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https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync

🧰 Download pre-built binaries of all your favourite tools with a single command
https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync

cli hacktoberfest hacktoberfest2022 rust sync

Last synced: 11 months ago
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🧰 Download pre-built binaries of all your favourite tools with a single command

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README 

          
# tool-sync



[![GitHub CI](https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/workflows/CI/badge.svg)](https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/actions)

[![Latest GitHub release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/chshersh/tool-sync)](https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/releases/latest)

[![MPL-2.0 license](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MPL--2.0-blue.svg)](LICENSE)



`tool-sync` is a CLI tool that solves one problem:



**📥 Download pre-built binaries of all your favourite tools with a single command.**



`tool-sync` embraces the idea that configuring your personal development

environment should be as easy as possible. And the life is pretty easy when all

the tools are simple executables.



**So why not simply download all the executables you use and put them in a single place???** 🚀 😱



![tool-sync demo](./images/demo.gif)



> ℹ️ **DISCLAIMER:** `tool-sync` is developed and maintained in free time

> by volunteers. The development may continue for decades or may stop

> tomorrow. You can use

> [GitHub Sponsorship](https://github.com/sponsors/chshersh) to support

> the development of this project.



## Quick start guide



With `tool-sync`, you can install all the tools you use by following three

simple steps:



1. [Install `tool-sync`](#install).

2. [Configure](#configure) `tool-sync` by describing all the tools you want.

3. Run `tool sync`.



That's all! 🥳



The `tool sync` command does the following:



1. Fetches the information about tools from GitHub Releases

2. Automatically guesses the asset name from your OS for common tools

3. Downloads and unpacks assets

4. Copies binaries from unpacked assets to the location of your choice



## Features



`tool-sync` has several distinguished features that allows you to manage your

personal toolbox easily:



* 🚀 Installs the latest version of tools by default

* 🧹 Helps you to avoid boilerplate configuration for popular tools

* 📜 Configures via a simple TOML file

* ☸️ Cross-platform: works on Linux🐧, macOS🍏 and Windows💠

* 🪶 No runtime dependencies: doesn't require any other tools to do the job



## Limitations



Currently, `tool-sync` has a few limitations:



* Supports downloading pre-built binaries only from GitHub Releases

* Doesn't support other configuration besides downloading the binary

  (e.g. copying additional assets or setting up auto-completion)

* Doesn't avoid downloading of the same version



## Project goals



> This project is created in pursue of the following goals. Feature requests not

> compatible with the following list of goals might be rejected.



1. **Learning Rust.**

    + I like learning by creating new things. I'm learning a lot while working

      on `tool-sync` and at the same time I find this tool useful for myself! So,

      please, don't ask "Why create another package manager?". It's not even a

      package manager 😒

2. **Single-command batch installation.**

    + Another `tool-sync` is to be able to configure it once and forget about it

      (ideally forever) and use with the minimal overhead. Installing lots of

      tools with a single command helps achieving this goal.

3. **Informative messages.**

    + When something doesn't work, it should be clear "Why?" and

      "How to fix it?". `tool-sync` strives to provide good error messages (but

      this is an endless work).



## Install



### From binary releases (recommended)



You can install `tool-sync` directly from GitHub releases in a few steps:



1. Go to the [latest release](https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/releases/latest).

2. Download an asset for your OS.

3. Unpack the `tool` executable to a desired location.



Good news, you only need to do this once! `tool-sync` will automatically manage

future installations of itself (if you add it to your config).



> ℹ️ Installing pre-built binaries for `tool-sync` is the recommended option

> because they are:

>

>   + **Statically linked** (so they work out-of-the-box on every system)

>   + **Stripped** (so their size is reduced)



### From crates



You can use `cargo` to install the latest published version of `tool-sync` from crates:



```shell

cargo install tool-sync

```



### From sources



You can install the latest version of `tool-sync` from sources (requires `git`

and `cargo`):



```shell

git clone https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync

cd tool-sync

cargo build --release

./target/release/tool --version

```



## Configure



Before using `tool-sync`, you need to configure it by specifying the location

for downloading the tools and listing all the tools you want.



