Brew upgrade ran from another app error: undefined method `exitstatus' for nil

[Pe8er]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.4.3
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 91f3671b16fe62121364c465c14e0dfd088d7ead
Last commit: 7 days ago
Core tap JSON: 03 Nov 20:34 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 03 Nov 20:34 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.5 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.5/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit arm_blizzard_avalanche
Clang: 16.0.0 build 1600
Git: 2.39.5 => /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 15.1-arm64
CLT: 16.1.0.0.1.1729049160
Xcode: 16.1
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

Your system is ready to brew.

Description of issue

I have a brew widget in my Sketchybar setup. What is important: when I click on widget icon, it attempts to run command

brew update && brew upgrade

And the upgrade command errors out. Note: if I run this command via terminal, it works normally.

Here's my widget code:

#!/bin/zsh

# Load global styles, colors and icons
source "$CONFIG_DIR/globalstyles.sh"

brew=(
  "${notification_defaults[@]}"
  icon=$ICON_PACKAGE
  script="$PLUGIN_DIR/brew.sh"
  click_script="brew update && brew upgrade"
)

sketchybar --add item  brew right            \
           --set       brew "${brew[@]}"

Error output:

==> Updating Homebrew...
Already up-to-date.
==> Upgrading 2 outdated packages:
libheif 1.18.2_1 -> 1.19.1
icu4c@76 76.1 -> 76.1_1
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/ic
Error: undefined method `exitstatus' for nil
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:388:in `initialize'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `new'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `run!'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:40:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:25:in `system_command'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb:158:in `curl_with_workarounds'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb:233:in `curl_output'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb:580:in `curl_output'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb:509:in `curl_version'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb:239:in `curl_headers'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb:207:in `curl_download'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb:546:in `_curl_download'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb:542:in `_fetch'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb:428:in `fetch'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/downloadable.rb:103:in `fetch'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/resource.rb:155:in `fetch'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/software_spec.rb:417:in `fetch_tab'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb:3173:in `fetch_bottle_tab'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb:1289:in `fetch_bottle_tab'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb:573:in `compute_dependencies'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb:277:in `verify_deps_exist'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb:264:in `prelude'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/upgrade.rb:71:in `block in upgrade_formulae'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/upgrade.rb:52:in `each'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/upgrade.rb:52:in `filter_map'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/upgrade.rb:52:in `upgrade_formulae'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/upgrade.rb:219:in `upgrade_outdated_formulae'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/upgrade.rb:136:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:94:in `<main>'
Please report this issue:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Troubleshooting

Here's what I tried:

• Changed the command to brew shellenv; brew update && brew upgrade as per this suggestion
• Changed the command to include absolute paths, i.e. /opt/homebrew/bin/brew update && /opt/homebrew/bin/brew upgrade
• Applied the fix from Common Issues page but "$(brew --repository)/Library/Contributions/examples" directory doesn't exist on my system.
• Reinstalled brew

OS: MacOs 15.1
Shell: zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)
Sketchybar: v2.21.0

I have a feeling something is wrong with my shell environment, but I don't know where to look. Any insight would be appreciated!!

[gromgit]

Spitballing here, since you seem to have done the obvious checks and come up empty...

Try changing your click script to:

brew config > /tmp/brew-cfg.log 2>&1 ; brew doctor > /tmp/brew-doctor.log 2>&1 ; brew update && brew upgrade

then check the contents of those files against manual runs of brew config and brew doctor to see if there's any difference.

[Pe8er]

Thanks for the pointer, @gromgit! The difference is pretty substantial, looks like these commands error out too:

brew-doctor.log

Error: undefined method `exitstatus' for nil
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:388:in `initialize'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `new'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `run!'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:40:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:25:in `system_command'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/git.rb:20:in `version'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/git.rb:14:in `available?'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/diagnostic.rb:130:in `examine_git_origin'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/diagnostic.rb:520:in `check_brew_git_origin'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb:59:in `block in run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb:52:in `each'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb:52:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:94:in `<main>'
Please report this issue:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Troubleshooting

brew-cfg.log

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.4.4
Error: undefined method `exitstatus' for nil
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:388:in `initialize'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `new'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:74:in `run!'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:40:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_command.rb:25:in `system_command'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/git.rb:20:in `version'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/utils/git.rb:14:in `available?'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/git_repository.rb:129:in `popen_git'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/git_repository.rb:33:in `origin_url'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_config.rb:49:in `origin'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_config.rb:142:in `homebrew_config'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/system_config.rb:185:in `dump_verbose_config'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/mac/system_config.rb:44:in `dump_verbose_config'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmd/config.rb:21:in `run'
/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:94:in `<main>'
Please report this issue:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Troubleshooting

[gromgit]

Your (system?) Ruby might be b0rked. Try this click script:

export HOMEBREW_FORCE_VENDOR_RUBY=1 ; brew config > /tmp/brew-cfg.log 2>&1 ; brew doctor > /tmp/brew-doctor.log 2>&1 ; brew update && brew upgrade

and see if it gets you further.