GitHub - phukon/sprout: 🌱 Package manager designed to compile & install packages directly from their git repository.

(🌱 plant and grow your packages efficiently!)

sprout is a minimalist, source-based package manager built with Bun. It automatically detects build systems, resolves dependencies, compiles from source, and manages installations all from Git repositories.

Features

Git-Native: Install packages directly from any Git repository
Auto-Detection: Automatically detects and uses the appropriate build system
Multi-Version Support: Install multiple versions of the same package side-by-side
Dependency Resolution: Automatically installs dependencies from pkgdeps files
Build System Support: Cargo, CMake, Make, Meson, Go, Python (pipx), Zig, Nimble, and more
Custom Build Scripts: Support for custom bldit build scripts
Source-Based: Always compiles from source for your specific system
Decentralized: No central registry required—any Git repo can be a package

Requirements

Git
Root/sudo access (for system-wide installation)
Build tools for your target packages (gcc, make, cmake, cargo, etc.)

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases:

# Download the binary for your platform
# Make it executable
chmod +x sprout-linux-x64

# Install system-wide (requires sudo)
sudo mv sprout-linux-x64 /usr/local/bin/sprout

Build from Source

If you prefer to build from source using Bun.js:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/phukon/sprout.git
cd sprout

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Build sprout
bun run build:binaries

# Make it available system-wide (requires sudo)
sudo ln -s $(pwd)/dist/cli.js /usr/local/bin/sprout

Quick Start

# Add a package repository
sprout ar https://github.com/aristocratos/btop

# Install a package
sprout i btop

# Install a specific version
sprout i btop:v1.2.13

# Install directly from a Git URL
sprout ir https://github.com/aristocratos/btop v1.2.13

# List installed packages
sprout l

# Search for packages
sprout s keyword

# Update all packages
sprout u

# Remove a package
sprout r btop

# Switch between versions
sprout switch btop v1.2.13

# List available versions
sprout versions btop

How It Works

Architecture Overview

sprout follows a pipeline architecture:

Repository → Clone → Dependencies → Build → Install → Symlink

1. Repository Management

Repositories are stored as plain text URLs in /etc/sprout/repos/repos:

https://github.com/aristocratos/btop
https://github.com/sharkdp/fd
https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep

When you install a package, sprout searches through registered repositories to find a matching package name.

2. Git Clone

Packages are cloned into /var/sprout/build/[package]/[version]/:

# Example structure
/var/sprout/build/
  ├── btop/
  │   ├── HEAD/          # Latest from main/master
  │   └── v1.2.13/       # Specific version
  └── ripgrep/
      └── HEAD/

sprout uses shallow clones (--depth 1) for faster downloads.

3. Dependency Resolution

Dependencies are declared in pkgdeps files:

Project-level (/path/to/repo/pkgdeps):

https://github.com/user/dependency1
https://github.com/user/dependency2 v1.0.0

User-defined (/etc/sprout/deps/[package].pkgdeps):

https://github.com/user/custom-dep

Dependencies are installed recursively before building the main package.

4. Build System Detection

sprout automatically detects the build system by looking for specific files:

Build System	Detection File	Install Command
Cargo	`Cargo.toml`	`cargo install --git`
CMake	`CMakeLists.txt`	`cmake .. && make`
Make	`Makefile`	`make`
Meson	`meson.build`	`meson setup build && meson compile`
Go	`go.mod`	`go install`
Python	`pyproject.toml`	`pipx install`
Zig	`build.zig`	`zig build`
Nimble	`*.nimble`	`nimble install`
Autotools	`configure`	`./configure && make`
pnpm	`pnpm-lock.yaml`	`pnpm install && pnpm run build`

Detection Order:

Custom bldit script in /etc/sprout/bldit/[package]
Project bldit script in repository root
Registered build strategies (tried in order)

5. Custom Build Scripts

For packages with complex build processes, you can create custom bldit scripts:

System-wide: /etc/sprout/bldit/[package]

#!/bin/bash

bldit() {
    cd "$1"  # Build directory passed as first argument
    
    # Custom build commands
    ./autogen.sh
    ./configure --prefix=/usr
    make -j$(nproc)
}

Project-level: Repository root bldit file (shipped with the package)

6. File Installation

After building, sprout scans the build directory for:

Executables: Files with execute permissions
Libraries: .so, .a, .o files
Headers: .h, .hpp files
Special directories: include/, lib/, bin/

Files are copied to:

/var/sprout/pkgs/[package]/[version]/    # Executables
/usr/lib/                                # Libraries
/usr/include/                            # Headers

7. Symlink Creation

Executables are symlinked to /usr/bin/ for easy access:

# Standard symlink (points to active version)
/usr/bin/btop -> /var/sprout/pkgs/btop/v1.2.13/btop

# Version-specific symlinks (always point to specific versions)
/usr/bin/btop:v1.2.13 -> /var/sprout/pkgs/btop/v1.2.13/btop
/usr/bin/btop:v1.3.0 -> /var/sprout/pkgs/btop/v1.3.0/btop
/usr/bin/btop:HEAD -> /var/sprout/pkgs/btop/HEAD/btop

