User-facing changes log ​

This document is a development diary summarizing changes in alr that notably affect the user experience. It is intended as a one-stop point for users to stay on top of alr new features.

Release 3.0 ​

Style checks disabled by default in all build profiles ​

PR #1919

Style checks are now disabled by default in all build profiles (release, validation, and development). Previously, style checks were enabled by default in the validation and development profiles. This change intends to avoid unwanted compiler errors related to style issues.

To enable former style checks, you can use the build-switches table in your manifest:

[build-switches]
"*".style_checks = "Yes"  # Enable for all profiles

Or for a specific profile:

[build-switches]
validation.style_checks = "Yes"  # Enable only for validation profile

Alternatively, gnatformat is available in the community index to easily apply the default GNAT style.

New --builtin switch for alr settings ​

PR #1912

A new --builtin switch has been added to the alr settings command to avoid unintended silent errors. This switch can only be used with --set, --get, or --unset and ensures that the setting being operated on is a built-in setting.

When --builtin is used with a non-built-in setting, an error is raised. Conversely, when operating on a built-in setting without using --builtin, a warning is printed suggesting the use of --builtin.

New test command ​

PR #1874

The alr test command can now be configured with a new [test] section in the Alire manifest, with the option to use a built-in test runner or an external command.

[test]
runner = 'alire'
# OR
command = ["my", "custom", "runner"]

The built-in test runner allows crate authors to compile and run tests from simple .adb files. It compiles and runs every .adb file of the subcrate's /src folder as a separate test. A skeleton test subcrate is now generated with alr init (this can be prevented with the --no-test flag).

For backwards compatibility, running alr test without a [test] section in the manifest will still run local test actions, but they should be considered deprecated. The remote testing capabilities of alr test have been removed.

Release 2.1 ​

New --format global switch to produce structured output ​

PR #1851

The global switch --format can be used to produce JSON format with some commands, e.g., index, search, show.

This new switch accepts an optional parameter that can be JSON, TOML or YAML, to select the desired output language:

$ alr --format=TOML search --crates hello
[[data]]
description = "'Hello, world!' demonstration project"
name = "hello"
[[data]]
description = "Basic library demonstration project"
name = "libhello"

Allow pinning a crate in a subdirectory of a git repository ​

PR #1857

Until now, monorepos were supported in origins of indexed crates but not in user pins. A workaround was to manually clone a repository and pin the appropriate local path. This can now be achieved entirely within Alire, e.g.:

alr with --use=https://github.com/myuser/mymonorepo --subdir=mycrate

This way, alr update works as expected and it removes the need to manually update these repositories.

Configurable trusted sites list for Git repositories ​

PR #1819

The list of hosts which the alr publish --for-private-index and alr index --check commands consider to be trusted for Git repository origins can now be configured with the origins.git.trusted_sites settings key. The existing hard-coded list still applies when using alr publish to submit to the community index.

Custom download command for archive crates ​

PR #1815

The command used to download a crate as a source archive can now be configured using the origins.archive.download_cmd key of alr settings, instead of using a hard-coded curl command. The tokens ${URL} and ${DEST} are replaced by the origin URL and destination file path respectively.

For example

alr settings --set --global origins.archive.download_cmd 'curl ${URL} --netrc -L -s -o ${DEST}'

configures alr to use the default command with the addition of the switch --netrc (which instructs curl to use the login information in the .netrc file found in the user's home directory).

The default behavior is unchanged.

Abbreviated --tree output for repeating dependencies ​

PR #1814

By default, repeated dependencies are now omitted by --tree output, e.g.:

$ alr show --tree libgpr2
...
Dependencies (tree):
   gnat=14.1.3 (gnat_native) (>=14)
   gnatcoll=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
   ├── gnat=14.1.3 (gnat_native) (>=13)
   └── libgpr=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
       ├── gnat=14.1.3 (gnat_native) (/=2020)
       └── xmlada=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
           └── gnat=14.1.3 (gnat_native) (>=11)
   gnatcoll_gmp=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
   ├── gnatcoll=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
   │   └── ...
   └── libgmp=6.3.0 (*)
   gnatcoll_iconv=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
   └── gnatcoll=25.0.0 (~25.0.0)
       └── ...

Whenever '...' appears, it means that the preceding release has its dependencies already printed somewhere in the preceding tree lines.

The old behavior can be obtained by increasing verbosity with the global -v switch.

Faster alr search without resolving dependencies ​

PR #1799

alr search no longer solves dependencies of releases by default, in order to speed up the command. The --solve switch can be used to achieve the old behavior.

