SLATE Package Manager

2026-03-27

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STALE  LEMONS ALWAYS TURN   EXOTHERMIC

SLATE is a package manager that allows users to install packages without requiring root privilege.

Synopsis

slate [-n] [-i install_to] package ...

Options

The following options shall be supported:

-n: Supress interactive prompts.
-i install_to: The final destination of installed files will be install_to. If not specified then the final destination of installed files will depend on whether or not slate was executed as root. If not executed as root, then installed files should go to $HOME/.local/ and in that directory's bin/, lib/, etc. If executed as root, then installed files will go to the root-level (/), in /bin/, /lib/, etc.

Operands

The following operand shall be supported:

package: The package name to be installed. If package is '-' or empty, then slate will accept package names from the standard input at that point in the sequence.

Input Files

The input file(s) shall be shell script(s). The input file(s) should contain (at least) the variables: VERSION, SOURCE, PRIVATE, BDEPS, RDEPS.

Environment Variables

The following environment variable shall affect the execution of slate:

SLATE_DATA_DIR

Provides the path to the folder where slate will find recipes, the lock file, and its database of installed packages. If not set, then slate will use $HOME/.local/slate.

SLATE_SOURCE_HANDLERS

Provides a list of file (and protocol) handlers that slate will use to extract package archives. If SLATE_SOURCE_HANDLERS is empty, or a tool that is required isn't available, then slate will treat provided package archives as directories. This environment variable should be in the form:

key:value,key:value,key:value,...

Extended Description

The Data Directory

SLATE_DATA_DIR must contain at least the following directories:

|-> ./book/
|-> ./db/
'-> ./install/

book stores text-based recipe files, with the file extension ".slate".

db stores a package's installed files and metadata. Packages have their own directory (named after the filename of the recipe), which contains all files that a package installs (within relevant directories (bin/, lib/, etc.). Package metadata (version, runtime dependencies (if specified)) is stored in a meta file in the package's directory. Package build dependencies are excluded, as they do not matter for the actual execution, and could be removed after install without issue. The meta file is formatted such that each item is on its own line:

version
runtime dependency 1=runtime dependency 1's version
runtime dependency 2=runtime dependency 2's version
runtime dependency 3=runtime dependency 3's version
...

install is simply a scratchpad for installing packages. Package archives are moved here before operation, installed to db/{package}, and then cleared out.

During operation, slate shall create a lock file (named lock) in SLATE_DATA_DIR. This file is deleted when slate exits. If slate is executed while the lock file exists, then slate shall do nothing and exit with 2.

Recipe Files

A given recipe file should contain at least the variables: VERSION, SOURCE, PRIVATE, BDEPS, RDEPS. They are not required, however, as they will default to empty strings if not set, but the meta file will contain no, or useless, data. The variables refer to the following:

VERSION: the version of this package.
SOURCE: where this package's source can be found on the system (absolute path), or a remote URL pointing to this package's source.
PRIVATE: if 1, this package's installed files will be mode 700 (rwx --- ---). Else, this package's installed files will be whatever the umask is.
BDEPS: a space-separated list of package names that this package relies on to be installed properly. Dependency versions should also be specified with the form package=version.
RDEPS: a space-separated list of package names that this package relies on to be executed properly. Dependency versions should also be specified with the form package=version.

A given recipe file should also define at least the functions: patch(), build(), and install(). They are not required, however, as slate shall default to the following definitions:

patch()
{
      return 0;
}

build()
{
      printf "Hello, world!\n" && return 0;
}

install()
{
      printf "I'm not installing anything.\n" && return 0;
}

slate shall only execute those three functions (patch(), build(), install()) in any given recipe and shall only execute them in that order.

If BDEPS and/or RDEPS are set, and recipe files corresponding to those packages do not exist, then a prompt will be sent to STDOUT, asking the user if the dependencies are already installed. If the user responds no, then the user will be requested to provide the relevant recipe files or to install the dependencies manually. This behaviour is affected by the -n option, where no prompt will be sent to STDOUT and the current package install shall be halted.

To verify dependency versions, a simple check akin to a == b shall be used.

Circular dependencies shall be detected by keeping a running list of visited recipes, and their version. If a recipe matching this name and version has already been visited, then the package install shall be halted.

SOURCE shall be checked against handlers specified in SLATE_SOURCE_HANDLERS such that a source like: https://example.com/file.tar.xz is handled in the order of: wget, xz, tar, when SLATE_SOURCE_HANDLERS is:

https:wget,xz:xz,tar:tar

Exit Status

The following exit values shall be returned:

0: All packages were installed successfully.
1: Some packages were installed successfully.
2: No packages were installed successfully.

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