Enjoy your applications without thinking about anything else <<
What programs can be installed with AM
How to update a program without "AM"
Repository and Multiarchitecture
How to uninstall a program using "AM"
How to install a program without "AM
How to uninstall a program without "AM"
There are so many commands to remember among the GNU/Linux distributions, and sometime I can't find what I really want from a package manager:
- I want my programs to be totally independent from the repositories of my distribution and from each other;
- My programs must not require hundreds of packages and files of dependencies and shared libraries;
- I want always the latest updated version of the program, maybe directly from the developer;
- I want to install/remove/update/manage my programs using a short and extremely intuitive command;
- Each installed program must be placed in a single folder with all dependencies, at most it can have a launcher and a link outside its own folder;
- I want to summarize the whole installation process (including the download of the icons and the creation of launchers and updater/remover scripts...) in just one script.
I can't find all this into other package managers. APT (Debian) often includes too old programs that require too many dependencies, while the programs installed by AUR (Arch Linux) are not always reliable (and PacMan by default does not include all the programs that APT manages). Flatpak takes up too much disk space to install only one program, while Snappy slows down PC resources (not to mention I don't trust Canonical).
AppImage are a good package format, but they have not a centralized repository capable of automatically managing updates, and more often there are some external tools and system daemons that can't do enough to integrate the program in the correct way into the system (including launchers). I myself was not satisfied with my other creation, AppMan, because it can manage them only locally (as a normal user without administrative privileges), and this conflicts with the possibility of making the installed applications also be used by other users who use my PC or laptop, and in this sense it is necessary an application manager that integrates with the system as APT, PacMan, DNF, Zypper could do (but with fewer files scattered around the PC). Also I'd like to be able to run many of the same applications on multiple different architectures (including 32-bit ones, now abandoned by many developers), while AppMan is only meant for x86_64, despite being written in a virtually universal language.
Initially I was undecided whether to develop something totally different, given the little free time I had available.
Finally I decided to write another tool based on AppMan itself.
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AM is an application manager for all GNU / Linux distributions and which can be adapted to all available architectures, as its scripts are entirely based on the programs present in each basic installation.
Strongly inspired by AppMan, am is very easy to use and can manage a better control of automatic updates for all the programs installed. Using am to install/remove standalone apps is as easy and ridiculous as typing a command at random, out of desperation!
The main goal of this tool is to provide the same updated applications to multiple GNU/Linux distributions without having to change the package manager or the distro itself. This means that whatever distro you use, you will not miss your favorite programs or the need for a more updated version.
"AM" also aims to be a merger for GNU / Linux distributions, using not just AppImage as the main package format, but also other standalone programs, so without having to risk breaking anything on your system: no daemons, no shared libraries. Just your program!
Copy/paste this command:
`wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/APPLICATION-MANAGER/main/INSTALL && chmod a+x ./INSTALL && sudo ./INSTALL`
This will download the "APP-MANAGER" script in /opt/am, a symlink for it in /usr/local/bin named am and the /opt/am/remove script needed to uninstall am itself, if needed.
am [option]
where option include:
-h, help Prints this message.
-f, files Shows the installed programs managed by "AM".
-l, list Shows the list of apps available in the repository.
-s, sync Updates "AM" to a more recent version.
-u, update Update all the installed programs.
am [option] [keywords]
where option include:
-q, query Use one or more keywords to search for in the list of available applications.
am [option] [argument]
where option include:
-a, about Shows the basic information, links and source of each app.
-i, install Install a program. This will be taken directly from the repository of the developer (always the latest version):
- the installer is stored in /opt/am/.cache;
- the command is linked into a $PATH;
- the program is stored in /opt/ with all the related files (a script to remove this and all the files listed above and a script to update everything).
The icon and the launcher are optional for no-ui programs. "AM" uses both AppImages and other standalone programs. PASSWORD REQUIRED!
-r, remove Removes the program and all the other files listed above using the instructions in /opt/$PROGRAM/remove.
Confirmation is required (Y or N, default is N). PASSWORD REQUIRED!
-t, template This option allows you to generate a custom script: the command will offer you to choose between different models that may be vary according to the type of application you want to create/install. Once you choose a number, the script will download the template and rename it using the you provided, all this will be created in the "Desktop" folder of the user. So you just have to edit the other parameters (LAUNCHER, AM-updater, Recipes, etc ...).
Please, consider submitting your custom script to "AM", at https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM-application-manager/pulls.
AM installs/removes/updates/manages only standalone programs, ie those programs that can be run from a single directory in which they are contained (where $PROGRAM is the name of the application, AM installs them always into a dedicated folder named /opt/$PROGRAM).
These programs are taken:
- from official sources (see Firefox, Thunderbird, Blender, NodeJS, Chromium Latest...);
- from official .deb packages (see Brave, Vivaldi, Google Chrome...);
- from the repositories and official sites of individual developers (if an archive is not available, an official AppImage is used, see Libreoffice, OnlyOffice);
- from tar archives of other GNU/Linux distributions (see Chromium, Chromium Ungoogled...);
- from AUR or other Arch Linux-related sources (see Palemoon, Spotify, WhatsApp...);
- from AppImage recipes to be compiled with pkg2appimage and appimagetool (see Anydesk, qBittorrent, Dropbox, all the games from the "KDE Games" suite...);
- from unofficial repositories of developers external to the project concerned (most of the time they are programs in AppImage format), but only if an official release is not available (see the various WINE, Zoom, VLC, GIMP...).
