brew repeatedly attempts and fails to update formula.jws.json

[mattly]

Output of brew config

> brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.3.1
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: e0bc557e7b991cb23583679e1cf1c8a92b793aeb
Last commit: 12 hours ago
Core tap JSON: 20 May 21:04 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 20 May 21:00 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: zed
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 10
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.1 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.1/bin/ruby
CPU: 10-core 64-bit arm_firestorm_icestorm
Clang: 15.0.0 build 1500
Git: 2.45.1 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.4.0 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 14.4.1-arm64
CLT: 15.3.0.0.1.1708646388
Xcode: 15.4
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

> brew doctor

==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
############################################################################################################################# 100.0%
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
############################################################################################################################# 100.0%
Warning: Failed to set filetime 1716237506 on
Warning: '/Users/mattly/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula.jws.json': No such
Warning: file or directory
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
############################################################################################################################# 100.0%
Warning: Failed to set filetime 1716237506 on
Warning: '/Users/mattly/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula.jws.json': No such
Warning: file or directory
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
############################################################################################################################# 100.0%
Warning: Failed to set filetime 1716237506 on
Warning: '/Users/mattly/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula.jws.json': No such
Warning: file or directory
Error: Cannot download non-corrupt https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json!

Description of issue

any attempt at update/upgrade or even doctor attempts to update this formula.jws.json file and then fails.

[SMillerDev]

That is the package definition so it's a pretty critical part of brew. What does this command say:

ls -al /Users/mattly/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula.jws.json

[mattly]

the file is missing

there was probably some output where brew update failed, but I've since lost it

[gromgit]

What's the output of:

ls -al ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api

?

[dana-lee-hub]

I'm having the same issue, but with the output of
-rw-r--r-- 1 danalee staff 27592434 Oct 2 23:53 /Users/danalee/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula.jws.json

when I tried your command.

[gromgit]

What's the output of:

ls -ld ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api

?

[mattly]

so it turns out some process had surreptitiously installed the intel version of Homebrew on my Apple Silicon mac, and this issue was related to that. I had to remove both installations of Homebrew, remove the ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew directory, and reinstall the Apple Silicon version in order to get it working again.

[ws1985productions]

I appreciate it; this worked for me as well installing version 8.0...but the other way around on my Intel Mac.

[franzqat]

I had the same issue. I run brew doctor and brew link freetype as it was suggested by brew doctor and it fixed the issue. Leaving the comment in case someone has the same problem.