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dbin is a simple and extensible software distribution system, it is like a package manager, but without the hassle of dependencies nor the bloat, every binary provided is statically linked or otherwise self-contained, dbin itself doesn't even require a database to track installs, all operations are atomic and stateless. Dbin is particularly well-suited for embedded systems, we support both amd64, aarch64 and riscv64.

dbin can also work on systems other than Linux, but given that we don't have repositories offering binaries for other systems, we just don't releasedbin for other systems. But, creating a repo and compilingdbin are trivial matters, feel free to start your owndbin repository :)

Why?

"I tend to think the drawbacks of dynamic linking outweigh the advantages for many (most?) applications." – John Carmack. If you are looking for more in-depth arguments, see:dynlib - drewdevault.com,cat-v.ORG - Dynamic Linking

I've seen lots of package manager projects without "packages". What is different about this one?

There are currently binaries in our repos. They are all statically linked.

$ dbin --help Copyright (c) 2024-2025: xplshn and contributors For more details refer to https://github.com/xplshn/dbin  Synopsis    dbin [-v|-h] [|list|install|remove|update|run|info|search|] <-args->  Description:    The easy to use, easy to get, software distribution system  Options:    -h, --help        Show this help message    -v, --version     Show the version number    --verbose         Run in extra verbose mode    --silent          Run in silent mode, only errors will be shown    --extra-silent    Run in extra silent mode, suppressing all output  Commands:    list              List all available binaries    install, add      Install binaries    remove, del       Remove binaries    update            Update binaries binaries installed by dbin    run               Run a specified binary from cache    info              Show information about a specific binary OR display installed binaries if called without arguments    search            Search for a binaries by supplying one or more search terms  Variables:    DBIN_INSTALL_DIR   If present, it must contain a valid directory path    DBIN_CACHE_DIR     If present, it must contain a valid directory path    DBIN_NOTRUNCATION  If present, and set to ONE (1), string truncation will be disabled    DBIN_REOWN         If present, and set to ONE (1), it makes dbin update programs that may not have been installed by dbin    DBIN_NOCONFIG      If present, and set to ONE (1), it makes dbin use its builtin config, it won't create or read an existing one    DBIN_REPO_URLs     If present, it must contain one or more repository's index file urls separated by ;  NOTE: Check out `config --show` to see all parameters and their env vars

    dbin search editor    dbin install micro.upx    dbin install lux kakoune aretext shfmt    dbin --silent install bed && echo "[bed] was installed to $INSTALL_DIR/bed"    dbin del bed    dbin del orbiton tgpt lux    dbin info    dbin info | grep a-utils | xargs dbin add # install the entire a-utils suite    dbin info jq    dbin list --detailed    dbin tldr gum    dbin --verbose run curl -qsfSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xplshn/dbin/master/stubdl" | sh -    dbin --silent run --transparent micro ~/.profile    dbin run chromium.dwfs.AppBundle "https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=77G7ZFXVZ44EE" # Donate?

• Ability to install specific versions of binaries (by specifying the Snapshot you want to install of it)
• Ability to use user-curated repositories, as the format for the repository indexes is quite simpleNote that a repo index fordbin can be in either of these formats:
  • JSON: For ease of use
  • CBOR: To optimize the time it takes to load the repo
  • YAML: Because this library is already used for the config, so, why not?The repo indexes can be compressed as .gz or .zst, this is specially useful for large catalogs of programs
• Hooks.dbin can run a set of commands or a script, whenever a binary of file with a certain extension is being installed. The user can also specify uninstall hooks
• dbin can work without a config, and it can also run from RAM
• No breaking changes. Old releases ofdbin do not break, until after at least 3 releases of newer versions.
• dbin will survive even if the upstream repo disappears.dbin has a repository index that is held in its own repo. And given that the upstream binaries are held & built in GHCR, all build logs and binaries will continue to be usable/downloadable even ifpkgforge disappears or experiences downtime
• The binaries indbin are specifically filtered forportability (meaning, they work on older kernel versions, they work onMusl andGlibc and even weird yet wonderful systems likeAliceLinux,OasisLinux or FreeBSD (with linuxlator, so that you don't have to set up an Ubuntu chroot to install a Linux web browser and be able to watch DRM content, etc)

In the case of--transparent, it runs the program from $PATH and if it isn't available in the user's $PATH it will pull the binary fromdbin's repos and run it from cache.

