nimv: simple nim version manager

nimv is a simple nim version manager, that ensures versions of nim are built for the target platform especially with MacOS on ARM (Apple silicon). Check if you're running nim on Rosetta.

Requirements

Must be in your PATH:

• curl or wget
• git

Installation

On Linux

add-apt-repository ppa:egonatura/nimv
apt-get update
apt-get install nimv

On macOS

brew tap emizzle/nimv
brew install nimv

On Windows

choco install nimv

Usage

Usage: ./nimv.sh <command|version-tag>

Commands:
  installed      List all installed Nim versions
  available      List all available Nim versions
  current        Show current Nim version
  check          Verify correct installation and versions
  --version      Show script version
  --help         Show this help message

Parameters:
  version-tag    The Nim version to install (e.g., 2.0.14, 2.2.0)

Examples:
  ./nimv.sh 2.0.14      Install Nim version 2.0.14
  ./nimv.sh installed   List installed versions

Rosetta check

If you're on macOS and using choosenim, there's a chance you're running an emulated version of nim. To check, run:

file $(which nim)

If you're running on an emulated version (using Rosetta), you'll see something like:

/Users/foo/.nimble/bin/nim: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

If you're running a native binary, you'll see:

/Users/foo/.nimble/bin/nim: Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64

This can also be done with the check command in nimv:

nimv check
✓ Checking nim binary platform matches current platform
  /usr/local/bin/nim: Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64
✓ Checking nim binary version matches nim version selected with nimv
  Version matches: 2.0.14
✓ Checking if nimv has available updates
  Currently up-to-date: 0.0.4

The first two lines of the output indicate which binary nim has been compiled for and that it matches the platform of the current machine.

Under the hood

nimv clones and checkouts the nim version specified in the version-tag parameter. It then builds said version for the current platform target. Then it uses choosenim to do any symlinking needed for other tools in the ecosystem.

Credits

The main idea was inspired by Pierre from Summarity in his post on installing Nim v2.0 on Apple Silicon.