[HN Gopher] Apt-bundle: brew bundle for apt
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Apt-bundle: brew bundle for apt
Author : sadeshmukh
Score : 37 points
Date : 2026-01-25 06:34 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| lifetimerubyist wrote:
| man the things people come up with to avoid writing bash scripts
| migmaldo wrote:
| I wish I could upvote this more than once.
| SubiculumCode wrote:
| I am having a hard time seeing that the install config isn't
| just basically bash with some aliases...but I still haven't
| had my second cup of coffee.
| yxhuvud wrote:
| Given your username, do you have the same reaction to bundler?
| c-hendricks wrote:
| What shell scripts would help here? I love me some shell
| scripting but always reached for debfoster before falling in
| love with Pac-Man's `-Qe` and `-Qt`
|
| Edit: oh this aptfile doesn't do the one thing I actually use
| brew bundle for: cleaning up the mess of leftover packages
| seemaze wrote:
| I've been loving the Alpine Package Keeper, especially easily
| maintaining desired packaging state in /etc/apk/world
|
| https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_Package_Keeper#Worl.
| ..
| lifetimerubyist wrote:
| What is this tool solving that I can't do with apt+bash
| already?
| c-hendricks wrote:
| Probably nothing other than the fact that you don't have to
| maintain it and have less worries about portability, like
| most command line utilities.
|
| Still, can you share your script?
| pamcake wrote:
| Big fan! Was like magic at first but now I have a big bunch of
| Aptfiles to deal with instead... Currently working on solving
| that with the next-generation tool apt-bundle-bunch, which has a
| simple declarative format to manage your apt-bundle projects in
| an Aptbundlefile. It's already great for agents and Im working
| with Claude on a curl|sh install for the v1.
| Imustaskforhelp wrote:
| > Big fan! Was like magic at first but now I have a big bunch
| of Aptfiles to deal with instead... Currently working on
| solving that with the next-generation tool apt-bundle-bunch,
| which has a simple declarative format to manage your apt-bundle
| projects in an Aptbundlefile. It's already great for agents and
| Im working with Claude on a curl|sh install for the v1.
|
| Good luck share the progress and let us know how it goes. Is it
| similar to nix? but from what I can feel, is intending to be
| simpler?
| pzmarzly wrote:
| Looking at internal/commands/install.go, it only installs new
| packages, but doesn't uninstall removed ones. That's the biggest
| benefit of Brew bundle gone.
|
| BTW how much of it is vibe coded?
| curt15 wrote:
| Brew got one thing right that no Linux package manager seems to
| emulate: it doesn't require root for normal operations and even
| goes so far as to error out if running as root
| (https://docs.brew.sh/FAQ#why-does-homebrew-say-sudo-is-bad).
| pzmarzly wrote:
| It needs world-writtable /opt/homebrew, so I guess a Linux
| equivalent would be Nix (which IIUC requires writable /nix).
|
| For something that only uses your home folder, I recommend
| checking out mise https://mise.jdx.dev/
| exploderate wrote:
| Or just homebrew on Linux?
| mmarx wrote:
| In multi-user mode, Nix uses dedicated build users to write
| to the store. There is also single-user mode, but that also
| doesn't require a world-writable store.
| hiciu wrote:
| "let's allow any user process to modify my binaries" is not
| something to be proud of...
| matrss wrote:
| Brew _is_ a linux package manager.
|
| There is also conda/mamba/pixi/etc. (anything in the conda-
| forge ecosystem) that can be used without root. Then there are
| Guix and nix, which (mostly) require to be set up by someone
| with root privileges, but which then allow unprivileged users
| to install packages for themselves. I think I have even used
| emerge rootless-ly at some point a few years ago.
| jbverschoor wrote:
| Put in my mise.toml :)
| letmeinhere wrote:
| aconfmgr[https://github.com/CyberShadow/aconfmgr] is a kinda
| similar project for pacman-based distributions.
|
| The difference is that it strives to track all non-user files,
| (not just packages, and especially /etc), but you can adopt it
| partially.
| jraph wrote:
| This appears to be a Show HN.
| exploderate wrote:
| So, this is better than `dpkg --get-selections/--set-selections`?
| Oh, because it's partial?
| Arrowmaster wrote:
| I hate the Aptfile format after looking at it.
|
| The ppa directive hints that this is intended for Ubuntu because
| otherwise installing PPAs is a great way to break a non Ubuntu
| distro.
|
| The deb directive uses the old and soon to be deprecated .list
| file extension. DEB822 format is the replacement.
|
| The key directive adds the key as globally trusted for all repos
| instead of locking it to a specific repo as recommended by
| Debian. I think this is required under the new DEB822 repo
| format.
| WhyNotHugo wrote:
| apk uses a similar approach by default, and I think it's a
| wonderful way for a package manager to operate.
|
| Basically, /etc/apk/world keeps a list of explicitly installed
| packages.
|
| When you manually install a package, it's added to this list,
| when you manually remove a package, it's removed from the list.
|
| Installation and upgrading (and "fixing) merely ensures that
| those packages and their dependencies are installed, no more, no
| less. This also automatically cleans up stale, unused
| dependencies.
|
| It's a lovely way to get deterministic results. You can just
| back-up that world file, or copy it to another machine and get
| the exact same installation.
| creshal wrote:
| apt-mark manual has allowed the same functionality in apt since
| forever and probably inspired apk's copy of it :)
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