Lately I've been using devbox (nix wrapper) for my homebrew-like needs via "devbox global add <whatever>", for project specific setup I stick with mise (asdf-compatible)."

I don't like homebrew because I've been burnt multiple times because it often auto-updates when you least want it to and breaks project dependencies.

And there's no way to downgrade to a specific version. Real package managers typically support versioning.

If you're depending on specific versions, don't use a general system package manager, use something like mise or asdf.

I've been using MacPorts since before homebrew existed and never switched away.

MacPorts is a good alternative, but you'll find that Homebrew is absolutely not the worst. Personally, I find brew fast and reliable. Look at mise (`brew install mise`) for managing any developer dependencies. https://mise.jdx.dev/

I am a fan of Gentoo Prefix. Others like pkgsrc.

I've heard of some people using pkgsrc as their package manager in macOS. First time I heard about Gentoo Prefix. neat!

nix possible with lix, if you can stomach nix syntax.

devbox is a nice wrapper for nix syntax. thanks for the tip about lix, it looks like I can use devbox+lix instead of the determinate nix installer.

apt and yum/dnf are pretty great