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https://github.com/mattnite/gyro

A Zig package manager with an index, build runner, and build dependencies.
https://github.com/mattnite/gyro

package-manager zig

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A Zig package manager with an index, build runner, and build dependencies.

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README 

        



# gyro: a zig package manager



> A gyroscope is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation



[![Linux](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/workflows/Linux/badge.svg)](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/actions?query=workflow%3ALinux) [![windows](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/workflows/windows/badge.svg)](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/actions?query=workflow%3Awindows) [![macOS](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/workflows/macOS/badge.svg)](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/actions?query=workflow%3AmacOS)







---



GYRO IS NOW ARCHIVED, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR FEEDBACK AND TIME. ZIG NOW HAS AN OFFICIAL PACKAGE MANAGER AND DAMN IT'S GOOD.



Table of contents

=================

* [Introduction](#introduction)

* [Installation](#installation)

  * [Building](#building)

* [How tos](#how-tos)

  * [Initialize project](#initialize-project)

    * [Setting up build.zig](#setting-up-buildzig)

    * [Ignoring gyro.lock](#ignoring-gyrolock)

  * [Export a package](#export-a-package)

  * [Publishing a package to astrolabe.pm](#publishing-a-package-to-astrolabepm)

  * [Adding dependencies](#adding-dependencies)

    * [From package index](#from-package-index)

    * [From a git repo](#from-a-git-repo)

    * [From Github](#from-github)

    * [From url](#from-url)

    * [Build dependencies](#build-dependencies)

  * [Removing dependencies](#removing-dependencies)

  * [Local development](#local-development)

  * [Update dependencies -- for package consumers](#update-dependencies----for-package-consumers)

  * [Use gyro in Github Actions](#use-gyro-in-github-actions)

    * [Publishing from an action](#publishing-from-an-action)

  * [Completion Scripts](#completion-scripts)

* [Design philosophy](#design-philosophy)

* [Generated files](#generated-files)

  * [gyro.zzz](#gyrozzz)

  * [gyro.lock](#gyrolock)

  * [deps.zig](#depszig)

  * [./gyro/](#-gyro-)



## Introduction



Gyro is an unofficial package manager for the Zig programming language.  It

improves a developer's life by giving them a package experience similar to

cargo.  Dependencies are declared in a [gyro.zzz](#gyrozzz) file in the root of your

project, and are exposed to you programmatically in the `build.zig` file by

importing `@import("deps.zig").pkgs`.  In short, all that's needed on your part

is how you want to add packages to different objects you're building:



```zig

const Builder = @import("std").build.Builder;

const pkgs = @import("deps.zig").pkgs;



pub fn build(b: *Builder) void {

    const exe = b.addExecutable("main", "src/main.zig");

    pkgs.addAllTo(exe);

    exe.install();

}

```



To make the job of finding suitable packages to use in your project easier,

gyro is paired with a package index located at

[astrolabe.pm](https://astrolabe.pm).  A simple `gyro add alexnask/iguanaTLS`

will add the latest version of `iguanaTLS` (pure Zig TLS library) as a

dependency.  To build your project all that's needed is `gyro build` which

works exactly like `zig build`, you can append the same arguments, except it

automatically downloads any missing dependencies.  To learn about other If you

want to use a dependency from github, you can add it by explicitly with `github

add -s github / []`.  `` is an optional arg which can be

a branch, tag, or commit hash, if not specified, gyro uses the default branch.



## Installation



In order to install gyro, all you need to do is extract one of the [release

tarballs](https://github.com/mattnite/gyro/releases) for your system and add the

single static binary to your PATH. Gyro requires the latest stable version of

the Zig compiler (0.10.1 at time of writing)



### Building



If you'd like to build from source, the only thing you need is the Zig compiler:



```

git clone https://github.com/mattnite/gyro.git

cd gyro

zig build -Drelease-safe

```



## How tos



Instead of just documenting all the different subcommands, this documentation

just lists out all the different scenarios that Gyro was built for. And if you

wanted to learn more about the cli you can simply `gyro  --help`.



### Initialize project



If you have an existing project on Github that's a library then you can populate

[gyro.zzz](#gyrozzz) file with metadata:



```

gyro init /

```



For both new and existing libraries you'd want to check out [export a

package](#export-a-package), if you don't plan on [publishing to

astrolabe](#publishing-a-package-to-astrolabepm) then ensuring the root file is

declared is all that's needed. For projects that are an executable or considered

the 'root' of the dependency tree, all you need to do is [add

dependencies](#adding-dependencies).



