pkgset is a program for managing the packages on a Linux system in user-defined sets.

On a typical system, the only thing I know about a package whether it was installed explicitly, or installed as a dependency. However, as a user, I care about a lot more information - I want to know:

• why I installed something, and when I can remove it
• if I need it together with some related packages which might not depend on each other
• the 'scope' of the package; whether it's for the system or if it's an app / something I personally want.

Organising packages in named sets gives a flexible way to manage all this and more.

Installation

pkgset currently supports:

• Ubuntu
• Arch Linux
• Debian

It is a single executable script, with one dependency: Ruby. So to install it, simply install Ruby and copy pkgset to a directory in your path.

Usage

Setup

pkgset manages package sets - named collections of packages. When a set is "installed," all its contained packages are explicitly installed. You can create and modify sets from the command line, or directly via files.

pkgset assumes that all the explicitly-installed packages on your system are each in a set - so the first time you use pkgset on a system, you will have to do some setup.

$ pkgset unadded

This command will show all as-yet-unadded packages on your system.

One way to set up is to add all packages to a new, installed set, like so:

$ pkgset unadded | xargs pkgset add -ni base

We can see our created set 'base', and the '*' which indicates it's installed:

$ pkgset list
* base

Now you can start breaking the 'base' set up into other sets, by using the move flag:

$ pkgset add -mni apps my-web-browser my-text-editor
$ pkgset add -mni my-project thing gagdet gizmo

$ pkgset list -t
* apps
    my-web-browser
    my-text-editor
* base
    ...
* my-project
    thing
    gagdet
    gizmo

How you choose to arrange your sets is completely up to you!

Adding and removing

To install packages, we add them to an (existing or new) installed set.

$ pkgset add apps some-new-app   # existing
$ pkgset add -ni my-other-project package1 package2   # new

The opposite to the add command is remove.

If we're done with a set, we can uninstall it:

$ pkgset uninstall my-project
...package manager working...
$ pkgset list
* apps
* base
  my-project

When you add a package to an installed set, pkgset makes sure it is installed on the system by running the package manager. Similarly, when you remove a package or uninstall a set, pkgset checks if the packages are in any other installed sets and if not, marks them as unneeded. You need to do the actual removal yourself with the package manager; see pkgset remove -h.

Declarative

If you prefer, you can manage the contents of your sets by editing the files in /etc/pkgset/sets instead of using the commands. You can even annotate the files with comments beginning with #. When done, run pkgset apply to update the configuration.

More info

For more information, use -h or --help with any command. pkgset -h shows all commands.