FAQ
Last updated
Last updated
pkgx?Typically you want to upgrade pkgx so either:
brew upgrade pkgx; or
curl -LSsf pkgx.sh | sh
Unless otherwise instructed, pkgx executes the latest version of packages thatare downloaded. The first time you run a package the latest version will be
downloaded, but after that updates will only be fetched if requested or required
by other packages.
For us neophiliacs we have written a [mash] script to upgrade your pkgx
packages:
Use .
A package is:
A plain tarball containing a single project for a single platform and architecture compiled from that project’s sources
A bundle of metadata (package.yml) from the [pantry]
Relative to some other packaging systems:
No scripts are executed post “install”
Packages must work from any location (we say our pkgs are “relocatable“)
The commonly used @ syntax would evaluate to v20.1.x (@20.1.3).
Which will match node v20.1.3 up to but not including v21.
+pkg syntax do?+pkg syntax is a way to include additional pkgs in your environment. Typingpkgx +deno dumps the environment to the terminal, if you add additional
commands then those commands are invoked in that environment.
We have created a [mash] script to list everything pkgx has downloaded:
All packages are encapsulated in individual, versioned folders in ~/.pkgx just
like brew so you can just browse them with a file browser.
Everything goes in ~/.pkgx. eg. Deno v1.2.3 is an independent POSIX prefix at~/.pkgx/deno.land/v1.2.3, thus the deno executable is at~/.pkgx/deno.land/v1.2.3/bin/deno.
We also create symlinks for majors, minors and latest:
Open source is vast and unregulated, thus we use fully-qualified naming scheme to ensure pkgs can be disambiguated.
~/.pkgx into my distributable app?Yes! Our pkgs are relocatable.
You can also recommend our shell one-liner if you like:
This is neat because pkgx is not installed and it runs your package from a
temporary location making this a very low friction way to try out your package.
Finally, you can have them try your package out via our Docker image:
pkgx?Then there are a couple platform specific cache/data directories:
Though not a problem unique to pkgx you should note that tools run with pkgx
may have polluted your system during use. Check directories like:
~/.local
~/.gem
~/.npm
~/.node
etc.
@ syntax?@3 → ^3
@3.1 → ~3.1
@3.1.2 → >=3.1.2<3.1.3
@3.1.2.3 → >=3.1.2.3<3.1.3.4
etc.
pkgx store filesPackages are downloaded to $PKGX_DIR if set. If not set:
macOS
~/Library/Packages if the directory exists
~/.pkgx otherwise
*nix
~/.pkgx if the directory exists
${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/pkgx otherwise
Some cache data is stored:
~/Library/Caches/pkgx on Mac
${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/pkgx on *nix
%LOCALAPPDATA%/pkgx on Windows
We error with a method to disambiguation, eg:
man foo won’t work since pkgx pkgs are not “installed”. Thus you have to first
create an environment that contains that package before invoking man:
This uses pkgx’s man tool. To use the system man:
pkgx GPG Public Key?Sorry about that. Open a asking for it and we’ll build it.
To provide more control we support the. So for the
given example we would use the caret (^):
Open source is ever moving and somebody needs to keep up with it. You may need to contribute to the .
We would love to support all platforms. All that is holding is back from new platforms is expertise. Will you help? .
You need to add to the .
The rules for @ are complex, but more human. We convert them to the following syntax:
.