Apx

Apx (/à·peks/) is the default package manager in Vanilla OS. It is a wrapper around multiple package managers to install packages and run commands inside a managed container.

Special thanks to distrobox for making this possible.

Help

Apx is a package manager with support for multiple sources,
allowing you to install packages in a managed container.

Usage:
  apx [command]

Managed Container Commands
  autoremove  Remove all unused packages automatically
  clean       Clean the apx package manager cache
  enter       Enter a shell in the managed container
  export      Export/Recreate a program's desktop entry from a managed container
  init        Initialize a managed container
  install     Install packages inside a managed container.
  list        List installed packages.
  purge       Purge packages inside a managed container
  remove      Remove packages inside a managed container.
  run         Run a program inside a managed container.
  search      Search for packages in a managed container.
  show        Show details about a package
  unexport    Unexport/Remove a program's desktop entry from a managed container
  update      Update the list of available packages
  upgrade     Upgrade the system by installing/upgrading available packages.

Additional Commands:
  completion  Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
  help        Help about any command

Flags:
  -v, --verbose       show more detailed output
      --apt           Install packages from the Ubuntu repository.
      --aur           Install packages from the AUR (Arch User Repository).
      --dnf           Install packages from the Fedora's DNF (Dandified YUM) repository.
      --apk           Install packages from the Alpine repository.
      --zypper        Install packages from the OpenSUSE repository.
      --xbps          Install packages from the Void (Linux) repository.
      --nix           Install packages from the Nixpkgs (Nix packages) repository.
  -n, --name string   Apply to custom container with this name.
  -h, --help          help for apx
      --version       version for apx

Use "apx [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Documentation and Guides

• The official documentation and manpage for apx are available at https://documentation.vanillaos.org/docs/apx/.

• A guide for Installing applications in apx is available at https://handbook.vanillaos.org/2023/01/11/install-and-manage-applications.html.

Dependencies

To add new dependencies, use go get as usual, then run go mod tidy and go mod vendor before committing the code.

Generating man pages for translations

• Copy the en.yml file under the locales directory, rename it to your language code then translate the strings.
• Once the translation is complete, perform go build and execute this command ./apx man > man/<language_code>/man1/apx.1. If the man page gets generated without any errors, open a PR for it here.

Instructions for using Apx in other distributions

Apx has been designed as a distro-agnostic tool, allowing it to work with any distribution. (Note: The Nix integration in Apx requires SystemD)

Prerequisites

• You must have go installed from your distribution's native repositories to compile apx.
• You must have git installed to clone the repository.
• You must have either podman or docker installed.
• You must have make installed for the installation.

Procedure

• Clone apx's repository using git and enter it using cd:-

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Vanilla-OS/apx.git
cd apx

• Build apx using make:-

make build

• Install apx using make:-

sudo make install

• Install the apx manpages using make:-

sudo make install-manpages

The prefix or installation destination can be changed using PREFIX and DESTDIR.

To install apx into ~/.local for example:-

make install PREFIX=$HOME/.local
make install-manpages PREFIX=$HOME/.local

Or into a separate root:-

make install DESTDIR=$HOME/altroot
make install-manpages DESTDIR=$HOME/altroot