Update can receive an optional list of specific binaries to update OR no arguments at all. Whenupdate receives no arguments it updates everything that is both found in the repos and in your$DBIN_INSTALL_DIR (unless$DBIN_REOWN=1, dbin will not update binaries it didn't install. It won't modify symlinks either).

Wheninfo is called with no arguments, it displays all binaries which were installed bydbin. When it is called with a binary's name as argument,info will display as much information of it as is available.

$ dbin info microName: micro#github.com.zyedidia.microPkg ID: github.com.zyedidia.microPretty Name: microDescription: Modern and intuitive terminal-based text editorVersion: HEAD-7d16dcd-250311T073524Download URL: oci://ghcr.io/pkgforge/bincache/micro/official/micro:HEAD-7d16dcd-250311T073524-x86_64-linuxSize: 14 MBB3SUM: b6f32b2b8ff4b5abad126c4d0d466549f91c12eedafbc9826d0673b91d10eea9SHA256: 3a9278b2be59a8c1fd87647f65d0cfcb9c707e823713045e93af183610ef8102Build Date: 2025-03-12T03:02:06ZBuild Script: https://github.com/pkgforge/soarpkgs/blob/main/binaries/micro/static.official.source.yamlBuild Log: https://api.ghcr.pkgforge.dev/pkgforge/bincache/micro/official/micro?tag=HEAD-7d16dcd-250311T073524-x86_64-linux&download=micro.logRank: 1102Snapshots: HEAD-9b3f7ff-250119T130748-x86_64-linux [2.0.14]

list can receive the optional argument--detailed/-d. It will display all binaries + their description

search can only receive various search terms, if the name of a binary or a description of a binary contains the term, it is shown as a search result.search can optionally receive a--limit argument, which changes the limit on how many search results can be displayed (default is 90) (you can also put this in your config)

To begin using dbin, simply run one of these commands on your Linux/FreeBSD+Linuxlator system. No additional setup is required. You may also build the project usinggo build orgo install

wget -qO- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xplshn/dbin/master/stubdl" | sh -s -- --help

wget -qO- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xplshn/dbin/master/stubdl" | sh -s -- --install "$HOME/.local/bin/dbin"

Whenever you want to pull a specific GNU coreutil, busybox, toybox, etc, insert a bash snippet, use a *fetch tool, etc, you can use dbin for the job! There's also a--transparent flag forrun, which will use the users' installed version of the program you want to run, and if it is not found in the$PATH dbin will fetch it and run it from$DBIN_CACHEDIR.

system_info=$(wget -qO-"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xplshn/dbin/master/stubdl"| sh -s -- run --silent albafetch --no-logo -|| curl -qsfSL"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xplshn/dbin/master/stubdl"| sh -s -- run --silent albafetch --no-logo -)

dbin is a package manager, which can use any repos. But it comes with a strong default selection by default.

Hmm, can I add my own repos?

Yup, you'll need to provide a repository index, a JSON (or CBOR/YAML) (it can optionally be compressed | as .gz or .zst) file like this:

{"SillyRepo": [  {"pkg":"a-utils/ed","pkg_name":"ed","pkg_id":"github.com.xplshn.a-utils","icon":"https://api.ghcr.pkgforge.dev/pkgforge/bincache/a-utils/official/ed?tag=0.0.5-x86_64-linux\u0026download=ed.png","description":"ed from u-root but with syntax highlighting","version":"0.0.5","download_url":"oci://ghcr.io/pkgforge/bincache/a-utils/official/ed:0.0.5-x86_64-linux","size":"5.4 MB","bsum":"1f0213b604bf964dbd2ad0dbaddab1c6a64e5da7ea89febcbdb9de337a081d19","shasum":"e2deb5cb912858603900a890630876e0830a9a912d2a71c05742b697c98bc768","build_date":"2025-01-21T02:21:53Z","src_urls": ["https://github.com/xplshn/a-utils"   ],"web_urls": ["https://github.com/xplshn/a-utils","https://github.com/xplshn/Andes"   ],"build_script":"https://github.com/pkgforge/soarpkgs/blob/main/binaries/a-utils/static.official.stable.yaml","build_log":"https://api.ghcr.pkgforge.dev/pkgforge/bincache/a-utils/official/ed?tag=0.0.5-x86_64-linux\u0026download=ed.log","snapshots": [    {"commit":"0.0.5-x86_64-linux","version":"0.0.5"    }   ],"notes": ["Pre Built Binary Fetched from Upstream. Check/Report @ https://github.com/xplshn/a-utils"   ],"rank":1012  },... More Entries here ...}

