Alfred Package Manager

[jonathanwiesel]

Hello there,

 

I've been building a CLI application to manage workflows the way package managers like npm and Homebrew does, I called it "awm" (acronym for Alfred Workflow Manager). Using http://packal.org (by Shawn Patrick Rice) as workflow's central repository, the intention of this project is to easily install and update workflows for shell lovers (like me).

 

The project still needs user intervention for installing and updating workflows, unfortunately I'm unable to keep working on it for the moment, so any node.js developer that would like to contribute on the remaining features is more than welcome. 

 

For more information feel free to check it out:

 

https://github.com/jonathanwiesel/awm

https://www.npmjs.org/package/awm

[jeffbyrnes]

It should be pointed out that something like this already exists: http://www.packal.org/workflow/packal-updater. Not to discourage, but don't want you reinventing the wheel if it doesn't make sense to you.

[jonathanwiesel]

It should be pointed out that something like this already exists: http://www.packal.org/workflow/packal-updater. Not to discourage, but don't want you reinventing the wheel if it doesn't make sense to you.

 

Hi Jeff,

 

The intention of the project goes far beyond just updating workflows, it focuses on the whole process of managing workflows from beginning (searching) to end (updating or removal), based on a centralized repository of workflows (packal).

[gilbarbara]

I like this idea!
It would be great if this system could use other sources, like github repos and direct links too

[rice.shawn]

The intention of the project goes far beyond just updating workflows, it focuses on the whole process of managing workflows from beginning (searching) to end (updating or removal), based on a centralized repository of workflows (packal).

 

One funny thing about the Packal updater is that there are two half-baked cli tools in there. I wrote them so that the workflow itself would just wrap around them, but, since I wrote them intending that only the workflow itself would use them, they are pretty damn half-baked. When I get around to updating the updater (so meta!), I'll probably redo those tools by consolidating them and rewriting them in a more sane cli language that can handle the data appropriately.

 

If anyone does take up some work on this tool, do consider two things: (1) Make sure that you implement the upgrade functionality correctly. You need to strip the hotkeys from the newly downloaded plist, and you need to migrate some values from the old plist to the new one. Also, Packal signs each package, so check the signatures. You can figure out how to do this by scanning the Packal Updater code. (2) As a courtesy, remember that I pay for Packal out of my own pocket and that I'm a graduate student living in NYC (thus: broke as all hell). Packal tries to support itself via the sparse ads that appear on the site, but it usually loses a bit of money each month or barely breaks even. So, if you can, help make sure that the cli tool doesn't entirely replace browsing the site itself so that the site can continue to exist. Just to mention that...

[abEnigma]

package manager is still showing on the homepage of packal but it doesn't look like it's working