pkgs - Unified Package Manager Interface

pkgs is a command-line tool that provides a unified interface for package management across different operating systems. It wraps around native package managers like apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman, and brew, allowing you to use the same commands regardless of the underlying system.

Features

• Unified commands across different operating systems (Linux distributions and macOS)
• Automatic detection of the system's package manager
• Support for common package management operations
• Intelligent privilege handling:
  • Automatic sudo elevation on Linux when required
  • No sudo usage on macOS with Homebrew (as recommended)
• Intelligent handling of package manager-specific behaviors

Supported Package Managers

• brew (macOS)
• apt (Debian, Ubuntu)
• dnf (Fedora, RHEL 8+)
• yum (CentOS, RHEL 7 and earlier)
• apk (Alpine)
• pacman (Arch)

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/mobydeck/pkgs.git
cd pkgs
just build
sudo just install

Using Go

git clone https://github.com/mobydeck/pkgs.git
cd pkgs
go build
sudo mv pkgs /usr/local/bin/

Just Commands

The project includes a justfile with the following commands:

# Build the application
just build

# Install the application to /usr/local/bin
just install

# Clean build artifacts
just clean

# Show the current version
just version

# Build for specific platforms
just build-linux-amd64
just build-macos-arm64
just build-windows-amd64

# Build for all platforms
just build-all

# Create release packages
just package

Usage

Basic Commands

These commands handle the package manager-specific details, making it easier to manage packages across different systems:

# Install packages
pkgs install nginx
pkgs i vim git curl

# Reinstall packages
pkgs reinstall nginx
pkgs ri vim git curl

# Remove packages
pkgs remove nginx
pkgs rm vim git curl

# Search for packages
pkgs search nginx
pkgs s python

# Show package information
pkgs info nginx
pkgs show vim

# Update package lists
pkgs update
pkgs up

# Upgrade all packages
pkgs upgrade
pkgs ug

# Remove unused packages
pkgs autoremove

# Clean package cache
pkgs clean

# Show which package manager is being used
pkgs which

# Show only the package manager name (useful for scripting)
pkgs which -s

For example, a script could now do something like:

PM=$(pkgs which -s)
if [ "$PM" = "apt" ]; then
    # Do something specific for apt systems
elif [ "$PM" = "brew" ]; then
    # Do something specific for Homebrew systems
fi

Repository Management

These commands handle the package manager-specific details, making it easier to manage repositories across different systems:

# Add a repository key
pkgs add-key [name] url

# Examples:
# For apt-based systems (Debian/Ubuntu)
pkgs add-key nodesource https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource.gpg.key

# For Alpine Linux
pkgs add-key alpine-key https://alpine-keys.example.com/key.rsa.pub

# Add a repository
pkgs add-repo [name] url

# Examples:
# For apt-based systems (Debian/Ubuntu)
pkgs add-repo nodesource "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.asc] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_20.x nodistro main"

# For dnf/yum-based systems (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS)
pkgs add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/fedora/docker-ce.repo

# For Alpine Linux
pkgs add-repo edge-testing https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing

# For Homebrew
pkgs add-repo homebrew/cask-fonts

# Enable a repository
pkgs enable-repo name

# Examples:
# For apt-based systems (Debian/Ubuntu)
pkgs enable-repo nodesource

# For dnf/yum-based systems
pkgs enable-repo docker-ce

# For Alpine Linux
pkgs enable-repo edge-testing

# Disable a repository
pkgs disable-repo name

# Examples:
# For apt-based systems (Debian/Ubuntu)
pkgs disable-repo nodesource

# For dnf/yum-based systems
pkgs disable-repo docker-ce

# For Alpine Linux
pkgs disable-repo edge-testing

# List all repositories with their status (enabled/disabled)
pkgs list-repos

Help and Version

# Show general help
pkgs --help

# Show command-specific help
pkgs install --help

# Show version information
pkgs --version

Non-Interactive Mode

For CI/CD pipelines and automation scripts, you can use the --yes or -y flag to run commands non-interactively:

# Install packages without prompting
pkgs -y install nginx

# Update and upgrade without prompting
pkgs -y update && pkgs -y upgrade

# Remove packages without prompting
pkgs -y remove nginx

This flag automatically adds the appropriate non-interactive flag to the underlying package manager:

• -y for apt, dnf, and yum
• --noconfirm for pacman
• No additional flag for brew and apk (as they're already non-interactive by default)

Alternatively, you can set the PKGS_YES environment variable to achieve the same effect:

# Set the environment variable for the current session
export PKGS_YES=true

# Now all commands will run in non-interactive mode
pkgs install nginx
pkgs update
pkgs remove nginx

# You can also set it for a single command
PKGS_YES=1 pkgs install nginx

The PKGS_YES environment variable accepts the following values (case-insensitive):

• true, yes, 1, y: Enable non-interactive mode
• Any other value or unset: Use the default interactive mode

Package Manager Specifics

Homebrew (macOS)

On macOS systems, pkgs automatically detects and uses Homebrew. Some key differences when using Homebrew:

• Commands never use sudo (as recommended by Homebrew)
• autoremove runs both brew autoremove to remove unused dependencies and brew cleanup to remove old versions
• remove uses brew uninstall instead of remove/purge
• reinstall uses brew reinstall to reinstall packages
• add-repo uses brew tap to add new taps
• add-key is not applicable for Homebrew
• list-repos shows all taps

Linux Package Managers

Each Linux package manager has its own specific implementation:

• apt (Debian/Ubuntu):
  • Uses --purge for thorough removal
  • Uses --reinstall flag for reinstalling packages
  • add-key saves keys to /etc/apt/keyrings/name.asc
  • add-repo creates files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/name.list
  • enable-repo uncomments entries in repository files
  • disable-repo comments out entries in repository files
  • list-repos shows repositories from /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
• dnf/yum (RedHat):
  • Uses check-update for the update command
  • Has a dedicated reinstall command
  • add-repo creates files in /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory
  • add-key provides guidance for using rpm --import
  • enable-repo sets enabled=1 in repository files
  • disable-repo sets enabled=0 in repository files
  • list-repos shows repositories from /etc/yum.repos.d/
• apk (Alpine):
  • Uses add and del instead of install/remove
  • Uses add --force-overwrite for reinstalling
  • add-key adds keys to /etc/apk/keys/
  • add-repo adds repositories to /etc/apk/repositories
  • enable-repo uncomments repository entries
  • disable-repo comments out repository entries
  • list-repos shows repositories from /etc/apk/repositories
• pacman (Arch):
  • Uses special flags like -S, -Rns, etc.
  • Uses -S --needed for reinstalling packages
  • add-key provides guidance for using pacman-key --add
  • add-repo provides guidance for manually editing /etc/pacman.conf
  • enable-repo and disable-repo provide guidance for manually editing /etc/pacman.conf
  • list-repos shows repositories from /etc/pacman.conf

Privilege Elevation on Linux

On Linux systems, package management operations typically require root privileges. The pkgs tool will:

1. Check if the current user has root privileges
2. If not, automatically use sudo to elevate privileges for commands that require it
3. If sudo is not available, provide a clear error message

Commands that require privilege elevation:

• install
• reinstall
• remove
• update
• upgrade
• autoremove
• clean
• add-key
• add-repo
• enable-repo
• disable-repo
• list-repos

License

MIT License

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.