PackagerBuddy

Overview

PackagerBuddy is a JSON config based software packager written entirely in Python.

Use Cases

• I set up (virtual) machines often and want to have a quick way of setting up software.
• I run multiple versions of the same software package.
• I don't like how software auto-updates and installs a newer version of itself.

Install

If you wish to install the current master, use the following command:

# latest master
pip install git+git://github.com/cedricduriau/packagerbuddy.git

# specific version
pip install git+git://github.com/cedricduriau/packagerbuddy.git@{RELEASE}

Usage

Setup

The setup command will create all directories required to function. By default these are installed in the user home directory. To change the default location, see see Configure.

packagerbuddy setup

Add software

The add command requires two arguments. The software argument used as alias to interact with, and the url argument which needs to be an url containing a version placeholder.

packagerbuddy add --software codium --url https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/releases/download/{version}/VSCodium-darwin-arm64-{version}.zip

Remove software

The remove command requires a single argument, the software argument, which needs to match an already added software. To list the available software packages, see avail command below.

packagerbuddy remove --software codium

List available software to install

The avail command prints all software names that are present in the config, supported by PackgerBuddy.

packagerbuddy avail

Install software

The install command requires two arguments. The software argument which needs to match an alias in the software config and the version argument which needs to form an existing download url. If the requested software version has already been installed, the install will stop.

packagerbuddy install --software codium --version 1.85.2.2401

Installing consists of five steps:

1. Download the software from the url in the configs to the designated download directory.
2. Unpack the downloaded content.
3. Install/move the unpacked content to the designated install directory.
4. Run the post install script from the designated scripts directory.

List installed software

The list command prints all installed software. PackagerBuddy knows the difference between ordinary directories and software it installed thanks to a package file which is written out at install time.

packagerbuddy list

Uninstalling

The uninstall command, well, does exactly that. It checks if the given software is installed at all and if so, proceeds to remove the file system contents in the designated install location.

The version argument is optional. If it is passed, only given version will be removed. If it is not passed, all versions will be uninstalled of given software. Beware of this feature.

# uninstall all versions
packagerbuddy uninstall --software codium

# uninstall specific version
packagerbuddy uninstall --software codium --version 1.85.2.2401

Configure

Environment Variables

• PB_CONFIG : Path of the software config.
  • default: custom file in the user home. (~/.packagerbuddy/config/software.json)
• PB_DOWNLOAD : Directory the software will be downloaded to.
  • default: custom directory in the user home. (~/.packagerbuddy/downloaded)
• PB_INSTALL: Directory the software will be installed in.
  • default: custom directory in the user home. (~/.packagerbuddy/installed)
• PB_SCRIPTS: Directory of the post install scripts.
  • default: custom directory in the user home. (~/.packagerbuddy/scripts)

Examples

If you want to try out the example shipping with the repository, run following commands from the root of this repo:

cp -R ./darwin-arm64/examples/* ~/.packagerbuddy/