WL Local Package Manager (LPM)

A basic, stupid package manager for Wolfram Language to install paclets locally

Tired of using PacletInstall and having your packages stored in obscure locations? Not receiving updates? Frustrated with publishing updates on GitHub and then again on the Wolfram Repository every time?

It sucks

Working with paclets the standard way has many issues:

• Deployment requires using a Mathematica notebook.
• Packages are deployed globally vs. locally (where are my packages actually located?!).
• Version conflicts are common.
• Complete dependency on Wolfram servers.
• It’s impossible to store dependencies individually for each project.

Solution

Using paclet archives

Load with a single line of code

LPMRepositories[{
    "https://urlToYourPaclet/CoolLibrary1.paclet",
    "https://urlToYourPaclet/CoolLibrary2.paclet"
}]

<<CoolLibrary1`
<<CoolLibrary2`

It overrides all installed paclets (if found) and let Wolfram find them in wl_packages folder in your project. You can change it by providing "Directory" option.

Using Github repositories

Load a folder hosted on Github as a public repository:

LPMRepositories[{
    "Github" -> "https://github.com/userName/repo1" -> "master",
    "Github" -> "https://github.com/userName/repo2" -> "dev"
}]

<<CoolLibrary1`
<<CoolLibrary2`

✨ This approach gives you automatic updates out of the box

At any change in the provided list a paclet can installed/updated/removed.

Options

"Directory"

By the default is NotebookDirectory[] or Directory[]

"PreseveConfiguration"

By the default is False. Set True to avoid automatic removing of packakes, which are no longer in the provided list.

"Deffered"

By the default is False. Set True to skip loading of paclets after they have been installed

Load existing packages folder

If you want to skip all updates checks, and just load the existing configuration:

LPMLoad[]

Options

"Directory"

By the default is NotebookDirectory[] or Directory[]

Offline work

In the case of no internet connection possible, it will use stored configuration (aka LPMLoad)

Conflict resolution

There is a known problem of WL's priorities to the package version (see discussion) All conflicts are resolved by an option "ConflictResolutionFunction", which by the default just uninstalls a global conflicting paclet.

Installation

LPM can be installed as a paclet (globally)

PacletInstall["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JerryI/wl-localpackages/main/Build/JerryI__LPM-0.1.8.paclet"]

And

Get["JerryI`LPM`"];

or get/paste this single file to your project:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JerryI/wl-localpackages/main/Kernel/LPM.wl

No updates are expected or breaking changes