days), 331 (365 days)
build-error: 0 (30 days)

To get the formula URL. But I know this to be not the formula that I have installed. Despite brew info reporting that it is installed.

I eventually found the tap formula and was able to reproduce the bug whereby brew reports a formula as installed that is decidedly not installed.

What did you expect to happen?

I expected brew info git-sync to perhaps include a note that a conflicting formula (from a tap) is already installed. But at the very least, I expected brew info git-sync to tell me that it was not installed because the core formula is indeed not installed. In addition to it incorrectly stating it's installed, it even gives installation date/method that are from the tap's formula, not the core formula.

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

1. Ensure it's not installed: `brew rm git-sync`
2. Inspect that brew says it's not installed: `brew info git-sync`
3. Install from the tap: `brew install jacobwgillespie/tap/git-sync`
4. See that brew now incorrectly reports git-sync installed: `brew info git-sync`