bpt

bpt is the Bedrock Package Tool, the package manager for Bedrock Linux.

For command-line usage, see doc/man/bpt.1.scd.

For underlying concepts, see doc/concepts.md.

Build

cargo build --release

See ./target/release/bpt

Test

cargo test

FAQ

Why does Bedrock Linux need a package manager?

Originally Bedrock Linux was not intended to have its own package manager based on the expectation it could instead leverage other distros for any package management needs. In practice, this was found to be inadequate:

• Less-important Bedrock components such as brl fetch back-ends update more frequently than the core Bedrock functionality, which makes it difficult to follow Bedrock update versions. Separating Bedrock components out into independently versioned packages resolves this, but then requires a package manager.
• Different users need different Bedrock components; after running brl tutorial, for example, it has little remaining need on-disk. There is thus value in it being independently installable and removable, which in turn requires a package manager.
• There is a strong demand for third-party Bedrock-specific packages. Packaging these for other distros results in coordination issues; some Bedrock Linux users have some package managers, others have others; there was no obvious Schelling point to target. Officially blessing a package manager resolves this.

What makes this different from other major Linux package managers?

• Bedrock-awareness in package build infrastructure, such as changing build-time vs run-time linking paths.
• First-class support for build time dependencies that are binaries rather than packages, with the intent of getting the binaries from other Bedrock strata. This lessens the maintenance burden; the Bedrock team does not need to package things such as compilers.