nopkg

nopkg is a command-line tool to help you download files which doesn't have a regular package. nopkg is intended to wipe out the all-too-common workflow of hunting for an executable, downloading it to the right place, renaming it, etc.

After going through nopkg's setup process, all you have to do is run nopkg pull and the latest release artifact (which matches a regex) will be downloaded for you and saved to whatever filename you specify, optionally setting the executable bit.

Supported platforms:

• GitHub
• Planned: Gitea
• Planned: GitLab

If you have any suggestions for platforms feel free to make an issue or pull request.

Usage

You can run nopkg new to set up a new repository and it will guide you through setting everything up. Here is an example of what the command line looks output of this process is:

$ nopkg new
✔ Select the host · GitHub
✔ Use a GitHub enterprise domain? · no
✔ Pull from prereleases? · no
✔ Repository user · andreimarcu
✔ Repository slug · linx-server
✔ Regex of file to pull · linx-server-v.*_linux-amd64
✔ Output filename · linx-server
✔ Set executable bit? · yes
✔ Add another file? · no
» Upgrading andreimarcu/linx-server to version v2.3.7
    ✔ Downloaded file linx-server

Now, if a new version of the program is released, simply run nopkg pull:

$ nopkg pull
» Upgrading andreimarcu/linx-server to version v2.3.8
    ✔ Downloaded file linx-server

If you run pull while on the latest version, nopkg will report that it is up to date:

$ nopkg pull
✔ andreimarcu/linx-server up to date!

FAQ*

What is the use case for this? Why not just use a package?

For programs that have packages for your OS, you should prefer to use that. The main use for nopkg is for programs that, well, have no package. Creating a package for every program you might want to use certainly isn't trivially either, especially if you are using Debian or a derivative. nopkg helps avoid FrankenDebian or vendor dependency hell.

Is there a way to update all nopkg configs?

No, there is intentionally no way to do this. One of the common use cases is to download the latest executable for a server, in which each application should be isolated (ie. one application per user). If there was a singular update command, it would either have to be per-user (making it useless for this use-case) or run as root which does not seem very appropriate.

*: not actually frequently asked, but I have no idea what else to call this section