binny

binny

Manage a directory of binaries without a package manager.

Installation

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anchore/binny/main/install.sh | sh -s -- -b /usr/local/bin

... or, you can specify a release version and destination directory for the installation:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anchore/binny/main/install.sh | sh -s -- -b <DESTINATION_DIR> <RELEASE_VERSION>

Usage

Keep a configuration in your repo with the binaries you want to manage. For example:

# .binny.yaml
tools:
    - name: gh
      version:
        want: v2.33.0
        constraint: < v3
      method: github-release
      with:
        repo: cli/cli
    
    - name: quill
      version:
        want: v0.4.1
        constraint: < v0.5
      method: github-release
      with:
        repo: anchore/quill
    
    - name: chronicle
      version:
        want: v0.7.0
      method: github-release
      with:
        repo: anchore/chronicle

Then you can run:

• binny install [name...] to install all tools in the configuration (or the given tool names)
• binny check to verify all configured tools are installed, return exit code 1 if any are missing or inconsistent
• binny update [name...] to update any pinned versions in the configuration with the latest available versions (and within any given constraints)
• binny list to list all tools in the configuration and the installed store

You can add tools to the configuration one of two ways: - manually, by adding a new entry to the configuration file (see the Configuration section below) - with the binny add <method> commands, which will handle the configuration for you

Configuration

The configuration file is a YAML file with a list of tools to manage. Each tool has a name, a version, and a method for installing it. You can optionally specify a specific method for checking the latest version of the tool, however, this is not necessary as all install methods have a default version resolver.

Tool Configuration

Each tool has the following configuration options:

name: chronicle
version:
  want: v0.7.0
  constraint: <= v0.9.0
  method: github-release
  with:
    # arbitrary key-value pairs for the version resolver method
method: go-install
with:
  # arbitrary key-value pairs for the install method

Install Methods

Install methods specify where the tool binary should be pulled or built from.

github-release

The github-release install method uses the GitHub Releases API to download the latest release of a tool. It requires the following configuration options:

The default version resolver for this method is github-release.

go-install

The go-install install method uses go install to install a tool. It requires the following configuration options:

The module option allows for a special entry:

• . or path/to/module/on/disk

The ldflags allow for templating with the following variables:

In addition to these variables, sprig functions are allowed; for example:

ldflags:
- -X main.buildDate={{ now | date "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00" }}

For more information about sprig functions, see the sprig documentation.

The default version resolver for this method is go-proxy.

hosted-shell

The hosted-shell install method uses a hosted shell script to install a tool. It requires the following configuration options:

If the URL refers to either github.com or raw.githubusercontent.com then the default version resolver is github-release. Otherwise, the version resolver must be specified manually.

Version Resolver Methods

The version method specifies how to determine the latest version for a tool.

git

The git version method will use a git repo on disk as a source for resolving versions via tags. It requires the following configuration options:

The version.want option allows a special entry:

• current: use the current commit checked out in the repo

note: this method is still under development. Currently it is most useful for tools that are being used where that are developed:

  - name: binny
    version:
      # since the module is . then "current" means whatever is checked out
      want: current
    method: go-install
    with:
      # aka: github.com/anchore/binny, without going through github / goproxy (stay local)
      module: .
      entrypoint: cmd/binny
      ldflags:
        - -X main.version={{ .Version }}
        - -X main.gitCommit={{ .Version }}
        - -X main.gitDescription={{ .Version }}
        # note: sprig functions are available: http://masterminds.github.io/sprig/
        - -X main.buildDate={{ now | date "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00" }}

github-release

The github-release version method uses the GitHub Releases API to determine the latest release of a tool. It requires the following configuration options:

The version.want option allows a special entry:

• latest: don't pin to a version, use the latest available

Note: this approach will might require a GitHub API token to be set in the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable if there is a version constraint used.

go-proxy

The go-proxy version method reaches out to proxy.golang.org to determine the latest version of a Go module. It requires the following configuration options:

The version.want option allows a special entry:

• latest: don't pin to a version, use the latest available