#### Setting up build.zig



In build.zig, the dependency tree can be imported with



```zig

const pkgs = @import("deps.zig").pkgs;

```



then in the build function all the packages can be added to an artifact with:



```zig

pkgs.addAllTo(lib);

```



individual packages exist in the pkgs namespace, so a package named `mecha` can

be individually added:



```zig

lib.addPackage(pkgs.mecha)

```



#### Ignoring gyro.lock



[gyro.lock](#gyrolock) is intended for reproducible builds. It is advised to add it to

`.gitignore` if your project is a library.



### Export a package



This operation doesn't have a cli equivalent so editing of [gyro.zzz](#gyrozzz)

is required, if you followed [initializing a project](#initialize-project) and

grabbed metadata from Github, then a lot of this work is done for you -- but

still probably needs some attention:



- the root file, it is `src/main.zig` by default

- the version

- file globs describing which files are actually part of the package. It is

  encouraged to include the license and readme.

- metadata: description, tags, source\_url, etc.

- [dependencies](#adding-dependencies)



### Publishing a package to astrolabe.pm



In order to publish to astrolabe you need a Github account and a browser. If

your project exports multiple packages you'll need to append the name, otherwise

you can simply:



```

gyro publish

```



This should open your browser to a page asking for a alphanumeric code which you

can find printed on the command line. Enter this code, this will open another

page to confirm read access to your user and your email from your Github

account. Once that is complete, Gyro will publish your package and if successful

a link to it will be printed to stdout.



An access token is cached so that this browser sign-on process only needs to be

done once for a given dev machine.



If you'd like to add publishing from a CI system see [Publishing from an

action](#publishing-from-an-action).



### Adding dependencies



#### From package index



```

gyro add /

```



#### From a git repo



Right now if the repo isn't from Github then you can add an entry to your `deps`

like so:



```

deps:

  pkgname:

    git:

      url: "https://some.repo/user/repo.git"

      ref: main

      root: my/root.zig

```



#### From Github



If you add a package from Github, gyro will get the default branch, and try to

figure out the root path for you:



```

gyro add --src github /

```



#### From url

Note that at this time it is not possible to add a dependency from a url using

the command line. However, it is possible to give a url to a .tar.gz file by

adding it to your `gyro.zzz` file.



```yaml

deps:

  pkgname:

    url: "https://path/to/my/library.tar.gz"

    root: libname/rootfile.zig

```



In this example, when `library.tar.gz` is extracted the top level directory is

`libname`. 



#### Build dependencies



It's also possible to use packaged code in your `build.zig`, since this would

only run at build time and not required in your application or library these are

kept separate from your regular dependencies in your project file.



When you want to add a dependency as a build dep, all you need to do is add

`--build-dep` to the gyro invocation.  For example, let's assume I need to do

some parsing with a package called `mecha`:



```

gyro add --build-dep mattnite/zzz

```



and in my `build.zig`:



```zig

const Builder = @import("std").build.Builder;

const pkgs = @import("gyro").pkgs;

const zzz = @import("zzz");



pub fn build(b: *Builder) void {

    const exe = b.addExecutable("main", "src/main.zig");

    pkgs.addAllTo(exe);

    exe.install();



    // maybe do some workflow based on gyro.zzz

    var tree = zzz.ZTree(1, 100){};

    ...

}

```



### Removing dependencies



Removing a dependency only requires the alias (string used to import):



```

gyro rm iguanaTLS

```



### Local development



One can switch out a dependency for a local copy using the `redirect`

subcommand. Let's say we're using `mattnite/tar` from astrolabe and we come

across a bug, we can debug with a local version of the package by running:



```

gyro redirect -a tar -p ../tar

```



This will point gyro at your local copy, and when you're done you can revert the

redirect(s) with:



```

gyro redirect --clean

```



Multiple dependencies can be redirected. Build dependencies are redirected by

passing `-b`. You can even redirect the dependencies of a local package.



HOT tip: add this to your git `pre-commit` hook to catch you before accidentally

commiting redirects:



```

gyro redirect --check

```



### Update dependencies -- for package consumers



Updating dependencies only works for package consumers as it modifies

[gyro.lock](#gyrolock). It does not change dependency requirements, merely resolves the

dependencies to their latest versions. Simply:



```

gyro update

```



Updating single dependencies will come soon, right now everything is updated.



### Use gyro in Github Actions



You can get your hands on Gyro for github actions

[here](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/setup-gyro), it does not install

the zig compiler so remember to include that as well!



