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Packages and package manager

Introduction

Madlib package system is a flexible and decentralized system. That means that you can install a package from different sources and refer to it via different names in order to solve name-clashing.

madlib.json

Overview

A typical madlib.json file is defined like this:

{
  "name": "PackageName",
  "version": "se.mv.er",
  "main": "src/Lib.mad",
  "bin": "src/Main.mad",
  "dependencies": {
    "MadDoc": "https://github.com/madlib-lang/maddoc/archive/refs/heads/master.zip"
  }
}

keys

name

This is mainly metadata for now and serves to define a name for the package.

version

The current version of the package, it is recommended to follow semver.

main

Path to the module that export public functions. This is what is visible to consumers of the package using imports.

bin

Path to the module that is supposed to be run. It would serve to call your app if it is say a desktop app or CLI app/tool.

dependencies

An object where keys are the name of the package, and the value is a path to an archive of that package. Since a URL is unique, it is recommended for package authors to never replace a URL with a newer version but instead generate new URLs for each version ( github does this for instance using tags or commit hashes ). Although the name of a package and its URL don't need to connected, it is recommended to use the name that is in the madlib.json of that package, exception allowed when you want to use two packages with the same name. There is currently nothing preventing you from doing it, but that may get stricter in the near future. From the example madlib.json above you could use the MadDoc dependency like this:

// the from "MadDoc" is what is defined as the key in the madlib.json file
import MadDoc from "MadDoc"

doSomethingWith(MadDoc)

Package manager CLI

The package manager is available from the compiler as a sub command install.

Basic usage

madlib install

This sub command contains no option for now and only installs all packages from the local madlib.json file. The package manager is still under active development and will soon get its deserved extra features such as the possibility to install a package directly from the command line, remove packages.