simple-make

A C++23 CLI tool for installing software directly from source.

Give it a package name or repository URL. simple-make finds the source, detects the build system, builds the project and tracks installed files so they can be removed later.

Supports Linux, macOS, BSD and Windows.

Build

Requirements: C++23 compiler, CMake and Git.

git clone https://github.com/unmapz/simple-make.git
cd simple-make
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j"$(nproc)"
cmake --install build --prefix ~/.local

Dependencies such as cpr and nlohmann/json are fetched by CMake when they are not available on the system.

Usage

simple-make ripgrep
simple-make fd bat
simple-make https://github.com/user/project
simple-make -s ripgrep
simple-make -r ripgrep
simple-make -u ripgrep
simple-make --self-update
simple-make --setup-config

• -s searches without installing.
• -r removes an installed package.
• -u rebuilds installed packages from their saved source URLs.
• --self-update checks for a newer simple-make release.
• --setup-config opens the configuration wizard.

The default install prefix is ~/.local. No root privileges are needed there. A system-wide prefix may require elevation for the final install step, but builds themselves run as the invoking user.

Build systems

CMake, Meson, Ninja, Make, Autotools, Cargo, Go, pip, Maven and Gradle.

Package names are resolved through the system package manager, the built-in database, and then GitHub, GitLab or Codeberg.

Configuration

The config file is located at:

~/.config/simple-make/simple-make.conf

It controls the install prefix, confirmation prompts, source cleanup, search providers, API tokens and update checks.

Security

simple-make runs third-party build scripts without sandboxing. Those scripts can execute code with your user's privileges and access the network.

Builds do not run as root. See SECURITY.md for details.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.