brew issues with 2 casks that have been removed

[eatstorming]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 6.0.11-155-g860497f
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 860497fef02b98811b838f522beb1578b5c5c14c
Last commit: 32 minutes ago
Branch: main
Core tap: N/A
Core cask tap: N/A
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /usr/local
HOMEBREW_BAT_THEME: Catppuccin-mocha
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: nvim
HOMEBREW_FORCE_BREWED_CURL: set
HOMEBREW_NO_ASK: set
Homebrew Ruby: 4.0.6 => /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/4.0.6/bin/ruby
CPU: dodeca-core 64-bit kabylake
Clang: 17.0.0 build 1700
Git: 2.55.0 => /usr/local/bin/git
Curl: 8.21.0 => /usr/local/opt/curl/bin/curl
macOS: 15.7.7-x86_64
CLT: 26.3.0.0.1.1771626560
Xcode: 26.3

Output of brew doctor

==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json
Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
with debugging if you file an issue. If everything you use Homebrew for is
working fine: please don't worry or file an issue; just ignore this. Thanks!

Warning: Some installed casks are deprecated or disabled.
You should find replacements for the following casks:
    aegisub
  qbittorrent

Warning: You have unlinked kegs in your Cellar.
Leaving kegs unlinked can lead to build-trouble and cause formulae that depend on
those kegs to fail to run properly once built. Run `brew link` on these:
  isort
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json

Description of issue

I have 2 casks installed (clashx-pro and samsung-portable-ssd-t5) that have been removed from Homebrew. I remember seeing messages about them being deprecated, but did not expect that fact to break basic brew functionality.

I don't use either of them and I'm fine getting rid of them. The problem is that I don't know how.

The obvious first attempt was brew uninstall clashx-pro samsung-portable-ssd-t5:

==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
Error: Failure while executing; `/usr/bin/env /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/curl --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --user-agent Homebrew/6.0.11-155-g860497f\ \(Macintosh\;\ Intel\ Mac\ OS\ X\ 15.7.7\)\ curl/8.7.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --fail --progress-bar --remote-time --output /Users/fs/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/cask/clashx-pro.json --location --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --show-error --user-agent Homebrew/6.0.11-155-g860497f\ \(Macintosh\;\ Intel\ Mac\ OS\ X\ 15.7.7\)\ curl/8.7.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --fail --progress-bar --compressed --speed-limit 100 --speed-time 5 --write-out \%\{stderr\}HTTP\ status:\ \%\{http_code\} https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json` exited with 22. Here's the output:
#=#=-   #        #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 curl: (22) The requested URL returned error: 404

HTTP status: 404

Then brew uninstall clashx-pro samsung-portable-ssd-t5, same thing:

==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
Error: Failure while executing; `/usr/bin/env /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/curl --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --user-agent Homebrew/6.0.11-155-g860497f\ \(Macintosh\;\ Intel\ Mac\ OS\ X\ 15.7.7\)\ curl/8.7.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --fail --progress-bar --remote-time --output /Users/fs/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/cask/clashx-pro.json --location --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --show-error --user-agent Homebrew/6.0.11-155-g860497f\ \(Macintosh\;\ Intel\ Mac\ OS\ X\ 15.7.7\)\ curl/8.7.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --fail --progress-bar --compressed --speed-limit 100 --speed-time 5 --write-out \%\{stderr\}HTTP\ status:\ \%\{http_code\} https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json` exited with 22. Here's the output:
#=#=-   #        #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 curl: (22) The requested URL returned error: 404

HTTP status: 404

Sure, whatever. I could ignore warnings about packages not being updatable, but the problem is that now brew cannot perform even a simple brew update && brew upgrade anymore:

==> Updating Homebrew...
Already up-to-date.
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json

Just brew upgrade then:

==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/samsung-portable-ssd-t5.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/clashx-pro.json

Seems to exit "gracefully" ($? Is 0), but it is not doing what it is supposed to. brave-browser needs upgrading and it's not getting to that point. A brew upgrade brave-browser:

==> Fetching downloads for: brave-browser
✔︎ Cask brave-browser (1.92.141.0)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Downloaded  163.8MB/163.8MB
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
brave-browser 1.92.140.0 -> 1.92.141.0
==> Upgrading brave-browser
  1.92.140.0 -> 1.92.141.0
==> Backing up App 'Brave Browser.app' to '/usr/local/Caskroom/brave-browser/1.92.140.0/Brave Browser.app'
==> Removing App '/Applications/Brave Browser.app'
==> Moving App 'Brave Browser.app' to '/Applications/Brave Browser.app'
==> Purging files for version 1.92.140.0 of Cask brave-browser
🍺  brave-browser was successfully upgraded!
==> Upgraded 1 outdated package
brave-browser 1.92.140.0 -> 1.92.141.0

How can I remove packages that don't exist in Homebrew anymore?

[eatstorming]

Found some answers, good enough for my case.

To make brew stop looking for formulae/casks that are not there anymore, you need to remove the directories for them from /usr/local/Caskroom/. In my case, I just did a mv /usr/local/Caskroom/{clashx-pro,samsung-portable-ssd-t5} ~/tmp/ (~/tmp/ already existed).

I don't actually care about the apps, so after that and confirming that brew seems to be working fine again, I manually removed the apps from the Macbook Pro. I guess I could have kept them, but considering how I have not used either one in at least 1 year, I don't need them.

[p-linnane]

Thanks for the report. Should be fixed by Homebrew/brew#23210.