Opt.py is an installation manager for the /opt directory. The /opt directory is reserved for all the software and add-on packages that are not part of the default installation.

If a program does not provide an installation file for the package manager used (e.g. APT), the program can be installed in /opt. However, this installation can be tedious:

• Files must be unpacked
• $PATH variable must be extended
• Desktop entry must be created
• When uninstalling the program, all these changes should be undone.

To simplify this, Opt.py provides a simple command line interface modeled after APT.

Supported file formats are: .zip, .tar.bz2, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.xz

1. Install Python3 as follows in Ubuntu/Debian Linux:

sudo apt install python3.6

2. Download Opt.py and set execute permissions:

curl -LJO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/byte-cook/opt/main/opt.py
curl -LJO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/byte-cook/opt/main/fileutil.py
chmod +x opt.py

3. Install Opt.py in the /opt directory:

./opt.py install opt opt.py fileutil.py

The $PATH variable is automatically extended!

4. (Optional) Install shell auto completion:

curl -LJO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/byte-cook/opt/main/opt-sh-prompt.sh
opt.py autocomplete opt opt-sh-prompt.sh

Use this command:

./opt.py remove opt

General structure of the commands:

opt.py <command> <app-name> ...

List installed applications:

opt.py list

Install application:

opt.py install application-12-3 application-12.3.tar.gz

Install another version of the same application:

opt.py install application-19-81 application-19.81.tar.gz

Create alias ("application" refers to "application-12-3"):

opt.py alias application application-12-3

Extend $PATH variable:

opt.py path application /opt/application/application.sh

Add desktop entry:

opt.py desktop application application.desktop application.png

Change alias (application refers to application-19-81):

opt.py alias application application-19-81

Delete old version and all related files:

opt.py remove application-12-3

Delete all versions of this application:

opt.py remove application-19-81
opt.py remove application

Run all tests:

test_opt.py

Run single test:

test_opt.py TestOpt.test_remove_unmanaged_forced

Clean up test directory:

test_opt.py TestOpt.test_clean