You can consult basic information, links to sites and sources used through the related am -a $PROGRAM command or by clicking here.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jezf6YMTUM
To update all the programs, just run the command (without sudo):
`am -u`
Here are the ways in which the updates will be made:
- Updateable AppImages can rely on an appimageupdatetool-based "updater" or on their external zsync file (if provided by the developer);
- Non-updateable AppImages and other standalone programs will be replaced only with a more recent version if available, this will be taken by comparing the installed version with the one available on the source (using "curl", "grep" and "cat"), the same is for some AppImages created with pkg2appimage and appimagetool;
- Fixed versions will be listed with their build number (e.g. $PROGRAM-1.1.1). Note that most of the programs are updateable, so fixed versions will only be added upon request (or if it is really difficult to find a right wget/curl command to download the latest version).
During the first installation, the main user ($currentuser) will take the necessary permissions on each /opt/$PROGRAM directory, in this way all updates will be automatic and without root permissions.
`/opt/$PROGRAM/AM-updater`*
*Note that this works only if the program has a /opt/$PROGRAM/AM-updater script, other programs like Firefox and Thunderbird are auto-updatable.
Each program is installed through a dedicated script, and all these scripts are listed in the "repository" and divided by architecture.
NOTE that currently my work focuses on applications for x86_64 architecture (being AppMan wrote for x86_64 only), but it is possible to extend "am" to all other available architectures.
Click on the link of your architecture to see the list of all the apps available on this repository:
If you are interested, you can deliberately join this project.
Once you've performed the command:
sudo am -i $PROGRAM
The script will create:
- a /opt/$PROGRAM folder containing the standalone app, an uninstaller script named
remove, anAM-updaterscript needed by theam -ucommand and other files (if necessary); - a symlink of /opt/$PROGRAM/$YOUR-PROGRAM into a $PATH (ie /usr/local/bin, /usr/bin, /bin, /usr/local/games, /usr/games...);
- the icon (optional for command line tools), it can be placed in /usr/share/pixmaps, /usr/share/icons or in /opt/$PROGRAM (recommended);
- the launcher (optional for command line tools) in /usr/share/applications.
*NOTE that the /opt/$PROGRAM/remove script file is the more important part, it must contain the path of all the files created by your script, this way:
`rm -R -f /opt/$PROGRAM /usr/local/bin/$PROGRAM /usr/share/applications/$PROGRAM.desktop`
This scheme guarantees the removal of the program and all its components even without having to use "AM". Learn more here.
`sudo am -r am`
`sudo am -r <$PROGRAM>`
Replace "SAMPLE" at the line 2 with the name of the program you want to install:
`ARCH=$(uname -m)
PROGRAM=SAMPLE
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM-application-manager/main/programs/$ARCH/$PROGRAM && chmod a+x ./$PROGRAM && sudo ./$PROGRAM`
`sudo /opt/$PROGRAM/remove`
The programs installed with "AM" are official software in binary format or packaged as AppImage, their launchers are mostly the original ones, because of this they may conflict with / overwrite those of the same programs installed from the repository of your Linux distribution!
For example, if you install LibreOffice (any version) from "AM", the binary /opt/libreoffice/libreoffice is linked to /usr/local/bin as "libreoffice" and it has its own launchers in /usr/share/applications (libreoffice.desktop, libreoffice-base.desktop, libreoffice-writer.desktop... etcetera). If you already have an existing installation of LibreOffice from your package manager (APT / DNF / PacMan, Zypper ...), that won't work. There could also be more launchers in the application menu (if they have different names from the aforementioned, for example org.libreoffice.desktop, org.libreogffice.base.desktop ...) or they could be overwritten and recall the latest version installed (in our case the one coming from "AM").
So do not install programs from "AM" and your package manager together! Use ONLY the version you trust the most!
However, it is possible to solve the problem by customizing the scripts, perhaps assigning them a specific version of the software that will never be updated. "AM" tries to manage only the latest version of each program, but fixed versions also can be added to the repository, if required, you just have to ask.
"AM" itself works well, but there are a few things to consider before, after and during use:
- The "AM" scripts use the basic commands usually found in any GNU / Linux distribution (wget, curl, grep, egrep, find, rm, mkdir, mv, ls, echo...), make sure you have them before performing any operation;
- The task of "AM" is solely to install / remove / update the applications managed by it. Problems related to the failure of an installed program or any related bugs are attributable solely to its developers. You can view the link to each project's repository or official site via the "
am -a $PROGRAM" command; - The developer of AM has compiled the application installation scripts based on any links made publicly available by the owners of the affected software (or from official repositories of other progressive release distributions, for example Debian Unstable, Arch Linux, Slackware ...) . These urls (with particular reference to the official ones of the developers) may not work in the future if the developers decide to modify the site, the tags, the repository or any detail that the script refers to to install / update the application. In this case, please report the problem to the "AM" team who will modify or (in the worst case) remove the installation script until the problem is resolved;
- "AM" is an open source project, you can read and compile the scripts to your liking, as long as they don't damage your system. All scripts have been tested on Debian Testing / Unstable (64 bit) and Debian 11 (32 bit) and should work on any GNU / Linux distribution, regardless of the initialization process (with or without systemd).
Having encouraged you to visit this page is already a huge achievement for me, being this my second creation after AppMan. This project is much more demanding than AppMan, as each individual program requires a different script to check the version of the installed program and compare it to the source link, so each individual program can take hours of testing before being published in the repository, and between my real job and other family commitments, I try to carve up some free time for this project.
If you wish, you can support me, this work and my passion with a small donation, I will gladly appreciate it. Thank you.
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