This allows:

Multiple versions to coexist
Easy version switching (change standard symlink target)
Run specific versions directly: btop:v1.2.13
Clean uninstallation

Directory Structure

/var/sprout/
  ├── pkgs/              # Installed packages
  │   └── [package]/
  │       ├── HEAD/      # Latest version
  │       ├── v1.0.0/    # Specific versions
  │       └── v2.0.0/
  └── build/             # Build directories (temporary)
      └── [package]/
          └── [version]/

/etc/sprout/
  ├── repos/
  │   └── repos          # List of package repositories
  ├── deps/
  │   └── [package].pkgdeps  # Custom dependencies
  └── bldit/
      └── [package]      # Custom build scripts

/usr/bin/                # Symlinks to executables
  ├── package            # Standard symlink (points to active version)
  ├── package:v1.0.0     # Version-specific symlink
  └── package:v2.0.0     # Version-specific symlink
/usr/lib/                # Shared libraries
/usr/include/            # Header files

Advanced Usage

Adding Multiple Repositories

From a file:

sprout arp repos.txt

From a URL:

sprout arp https://example.com/repos.txt

Managing Dependencies

Create a custom dependency file:

sudo nano /etc/sprout/deps/mypackage.pkgdeps

Add dependencies:

https://github.com/user/dep1
https://github.com/user/dep2 v1.0.0

Custom Build Scripts

Create a custom build script:

sudo nano /etc/sprout/bldit/mypackage

#!/bin/bash

bldit() {
    local build_dir="$1"
    cd "$build_dir"
    
    # Your custom build commands
    ./configure --with-custom-flags
    make -j$(nproc)
    make install DESTDIR="$2"  # $2 is the install directory
}

Make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /etc/sprout/bldit/mypackage

Version Management

# Install specific version
sprout i package:v1.2.3

# Install latest (HEAD)
sprout i package

# Install multiple versions
sprout i package:v1.0.0
sprout i package:v2.0.0
sprout i package:HEAD

# Switch active version
sprout switch package v1.0.0

# List available versions
sprout versions package

# Remove specific version (keeps other versions)
sprout r package:v1.2.3

# Remove all versions
sprout r package

# List all versions of a package
sprout l | grep package

Listing Package Files

# See all files installed by a package
sprout f btop

Package Repository Format

To make your project installable with sprout, ensure:

It's a Git repository (obviously!)
It has a supported build system (Cargo.toml, Makefile, CMakeLists.txt, etc.)
(Optional) Include a pkgdeps file in the root for dependencies
(Optional) Include a bldit script for custom build logic

Example `pkgdeps`

# Dependencies for my project
https://github.com/dependency/one
https://github.com/dependency/two v2.1.0

Example `bldit`

#!/bin/bash

bldit() {
    local build_dir="$1"
    local install_dir="$2"
    
    cd "$build_dir"
    
    # Custom build process
    ./autogen.sh
    ./configure --prefix="$install_dir"
    make -j$(nproc)
    make install
}

Troubleshooting

Package not found

# Make sure the repository is added
sprout ar https://github.com/user/package

# Or install directly
sprout ir https://github.com/user/package

Build fails

# Check if required build tools are installed
which make cmake cargo go

# View build directory for manual inspection
ls -la /var/sprout/build/[package]/[version]/

Permission denied

# sprout needs root access for system-wide installation
sudo sprout i package

Locale errors (like btop)

# Install locales in your system/container
sudo apt-get install locales
sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8

# Or run with UTF-8 forced
btop --force-utf

Roadmap

Parallel dependency installation
Build caching
Binary package support (optional)
Dependency graph visualization
Version pinning and lock files
Plugin system for custom build strategies
Package metadata and descriptions
Rollback mechanism

Why sprout?

Advantages:

No central registry bottleneck
Always get the latest code
Optimized for your specific system
Full source transparency
Easy to package your own projects
Multiple versions coexist peacefully

Inspired by pkgit

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 4 Commits
.github		.github
docs		docs
src		src
.gitignore		.gitignore
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
build-binaries.js		build-binaries.js
bun.lock		bun.lock
package.json		package.json
test-multi-version.js		test-multi-version.js
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

Uh oh!

License

phukon/sprout

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Features

Requirements

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Build from Source

Quick Start

How It Works

Architecture Overview

1. Repository Management

2. Git Clone

3. Dependency Resolution

4. Build System Detection

5. Custom Build Scripts

6. File Installation

7. Symlink Creation

Directory Structure

Advanced Usage

Adding Multiple Repositories

Managing Dependencies

Custom Build Scripts

Version Management

Listing Package Files

Package Repository Format

Example pkgdeps

Example bldit

Troubleshooting

Package not found

Build fails

Permission denied

Locale errors (like btop)

Roadmap

Why sprout?

About

Topics

Resources

License

Uh oh!

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases 1

Sponsor this project

Uh oh!

Packages 0

Languages

Example `pkgdeps`

Example `bldit`

Packages