By default `tool-sync` reads the configuration from from the `$HOME/.tool.toml`

path. But you can specify a custom location via the

`--config=/path/to/my/config` flag.



### Autocomplete



`tool-sync` can generate it's own autocomplete scripts for some common shell

emulators. you can run `tool completion --help` to see the supported shells.



If you decide to rename the `tool` binary a `--rename` flag will help make sure

the autocompletion will keep working.



The following example will assume you have renamed the binary to `random-name`

and you are using bash. You can run the following command to get completion for

the current session of your shell.



```shell

random-name completion bash --rename random-name

```



If you want to have these autocomplete functions in the next (and the ones after

that) as well you can add the following to your `~/.bashrc`:



```shell

eval "$(random-name completion bash --rename random-name)"

```



### Quick start



`tool-sync` has a command to generate a default configuration with examples and

field description. Simply generate it into a file and edit it:



```shell

tool default-config > ~/.tool.toml  # generate the default config

vim ~/.tool.toml                    # open it with an editor of your choice

```



### Simple example



Below you can find a simple configuration example:



```toml

# a directory to store all tools

store_directory = "~/.local/bin"



# the following tools will be installed in 'store_directory'

[bat]

[difftastic]

[exa]

[fd]

[ripgrep]

```



> ℹ️ `tool-sync` automatically expands the tilde `~` and environment variables

> (e.g `$HOME`) in the `store_directory` field.



You can also quickly copy the above configuration to the default path by running

the following command (Unix-only):



```shell

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chshersh/tool-sync/main/example-tool-sync-config.toml > ~/.tool.toml

```



The above example config lists some tools natively supported by `tool-sync` and

therefore they don't require extra configuration.



### Advanced configuration



To specify a tool not supported by `tool-sync`, add a TOML table entry and list

all the required fields like in the example below:



```toml

[tokei]

owner    = "XAMPPRocky"  # GitHub username

repo     = "tokei"       # GitHub repository

exe_name = "tokei"       # Executable name inside the asset



# uncomment to download a specific version or tag

# tag = "12.1.1"



# Asset name to download on linux OSes

asset_name.linux = "x86_64-unknown-linux-musl"



# Uncomment if you want to install on macOS as well

# asset_name.macos = "apple-darwin"



# Uncomment if you want to install on Windows as well

# asset_name.windows = "x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"

```



> ℹ️ `tool-sync` searches asset name using the _substring search_. That's why

> you don't need to specify the full asset name in the config, only the minimal

> part required for identifying the asset. However, `tool-sync` doesn't guarantee

> you to find the asset you need if multiple assets from the GitHub release match

> the substring.



All fields in each tool section are



+ **required for unknown tools,**

+ _optional for known tools._



This means that you can override only some of the fields for known tools.



This can be helpful if e.g. you want to install a custom version of `ripgrep`

from a forked repository. To do this, specify only the repository owner in the

config:



```toml

[ripgrep]

owner = "me"

```



## Usage



Install all the tools specified in `~/.tool.toml`:



```shell

tool sync

```



Install one tool specified in `~/.tool.toml`:



```shell

tool sync exa

```



Install all the tools from config in a different location:



```shell

tool --config=path/to/my/config.toml sync

```



Install a tool that is hardcoded in the known tools list:



```shell

tool install ripgrep

```



Print the default config to stdout:



```shell

tool default-config

```



Print the default config location to stdout:



```shell

tool default-config --path

```



Run `tool --help` for more details.



> :octocat: If you hit the limit for downloading assets or want to download

> assets from private repositories,

> [create a personal access token](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token)

> and export it as the `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable.



## Alternatives



This section contains `tool-sync` comparison to existing alternatives:



1. **Manual download**: you can download GitHub releases manually without using

   any extra tools.



