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https://github.com/maoueh/clivers

Command line tool versions manager
https://github.com/maoueh/clivers

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Command line tool versions manager

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README 

        
# Clivers



This gem has been built to ease switching multiple versions

of command line tools like Ruby, Python, Notepad++, etc. It

is not installer, it's a tool to switch already installed

software.



By using a configuration file and some conventions, the

tool will be able to locate your program and switch

between multiple version of the same command line tool by

tweaking the environment variables, usually simply the

PATH one.



## Installation



Install it via [rubygems](https://rubygems.org/gems/clivers)



    $ gem install clivers



## Usage



The first thing to do is to create a `.clivers` file in your home

directory. This file will contains the information needed

to know exactly where to look for programs. This file

has a strict format. Here an example of a `.clivers` file

that would be located at `~/.clivers`:



```yaml

python:

  path: "C:/Python"



ruby:

  path: "C:/Ruby"

  executables:

    - "bin/"



vagrant:

  path: "C:/Vagrant"

  executables:

   - "bin/"

```



 * **Important**

   Always use foward slash `/` when specifying

   path values, even on Windows.



Now, let see how to interpret this file and also how

Clivers interpret it.



The first level is the name of the command line tool to

manage. In our case, we have two, `python` and `ruby`.

The name will be the id of the program and is used,

by Clivers in his own cli commands, so choose a short

and sweet name.



The second level contains parameters that can be required

or optional and will be used by Clivers to setup your

environment correctly.



 * **Path**



   Can be specified with the key `path` and represents

   the location where all version of the program is

   installed. For the path to work correctly, you will

   need to follow certain conventions when installing

   the different version of the program. See section

   [Conventions](https://github.com/maoueh/clivers#conventions)

   below.



 * **Executables**



   Can be specified with the key `executables` and

   represents the different locations within a program

   that must be added to the PATH environment. This is

   an array so multiple executables path can be

   specified. Only directory are allowed for this

   parameter.



   When specifying an executable path, you can use `~` as

   a shortcut for your home directory and `.` as a

   shortcut for the program directory. Those shortcuts

   work even on Windows. See section

   [Conventions](https://github.com/maoueh/clivers#conventions)

   to understand where the program directory (`.`) will

   resolve to.



   As an example of a usage of `executables`, take the

   `ruby` program specified in the configuration file

   above. When installing Ruby, the executables are all

   found in the `bin/` directory within the program

   directory. So specifying the path with `bin/` (or

   `./bin/`) will ensure that it will be added to the

   PATH environment correctly.



### Conventions



To be able to work, Clivers will need to follow a

specific but loose convention when installing the

different command line tool software. The convention

is to install all the different versions in different

folders  all located at the same root where the each

folder name represents the version of the software.



Let take an a simple example with `Ruby`. You want

to work with two version of `Ruby`: `1.8.7` and

`1.9.3`. Here a possible layout you could have after

both installation:



```

    C:/Ruby

    ├── 1.8.7

        └── bin/

        └── ...

    └── 1.9.3

        └── bin/

        └── ...

```



Now, with this hierarchy and this config fragment in the

`.clivers` file:



```yaml

ruby:

  path: "C:/Ruby"

  executables:

    - "bin/"

```



Clivers will know that version `1.8.7` of Ruby is at

location `C:/Ruby/1.8.7` and that the `bin/` directory

within the location must be added to PATH when switching

version.



### Commands



This section list the various commands that can be executed

and their effects on your system.



TBC and more important TBI!



## Contributing



1. Fork it



2. Create either a fix branch or a feature branch

 * `git checkout -b fix-(name-here)`

 * `git checkout -b feature-(name-here)`



3. Commit your changes

 * `git commit -am 'Message describing the fix or feature'`



4. Push the branch into your repo

 * `git push origin feature-(name-here)`



5. Create new Pull Request