bpm-rs

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Previously the Python version of bin-package-manager, this is the RIIR version and actively developed version, compatible with the original configuration and data storage, allowing seamless switching from the Python version.

bpm (bin package manager) is a package manager based on GitHub Releases, allowing users to install and manage binary files from any GitHub Release. Supports General Linux and Windows.

Caution

Risk Warning: The Linux version of bpm carries a potential risk of damaging your computer. By using bpm to install software, you acknowledge this risk and trust the third-party packagers of the GitHub Release.

Tip

bpm guarantees idempotence, meaning that running bpm uninstall immediately after bpm install will not make any changes to the system.

compare to

• Differences from scoop/pacman: Tools like scoop/pacman require packagers to manually maintain packaging scripts; bpm is a fully automated tool that can handle 95% of GitHub Releases without additional packaging maintenance.
• Differences from cargo-binstall: cargo-binstall can only install Rust applications, and if the Rust package is not published on crates.io, installation can be cumbersome. bpm is language-agnostic, integrating repository search and automatic asset selection for greater convenience. Since Rust packaging and release processes are fairly standardized, bpm has nearly a 100% success rate for installing Rust applications.

Installation

Bootstrap (recommended)

Install the latest version with a single command:

# Unix (Linux / macOS), requires root privileges
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lxl66566/bpm-rs/main/bootstrap.sh | sudo sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lxl66566/bpm-rs/main/bootstrap.ps1 | iex

The script downloads the appropriate release archive, extracts the bpm binary, and installs it via bpm install --local.

Pre-built binaries

Download the binary for your platform from Releases and place it in your PATH.

Build from source

cargo install bpm --git https://github.com/lxl66566/bpm-rs

Usage

bpm i <package>       # install
bpm list              # list installed packages
bpm -h                # show more help

How it works

• Asset selection: bpm has a relatively complex asset matching mechanism that generally selects the best asset as the installation target. If no suitable asset can be found, you can use --interactive to force asset selection.
• Binary matching logic: After decompression, bpm searches for the target binary file in the following order: (1) If there is only one file in the archive, use that file directly; (2) Otherwise, recursively scan all files to match bin_name (defaults to the package name, can be overridden by --bin-name / -b, and automatically appends the .exe suffix on Windows); (3) On Windows, if no match is found, fall back to using all .exe files. (4) --one-bin is used to enforce single-file mode (Linux only, installs only the first matched binary).

Linux

bpm automatically detects the file structure within the asset and installs to the corresponding system locations:

1. Install binaries to /usr/bin
2. Merge lib/, include/, share/, man/, bin/ directories into the system usr/ (if they exist)
3. Install completions
4. Install services (for systemd-based systems)

bpm automatically appends a .old suffix to existing files to avoid overwriting; upon uninstallation, the .old files are restored.

Because it relies on the FHS, bpm is not suitable for distributions like NixOS that do not follow FHS.

Windows

bpm downloads and extracts all contents to %userprofile%/bpm/app/<name>, and creates startup shims for executable files in %userprofile%/bpm/bin (this location is automatically added to PATH). When matching assets, it also supports downloading and installing a single .exe file or .msi file.

On Windows, bpm uses a shims mechanism similar to scoop, launching installed software via an exe proxy to avoid compatibility issues with cmd/sh etc. (The original Python version does not support this feature.)