"legacy" and "modern" bundles and tools ( jpm / jeep / janet-pm )

[stevebeisner]

I'm relatively new to Janet, so maybe I've missed something. I've read a half-dozen or so papers/blogs/documents on the subject (see title of this discussion), but after becoming minimally fluent in Janet, itself, I'm still at a loss about best practice for packaging / bundles / etc.

Is there an existing or developing consensus on choosing modern vs legacy bundles for new development? And what about tools? Are we condemned to understand/use several different tools at various levels of official support? Honestly, the ambiguity surrounding this subject feels (to me) very unlike the clarity associated with the Janet language itself.

Do the people most influential in the excellent Janet project have opinions and recommendations for these issues? I'd love to hear. And thanks to the creators and contributors to Janet!

[bakpakin]

So my advice is basically - if you are not writing C or any other system language, use the old style packages (project.janet) as they should work both with jpm and janet-pm (spork). Spork will automatically create the bundle stuff for you so it just works.

If you are extending C but only in a very simple manner, both will work. project.janet is pretty general but can get confusing and difficult once customization is needed.

For other languages (rust, zig, etc.) or more complicated flows with custom compilers, flags, etc., I would recommend spork and using bundles. It's more verbose but breaks things out into steps.

Either way, try installing spork first and using janet-pm instead of jpm.

[taoeffect]

Thank you, I'm a bit confused though as to how to install janet-pm and how to install/use spork!

The docs say:

[sudo] janet --install .

That doesn't work:

-> % janet --install .
error: unable to infer bundle name for "/home/user/path", use :name argument or add :name to info file
  in errorf [boot.janet] on line 207, column 3
  in bundle/install [boot.janet] on line 4440, column 5
  in <anonymous> [boot.janet] (tail call) on line 4847, column 18
  in cli-main [boot.janet] on line 4884, column 

Then they later say:

First, make sure you have Janet and jpm installed. See the Janet docs for more information on this.

Clicking on the jpm link gives me:

AccessDeniedAccess DeniedFGMYBX237XZF64DYIqhuWdEI0DyiV2brrzg1BAoADmR63UOdhHNiOWKtwXqNfx7SPANFGKgBTj1TC9Adh6bGYcIqIFI=

I'm totally confused and at a loss. How does one get started with Spork? 🤔

Sorry for the total newbie question! (Love Janet btw! I redirected the newlisp community to using it as newLISP is no longer maintained)

[bakpakin]

That doesn't work:

You need to CD into the directory from which you cloned spork. In total (assuming Janet is installed):

git clone https://github.com/janet-lang/spork.git
cd spork
sudo janet --install .

(You may or may not need/want sudo).

Clicking on the jpm link gives me:

Looks like a bad link, here is the updated link

https://janet-lang.org/jpm/index.html

[taoeffect]

Thank you!

[stevebeisner]

Thanks Calvin. The advice is much appreciateed!

…

On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 2:39 PM Calvin Rose ***@***.***> wrote: So my advice is basically - if you are not writing C or any other system language, use the old style packages (project.janet) as they should work both with jpm and janet-pm (spork). Spork will automatically create the bundle stuff for you so it just works. If you are extending C but only in a very simple manner, both will work. project.janet is pretty general but can get confusing and difficult once customization is needed. For other languages (rust, zig, etc.) or more complicated flows with custom compilers, flags, etc., I would recommend spork and using bundles. It's more verbose but breaks things out into steps. Either way, try installing spork first and using janet-pm instead of jpm. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1748 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAEPMUS66AIOZGHM75G2BGL42N4VFAVCNFSM6AAAAACYZLIVWKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTMOBZGY2TCOI> . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>