poof 🪄 - magic manager of pre-built software

Easy to use zero-config, zero-install, zero-dependencies binary manager in user-space that works like magic!

"poof-poof"

What poof says when it makes awesome pre-built software available for you!

"I am poof"

What poof thinks of itself

Note: this project is actively being developed. I'm making ongoing improvements to the code while trying to maintain stability and up-to-date documentation. However, things may break. If you encounter some issues during this development phase, please report them. Thank you!

Features

• 🛠️ Zero-config: Works immediately without any setup required for first run
• 📦 Zero-install: Simply download the binary for your platform and use it right away
• 🔗 Zero-dependencies: It runs standalone without requiring any additional software
• 👤 User-space: Designed to work in user-space, no root access needed
• 🌍 Cross-platform: Works on Linux (macOS, FreeBSD and Windows support is planned)
• 🚀 Easy to use: Just run poof and it will do the rest

Bonus:

• ⚙️ Written in Rust: with linting and formatting applied at commit time
• 0️⃣ Zero-versioned: because major versions are a thing of the past (and poof, albeit magic, is baby).

Why

More and more often modern tools are built with languages like Rust and Go, and offer pre-built binaries. But they aren't always available in standard package managers. Here's where poof helps:

• Download and put in $PATH binaries from GitHub with a single command
• Install tools discovered on sites like Terminal Trove instantly
• Test newer versions of tools before they reach official repositories without uninstalling your current version
• Fast jump on interesting utilities you read about without hassle
• Prefer use of pre-built, portable, self-contained binaries without involving system package managers

Quick start

1. Get poof using one of the methods below:

   • Pre-built binary: Download the latest pre-built binary from releases page, and put it in your $PATH
   • From source: Build and install to $HOME/.cargo/bin compiling from source. You need to have Rust installed.

   cargo install --locked --git https://github.com/pirafrank/poof --tag VERSION
   

   Note: Replace VERSION with the desired version to install. Not specifying a tag will install from main branch. main branch should be stable, but it's unreleased software and may contain bugs or breaking changes. It should considered beta quality software.

2. Add poof's bin directory to $PATH. Paste:

   export PATH="${HOME}/.local/share/poof/bin:${PATH}"
   

   to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc.

3. Done! Now try to install something, for example:

   poof install pirafrank/rust_exif_renamer
   

About poof's bin directory

After installing poof, you need to add its bin directory to your $PATH. Be sure it is at the beginning of your $PATH so that it takes precedence over any other version of the same binary you may have installed other ways.

For example, for Linux you add the following line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file:

export PATH="${HOME}/.local/share/poof/bin:${PATH}"

Having a dedicated directory for poof binaries is a good practice, as it allows you to:

• keep them separate from other software installed on your system,
• keep them separate from paths you may manually edit (like ~/.local/bin),
• easily temporarily disable poof by removing the directory from your $PATH (see below).

Usage

Easy to use zero-config, zero-install, zero-dependencies manager of pre-built software that works like magic

Usage: poof [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  download  Only download binary for the platform in current directory. No install
  install   Download binary for the platform and install it
  version   Show version information
  help      Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -v, --verbose...  Increase logging verbosity
  -q, --quiet...    Decrease logging verbosity
  -h, --help        Print help
  -V, --version     Print version

Disable

If you want to disable poof, you can do so by removing its bin directory from your $PATH.

You can do this by commenting out the line you added to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file, or by removing the directory from $PATH variable in your shell session.

Uninstall

To uninstall poof, just delete the binary from your $PATH.

If you have installed it using cargo, you can uninstall it with:

cargo uninstall poof

Project goals

• Fetch and put in $PATH pre-built binaries available on Internet
• Work without requiring buckets, repositories, or registries
• Work out-of-the-box with no setup or configuration needed
• Be designed to in user-space
• Be as cross-platform as possible
• Be easy to use, with sensible and ergonomic commands and options
• Have no external dependencies

Non-goals

• Build software from source code
• Manage software that doesn't provide pre-built binaries
• Act as a general package manager
• Manage software installed by other tools or package managers
  • Replace or modify binaries installed by other package managers
  • Manage dependencies required by the software
  • Handle language-specific package managers (pip, npm, cargo, etc.)
  • Interface with system package managers (apt, yum, brew, etc.)

Roadmap

A list of features implemented/to implement is available in the ROADMAP file. The list is not final and may change over time.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the CONTRIBUTING file for details on how to contribute to this project. Please make sure to follow the code of conduct when contributing.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgements

poof software is born out of a necessity of mine, yet its name is a tribute to the much more famous poof.