#### Publishing from an action



It's possible to publish your package in an action or other CI system. If the

environment variable `GYRO_ACCESS_TOKEN` exists, Gyro will use that for the

authenticated publish request instead of using Github's device flow. For Github

actions this requires [creating a personal access

token](https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token)

with scope `read:user` and `user:email` and [adding it to an

Environment](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/encrypted-secrets#creating-encrypted-secrets-for-a-repository),

and adding that Environment to your job. This allows you to access your token in

the `secrets` namespace. Here's an example publish job:



```yaml

name: Publish



on: workflow_dispatch



jobs:

  publish:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    environment: publish

    steps:

      - uses: mattnite/setup-gyro@v1

      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - run: gyro publish

        env:

          GYRO_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GYRO_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

```



### Completion Scripts



Completion scripts can be generated by the `completion` subcommand, it is run

like so:



```

gyro completion -s  

```



Right now only `zsh` is the only supported shell, and this will create a `_gyro`

file in the install path. If you are using `oh-my-zsh` then this path should be

`$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/completions`.



## Design philosophy



The two main obectives for gyro are providing a great user experience and

creating a platform for members of the community to get their hands dirty with

Zig package management. The hope here is that this experience will better

inform the development of the official package manager.



To create a great user experience, gyro is inspired by Rust's package manager,

Cargo. It does this by taking over the build runner so that `zig build` is

effectively replaced with `gyro build`, and this automatically downloads missing

dependencies and allows for [build dependencies](#build-dependencies). Other

features include easy [addition of dependencies](#adding-dependencies) through

the cli, [publishing packages on

astrolabe.pm](#publishing-a-package-to-astrolabepm), as well as local

development.



The official Zig package manager is going to be decentralized, meaning that

there will be no official package index. Gyro has a centralized feel in that the

best UX is to use Astrolabe, but you can use it without interacting with the

package index. It again comes down to not spending effort on supporting

everything imaginable, and instead focus on experimenting with big design

decisions around package management.



## Generated files



### gyro.zzz



This is your project file, it contains the packages you export (if any),

dependencies, and build dependencies. `zzz` is a file format similar to yaml but

has a stricter spec and is implemented in zig.



A map of a gyro.zzz file looks something like this:

```yaml

pkgs:

  pkg_a:

    version: 0.0.0

    root: path/to/root.zig

    description: the description field

    license: spdix-id

    homepage_url: https://straight.forward

    source_url: https://straight.forward



    # these are shown on astrolabe

    tags:

      http

      cli



    # allows for globbing, doesn't do recursive globbing yet

    files:

      LICENSE

      README.md # this is displayed on the astrolabe

      build.zig

      src/*.zig



  # exporting a second package

  pkg_b:

    version: 0.0.0

    ...



# like 'deps' but these can be directly imported in build.zig

build_deps:

  ...



# most 'keys' are the string used to import in zig code, the exception being

# packages from the default package index which have a shortend version

deps:

  # a package from the default package index, user is 'bruh', its name is 'blarg'

  # and is imported with the same string

  bruh/blarg: ^0.1.0



  # importing blarg from a different package index, have to use a different

  # import string, I'll use 'flarp'

  flarp:

    pkg:

      name: blarg

      user: arst

      version: ^0.3.0

      repository: something.gg



  # a git package, imported with string 'mecha'

  mecha:

    git:

      url: "https://github.com/Hejsil/mecha.git"

      ref: zig-master

      root: mecha.zig



  # a raw url, imported with string 'raw' (remember its gotta be a tar.gz)

  raw:

    url: "https://example.com/foo.tar.gz"

    root: bar.zig



  # a local path, usually used for local development using the redirect

  # subcommand, but could be used for vendoring or monorepos

  blarg:

    local: deps/blarg

    root: src/main.zig

```



### gyro.lock



This contains a lockfile for reproducible builds, it is only useful in compiled

projects, not libraries. Adding gyro.lock to your package will not affect

resolved versions of dependencies for your users -- it is suggested to add this

file to your `.gitignore` for libraries.



### deps.zig



This is the generated file that's imported by `build.zig`, it can be imported

with `@import("deps.zig")` or `@import("gyro")`. Unless you are vendoring your

dependencies, this should be added to `.gitignore`.



### .gyro/



This directory holds the source code of all your dependencies. Path names are

human readable and look something like `--` so in many

cases it is possible to navigate to dependencies and make small edits if you run

into bugs. For a more robust way to edit dependencies see [local

development](#local-development)



It is suggested to add this to `.gitignore` as well.