xpm - uniX Package Manager

A universal package manager for any unix-like distro including macOS. Rewritten in Rust for maximum performance and portability.

What is xpm?

XPM is a package manager for unix systems like Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc. It can be a wrapper for native package managers or a package manager itself by using its way of installing packages. For the list of packages available, see xpm-popular.

Our key values

• Easy to install, update, upgrade, remove, search (and filter)
• No questions asked, can run in a non-interactive way
• Easy to create new installers or a full repository
• Be agnostic, following unix standards and relying on very known tools
• Include many popular distros, including macOS and Android (termux)
• Prefer native pm way and falls back to xpm way

Features

• Universal: Works on Linux (Arch, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE), macOS, and Android/Termux
• Fast: Built with Rust for maximum performance (~3MB static binary)
• Unified: Search and install packages from XPM repositories AND native package managers
• AUR Support: Full AUR helper support (paru, yay) on Arch Linux
• Offline-first: Local database with cached package metadata
• Script-based packages: Simple bash scripts for package installation

Supported Operating Systems & Package Managers

🎯 Integrated Support (Native PM with formatted search)

• Debian/Ubuntu & derivatives → APT
• Arch Linux → Pacman (with AUR support via Paru and Yay)

These systems get full native package manager integration with intelligent search, metadata extraction, and clean formatted output.

📜 Script-Based Support (via installers)

For other systems, XPM provides script-based installation through the xpm-popular repository:

Linux Distributions:

• Fedora → DNF
• openSUSE → Zypper
• Clear Linux → swupd
• Android (Termux) → pkg
• Alpine Linux → via custom scripts

macOS → Homebrew (brew) - via scripts

Installation

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/verseles/xpm.git
cd xpm

# Build
cargo build --release

# Install to /usr/local/bin
sudo cp target/release/xpm /usr/local/bin/

From Cargo

cargo install --git https://github.com/verseles/xpm.git

Quick Start

# Check your system
xpm check

# Add the default repository (pulls from xpm-popular)
xpm refresh

# Search for packages (searches XPM + native PM)
xpm search neovim

# Install a package
xpm install neovim

# Remove a package
xpm remove neovim

Commands

Command	Alias	Description
search	s	Search for packages (XPM + native PM)
install	i	Install a package
remove	rm	Remove a package
refresh	-	Refresh package database
upgrade	-	Upgrade installed packages (coming soon)
get	-	Download a file
file	-	File operations (copy, move, delete, bin)
repo	-	Repository management
checksum	hash	Compute file checksums
shortcut	-	Create desktop shortcuts
log	-	Show installed packages
check	-	Check system configuration
make	-	Create a package (coming soon)

Search Examples

# Basic search
xpm search vim

# Multiple terms
xpm search text editor

# Limit results
xpm search rust --limit 10

# JSON output (for scripts)
xpm search go --json

Architecture

XPM is built as a Rust workspace with two crates:

• xpm-core: Core library with database, OS abstraction, and package management
• xpm-cli: Command-line interface

Key Components

• Native DB: Fast, embedded database using native_db (redb backend)
• Async I/O: Full async support with Tokio
• Git integration: Uses git2 for repository management
• Native PM integration: Seamless integration with apt, pacman, paru, yay

Creating Packages

Packages are bash scripts with metadata headers:

#!/bin/bash
readonly xNAME="my-package"
readonly xVERSION="1.0.0"
readonly xTITLE="My Package"
readonly xDESC="Description of my package"
readonly xURL="https://example.com"

xARCHS=(x86_64 aarch64)
xDEFAULT=(any)

install_any() {
    # Installation logic
    echo "Installing..."
}

remove_any() {
    # Removal logic
    echo "Removing..."
}

validate() {
    # Validation - return 0 if installed correctly
    which my-package >/dev/null
}

Save as my-package/my-package.bash in your repository.

Repository Structure

my-xpm-repo/
├── package1/
│   └── package1.bash
├── package2/
│   └── package2.bash
└── ...

Building from Source

# Development build
cargo build

# Release build (optimized)
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run with verbose output
cargo run -- --verbose check

# Pre-commit checks (format + lint + test)
make precommit

Container Testing

Test xpm on different distributions using Podman:

# Build and test on Ubuntu
make test-ubuntu

# Build and test on Arch Linux
make test-arch

# Build and test all distros
make docker-test

# Clean container images
make docker-clean

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run cargo test and cargo clippy
5. Submit a pull request

License

BSD-4-Clause

Credits

Built with ❤️ by Verseles