   + **Pros**

     + No extra tools required, only your browser and unpack utility

   + **Cons**

     + Tedious manual process



2. **GitHub CLI**: you can download assets from releases using

   [the GitHub CLI tool `gh`][gh].



   ```shell

   gh release download --repo chshersh/tool-sync v0.0.0 --pattern='*linux*'

   tar -xvf tool-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

   ./tool --version

   ```



   + **Pros**

     + Using a more common tool (that you probably have)

   + **Cons**

     + Can't download multiple tools with a single command

     + Can't guess the asset name by your OS



3. [**home-manager**][home-manager]: provides a full-featured solution for

   managing a user environment using the Nix package manager.



   + **Pros**

     + Supports more than downloading tools from GitHub Releases

     + Access to the bigger Nix ecosystem

   + **Cons**

     + More complicated solution

     + Requires learning and using Nix



4. [**topgrade**][topgrade]: a CLI tool for automatically upgrading everything

   you have on your system. Its similar to `tool-sync` in a sense that it uses the

   latest version but it relies on existing packages managers and doesn't install

   new tools.



   + **Pros**

     + Leverages your existing package managers and their configuration

     + Support plugins, editor configs and much more besides executable tools

   + **Cons**

     + Only updates, doesn't install new



5. [**cargo-binstall**][cargo-binstall]:



   + **Pros**

     + Installs more Rust tools than `tool-sync` without configuration

     + Builds a tool from sources if it doesn't provide a binary release

   + **Cons**

     + Supports only Rust tools

     + Doesn't install multiple tools with a single command



6. [**dra**][dra]: the closest alternative to `tool-sync`. It's a CLI tool,

   written in Rust, that allows downloading individual releases easily.



   + **Pros**

     + Convenient interface for downloading a single release

   + **Cons**

     + Can't download multiple tools with a single command

     + Can't guess the asset name by your OS



7. [**clyde**][clyde]: another alternative to `tool-sync`



   + **Pros**

     + Package integrity checks

     + Supports man pages

     + Doesn't require to select a location for installing tools

   + **Cons**

     + Tools can't be installed if not added in a central repository

     + Can't install multiple tools with a single command

     + Has runtime dependencies: `git` and `tar`



[gh]: https://github.com/cli/cli

[home-manager]: https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager

[topgrade]: https://github.com/r-darwish/topgrade

[cargo-binstall]: https://github.com/cargo-bins/cargo-binstall/

[dra]: https://github.com/devmatteini/dra

[clyde]: https://github.com/agateau/clyde



## Adding a new tool



`tool-sync` contains [a database of common tools][db] and provides easier

support for them. It's possible to add more tools (and you can suggest them!).

The following list contains guidelines for including a new tool. They don't

serve as gatekeeping criteria but more as points system:



* 6 months passed since the tool release

    + So that the database won't be populated with fresh tools that are never

      supported

* At least 3 releases

    + To ensure stable naming scheme for assets

* Commonly used tool

    + `tool-sync` strives to be generic so it might not want to support a DNA

      analysis CLI tool which is useful only for a specific group

* The `tool-sync` author find the tool helpful

    + In the end, there're people behind `tool-sync` who maintain this project

      while the rest of the world benefits from it for free. At least, `tool-sync`

      authors decide what they want to use and whether they want to support a tool indefinitely.



[db]: https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/blob/main/src/sync/db.rs



## For contributors



Check [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/chshersh/tool-sync/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)

for contributing guidelines.



## Development



### Build



Use `cargo` to build the project and run all tests:



```shell

cargo build

cargo test

```



### Pre-commit hooks



There is a predefined `.pre-commit-config.yaml` that you can install using

[pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/). This will make sure the linting checks

are run locally before committing changes.



### Update the default config golden test



When changing the format of the default configuration, run the following command

to quickly update the golden `default-config.toml` test:



```shell

cargo run -- default-config > tests/default-config.toml

```