bpkg

JavaScript has npm, Ruby has Gems, Python has pip and now Shell has bpkg!

bpkg is a lightweight bash package manager. It takes care of fetching the shell scripts, installing them appropriately, setting the execution permission and more.

You can install shell scripts globally (on ${PREFIX:-/usr/local/bin}) or use them on a per-project basis (on ${BPKG_DEPS:-./deps/}), as a lazy-man "copy and paste".

• Install
  • 0. Dependencies
  • 1. Install script
  • 2. clib
  • 3. Source Code
• Usage
  • Installing packages
  • Packages With Dependencies
  • Retrieving package info
• Package details
• bpkg.json
  • name
  • version (optional)
  • description
  • global
  • install
  • scripts
  • files
  • dependencies (optional)
• Packaging best practices
  • Package exports
• Sponsors
• License

Install

You can install bpkg from three distinct ways:

0. Dependencies

• curl
• coreutils

1. Install script

Our install script is the simplest way. It takes care of everything for you, placing bpkg and related scripts on /usr/local/bin.

You can install bpkg with the get.bpkg.sh endpoint:

curl -Lo - get.bpkg.sh | bash

Or optionally paste the following on your shell and you're good to go:

curl -Lo- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bpkg/bpkg/master/setup.sh" | bash

or by tag/version

curl -Lo- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bpkg/bpkg/1.0.15/setup.sh" | bash

2. clib

clib is a package manager for C projects. If you already have it, installing bpkg is a simple matter of:

clib install bpkg/bpkg

3. Source Code

To directly install bpkg from its source code you have to clone its repository and run the setup.sh script:

git clone https://github.com/bpkg/bpkg.git
cd bpkg
./setup.sh                             # Will install bpkg in $HOME/.local/bin
sudo ./setup.sh                        # Will install bpkg in /usr/local/bin.
PREFIX=/my/custom/directory ./setup.sh # Will install bpkg in a custom directory.

Usage

You use bpkg by simply sending commands, pretty much like npm or pip.

Installing packages

Packages can either be global (on ${PREFIX:-/usr/local/bin} if installed as root or ${PREFIX:-$HOME/.local/bin} otherwize) or local (under ${BPKG_DEPS:-./deps}).

For example, here's a global install for the current user of the term package:

bpkg install term -g
term

And the same package as a local install:

bpkg install term
./deps/term/term.sh

After a local install the term.sh script is copied as term to the deps/bin directory, you can add this directory to the PATH with

export PATH=$PATH:/path_to_bkpg/deps/bin

As a bonus, you can specify a specific version:

bpkg install jwerle/suggest.sh@0.0.1 -g

Note: to do that the packages must be tagged releases on the repository.

You can also install packages without a bpkg.json (or package.json). As long as there is a Makefile in the repository it will try to invoke make install as long as the -g or --global flags are set when invoking bpkg install.

For example you could install git-standup with an omitted bpkg.json (or package.json) because of the Makefile and the install target found in it.

bpkg install stephenmathieson/git-standup -g

    warn: bpkg.json doesn`t exist
    warn: package.json doesn`t exist
    warn: Trying `make install'...
    info: install: `make install'
cp -f git-standup /usr/local/bin

Packages With Dependencies

You can install a packages dependencies with the bpkg getdeps command. These will recursively install in deps/ sub-folders to resolve all dependencies.

Note: There is no protection against circular dependencies, so be careful!

Running packages with bpkg

You can run a package script with bpkg run which will install your package globally and execute it as a command

Retrieving package info

After installing a package, you can obtain info from it using bpkg.

Supposing you're on the root of a package directory, the following commands show that package metadata:

# Asking for single information
bpkg package name
 "bpkg"
bpkg package version
 "0.0.5"
# Dumping all the metadata
bpkg package
["name"]        "bpkg"
["version"]     "0.0.5"
["description"] "Lightweight bash package manager"
["global"]      true
["install"]     "make install"

Package details

Here we lay down some info on the structure of a package.

bpkg.json

Every package must have a file called bpkg.json (for backward-compatibility package.json can also be used); it specifies package metadata on the JSON format.

Here's an example of a well-formed bpkg.json:

{
  "name": "term",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Terminal utility functions",
  "scripts": [ "term.sh" ],
  "install": "make install"
}

All fields are mandatory except when noted. Here's a detailed explanation on all fields:

name

The name attribute is required as it is used to tell bpkg where to put it in the deps/ directory in you project.

  "name": "my-script"

version (optional)

The version attribute is not required but can be useful. It should correspond to the version that is associated with the installed package.

  "version": "0.0.1"

description

A human readable description of what the package offers for functionality.

  "description": "This script makes monkeys jump out of your keyboard"

global

Indicates that the package is only intended to be install as a script. This allows the omission of the -g or --global flag during installation.

  "global": "true"

install

Shell script used to invoke in the install script. This is required if the global attribute is set to true or if the -g or --global flags are provided.

  "install": "make install"

scripts

This is an array of scripts that will be installed into a project.

  "scripts": ["script.sh"]

files

This is an array of files that will be installed into a project.

  "files": ["bar.txt", "foo.txt"]

dependencies (optional)

This is a hash of dependencies. The keys are the package names, and the values are the version specifiers. If you want the latest code use 'master' in the version specifier. Otherwise, use a tagged release identifier. This works the same as bpkg install's package/version specifiers.

  "dependencies": {
    "term": "0.0.1"
  }

Packaging best practices

These are guidelines that we strongly encourage developers to follow.

Package exports

It's nice to have a bash package that can be used in the terminal and also be invoked as a command line function. To achieve this the exporting of your functionality should follow this pattern:

if [[ ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} != "$0" ]]; then
  export -f my_script
else
  my_script "${@}"
  exit $?
fi

This allows a user to source your script or invoke as a script.

# Running as a script
./my_script.sh some args --blah
# Sourcing the script
source my_script.sh
my_script some more args --blah

Sponsors

bpkg wouldn't be where it is today without the help of its authors, contributors, and sponsors:

• @socketsupply (socketsupply.co)
• @little-core-labs
• @littlstar (littlstar.com)
• @spotify (spotify.com)

Support this project by becoming a sponsor. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website. [Become a sponsor]

Contributors

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute. [Contribute].

Backers

Thank you to all our backers! 🙏 [Become a backer]

License

bpkg is released under the MIT license.

See file LICENSE for a more detailed description of its terms.