I don't think Homebrew was so much reinventing the wheel, as it was trying to create a modern replacement in an era when MacPorts/DarwinPorts was stagnate and Fink was in a similar state of upheaval.
I remember having issues getting Fink and MacPorts to run correctly in the early days of Snow Leopard, which was frustrating if you needed a library. Homebrew came in, was easier to install and had less legacy code issues.
As for tbe package counts, I'd say most of those packages are probably relics from the PPC days. I was hesitant to switch to Homebrew, but in really do think it has a better implementation.
I did try MacPorts for the first time in over a year on a new system recently, and it has improved dramatically.
But really, package management systems are all about reinventing the wheel. I'm glad both projects are active.
I remember having issues getting Fink and MacPorts to run correctly in the early days of Snow Leopard, which was frustrating if you needed a library. Homebrew came in, was easier to install and had less legacy code issues.
As for tbe package counts, I'd say most of those packages are probably relics from the PPC days. I was hesitant to switch to Homebrew, but in really do think it has a better implementation.
I did try MacPorts for the first time in over a year on a new system recently, and it has improved dramatically.
But really, package management systems are all about reinventing the wheel. I'm glad both projects are active.