NOTE: Not all fields are essential :)

A schema of the metadata format can be found here/misc/cmd/dbinRepoIndexGenerators/*/generator.go

• PkgForge's repos: External repository withPortable programs that aretruly static, or otherwise self-contained using a wrapper format
  • Pkgcache: 206
    • Detailed repo info:https://docs.pkgforge.dev/repositories/pkgcache
    • Package request doc:https://docs.pkgforge.dev/repositories/pkgcache/package-request
  • Bincache: 3925
    • Detailed repo info:https://docs.pkgforge.dev/repositories/bincache
    • Package request doc:https://docs.pkgforge.dev/repositories/bincache/package-request
  • Note however that pkgforge also has dynamic (unportable) programs/packages (that only run on Debian & derivatives),dbin filters these out, leaving behind only the static/portable programs. These are a minority of the programs included.
• AppBundleHub: Only self-hosted repository:Portable programs in .AppBundle format
  • 34

• Lite (recommended):https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/amd64_linux.lite.cbor.zst: .lite version doesn't include all possible fields ofdbin info, only those which are relevant to the user & are used bydbin. Namely:{Web Manifest, Sha256, Screenshots, IconURL, Provides, AppsStreamID, LongDescription}
• NLite (default):https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/amd64_linux.nlite.cbor.zst: .nlite is like .lite, but includes all the fields that upstream forces me to. Namely: "Web Manifest"
• Complete:https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/amd64_linux.cbor.zst: opposite of .lite, contains all fields of the DbinItem type defined in the repository generators atmisc/cmd/dbinRepoIndexGenerators/*/generator.go

It makes no difference which endpoint you choose..lite will be the best option for embedded hardware, unmarshalling the Complete endpoint is slow on embedded hardware, from experience, even for the MT7622 router.

NOTE: If you're using an Opteron Venus or similar ancient CPU, it may be better to use the uncompressed .lite endpoint, as the bottleneck is your CPU, not network

• AM repo: External repository with not-so portable programs that work only on glibc-based distros. The packages come from theAM package manager

  • 2241
  • NOTE: Scrapped by pkgforge. Adapted todbin format atdbin-metadata
  • URL:https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/AM_amd64_linux.lite.cbor.zst

• PkgForge Go repo: External repository withPortabletruly static programs, they are the result of scrapping various sources with Go repositories and compilng them. You can read more about the process at the docs of the upstream project:https://docs.pkgforge.dev/repositories/external/pkgforge-go

  • The binaries in this repo are Go projects that have been fetched, filtered and built automagically
  • 24506
  • URL:https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/pkgforge-go_amd64_linux.lite.cbor.zst

• PkgForge Cargo repo:

  • The binaries in this repo are Rust projects that have been fetched, filtered and built automagically
  • 5750
  • URL:https://d.xplshn.com.ar/misc/cmd/1.6/pkgforge-cargo_amd64_linux.lite.cbor.zst

I am using these libraries fordbin:

1. https://github.com/urfave/cli (v3)
2. https://github.com/hedzr/progressbar (an attractive-looking progressbar, but with a messy API and codebase. Currently the only good alternative to mpb/v8+)
3. https://github.com/goccy/go-json (index files can be .json)
4. https://github.com/goccy/go-yaml (config && index files can be .yaml)
5. https://github.com/klauspost/compress (index files can be .zst && .gz)
6. https://github.com/fxamacker/cbor (index files can be .cbor)
7. https://github.com/zeebo/blake3 (checksums)
8. https://golang.org/x/term

Contributions are welcome! Whether you've found a bug, have a feature request, or wish to improve the documentation, your input is valuable. Fork the repository, make your changes, and submit a pull request. Together, we can make dbin even more powerful and simpler. If you can provide repos that meet the requirements to add them todbin, I'd be grateful.

dbin is licensed under the ISC (equivalent to MIT but without unnecessary legal wording) or RABRMS Licenses, choose whichever fits your needs best.