appstack

Feed it yaml; install everything.

appstack example.yml

appstack is a tool which will install OS X apps based on what it finds in a yaml file. It will happily skip over installed apps and so can be safely run again and again. appstack can handle apps installed via command line, app, Homebrew, and npm. And if those tools are missing, the yaml file can be configured to install them first.

See example.yml to get an idea of how it works.

Install

Open a terminal and run this command:

curl https://raw.github.com/suderman/appstack/master/install.sh | sh

Or, clone the repo

Download and copy appstack somewhere in your path, ie:

git clone https://github.com/suderman/appstack.git
cp appstack/appstack /usr/local/bin

Usage

This tool is only as useful as the yaml file you set up.

appstack expects a big hash, with every key identifying each app. The value of each key should be another hash, declaring which installer to use, options to pass, commands to run before/after, and app prerequisites. However, a single string can often be used as a short-form alternative to the hash.

###Basic Usage The simplest apps to install use no tools other than the command line. This example installs app:

app: curl https://raw.github.com/suderman/app/master/install.sh | sh

###Usage with Hombrew Here's complex example using Homebrew:

php53: 
  use: brew 
  opt: --with-mysql --with-cgi
  tap: josegonzalez/php
  run: |
    echo "These commands get run after "
    echo "a successful installation!"

Often, you only need to be this verbose when including post-install commands. If we took those out, the above example could be rewritten to one line:

php53: brew --with-mysql --with-cgi josegonzalez/php

###Usage with npm Installing with npm is just as easy:

coffee-script: npm

However, you'll need to expand the syntax to its longer form if you wish to include other options, like run or pre. pre is like run, except those commands get executed before the install. Alternatively, it can also be used to pre-require any apps before installing the current one.

Here's a long-form npm install, with pre:

uglify-js: 
  use: npm
  pre: [coffee-script, underscore]

###Usage with app app is an OS X installer which handles files ending in zip, dmg, app, pkg, mpkg, fxplug, moef, & safariextz. It can handle local files and URLs (just make sure the path ends with the actual filename and extension).

Here's an example installing Dropbox, with a post-install command:

Dropbox.app: 
  use: https://ddr3luum8vl5r.cloudfront.net/Dropbox%201.4.9.dmg
  run: mv -f /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/check.icns /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/check.icns.bak

This is a single line example which installs Google Chrome:

Google Chrome.app: https://dl.google.com/chrome/mac/stable/GGRO/googlechrome.dmg

It can also handle Mac App Store links (although the actual installation of them is not scriptable):

Reeder.app: macappstore://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/reeder/id439845554?mt=12

Check example.yml for more information on what can be done.

###Bootstrap appstack will process the yaml file alphabetically, but some apps really ought to installed before everything else. In your yaml file, include a line with array of apps, and those will be addresed in that order:

bootstrap: [app, llvm-gcc, gcc, brew, node, npm]

Options

If you only want to check your yaml file without actually installing anything, you can pass the -c option:

appstack -c example.yml

appstack is polite and won't overwrite existing apps without asking. You can skip this check by passing the -f option:

appstack -f example.yml