In the new default situation, releases that have dependencies are marked with a '?' symbol in the STATUS column. The --solve switch will solve the dependencies and replace the '?' with either nothing for a solvable release or the usual 'X' if dependencies are unsatisfiable.

Support for private indexes with alr publish --for-private-index ​

PR #1745

Automated manifest generation with alr publish can now be performed for crates which are not intended for submission to the community index by supplying the --for-private-index switch. This has the same effects as --skip-submit, and additionally disables a number of checks that enforce submission requirements specific to the community index.

Release 2.0 ​

ALIRE_SETTINGS_DIR replaces ALR_CONFIG ​

PR #1625

This reflects the new nomenclature of Alire settings versus crate configuration. Also, it better reflects that the effect is on the whole library and not only the alr command-line tool.

alr settings replaces alr config ​

PR #1617

The alr settings command replaces the alr config command. This change is introduced to tackle the confusion between the configuration of the Alire commands and operations, and the configuration of crates.

alr config is still available and should work as before with the exception of a deprecation warning message.

Deprecation of toolchain --install/--uninstall/--install-dir ​

PR #1614

Toolchain selection for use by Alire is still done by using alr toolchain --select.

For the installation of toolchains outside of Alire management (i.e., for direct use with other tools, but not with Alire), the recommended method now is to use alr install, e.g.:

# Install to the default location, <user home>/.alire/bin
$ alr install gnat_native gprbuild

# Install elsewhere
$ alr install --prefix=/path/to/installation gnat_native gprbuild

Removal of managed toolchains can be done by simply removing their folders inside the toolchain cache (reported by alr version).

Cache and toolchain storage location overridding ​

PR #1593

The cache directory can now be set independently of the configuration directory, by setting the cache.dir config builtin to an absolute path. For example:

alr config --global --set cache.dir /path/to/my/global/cache

Since the cache by default also contains installed toolchains, which may not be needed to be moved elsewhere, the toolchain.dir can be used to dissociate toolchain location from cache location in a similar way:

alr config --global --set toolchain.dir /path/to/my/toolchains

New switch alr build --stop-after=<build stage> ​

PR #1573

From alr help build:

Build stages

Instead of always doing a full build, the process can be stopped early using --stop-after=<stage>, where <stage> is one of:

• sync: sync pristine sources to build location
• generation: generate configuration-dependent files
• post-fetch: running of post-fetch actions
• pre-build: running of pre-build actions
• build: actual building of sources
• post-build: running of post-build actions

Enable shared dependencies by default ​

PR #1449

Pre-2.0, Alire worked always in "sandboxed" mode; that is, all source dependencies were found under <workspace>/alire/cache. This behavior can be now enabled with alr config --set dependencies.shared false, locally or globally.

By default, post-2.0, Alire works in "shared" mode, where sources are downloaded once (to ~/.cache/alire/releases) and unique builds are created (under ~/.cache/alire/builds) for unique configurations. This should minimize rebuilds across crate configurations and workspaces, and eliminate risks of inconsistencies.

Disk use is decreased by unique source downloads, but might be increased by unique build configurations. Cache management and cleanup will be provided down the road. The build cache can always be deleted to retrieve disk space, at the cost of triggering rebuilds.

Unique builds are identified by a build hash which takes into account the following inputs for a given release:

• Build profile
• Environment variables modified in the manifest
• GPR external variables declared or set
• Configuration variables declared or set
• Compiler version
• Vaue of LIBRARY_TYPE and <CRATE>_LIBRARY_TYPE variables.
• Hash of dependencies

Automatic index updates ​

PR #1447

A new configuration option, index.auto_update, allows setting the refresh period of indexes. It defaults to 24 hours and the user will be asked the first time to allow automatic updates. Setting this option to 0 will also disable automatic updates.

When enabled, updates may happen before executing commands that rely on indexes: get, search, with, etc.

Deprecation of dependencies.dir in favor of dependencies.shared ​

PR #1419

A new system of shared sources and builds is being implemented, which will ensure full consistency and reuse of builds.

In the new system (still disabled; enable it by setting alr config --set dependencies.shared true), dependencies will no longer be stored under <workspace>/alire/cache/dependencies. Instead, three new directories are introduced:

• $HOME/.cache/alire/releases: contains sources for read-only purposes and binary releases (except toolchains, see below).
• $HOME/.cache/alire/builds: contains source builds for a unique combination of build profile, GPR externals and environment variables.
• $HOME/.cache/alire/toolchains: contains downloaded toolchains.

The previous $HOME/.cache/alire/dependencies that contained both toolchains and binary releases is no longer in use.

Users wanting to modify dependencies in tandem within a workspace are encouraged to use the pin system.

If these default locations for shared dependencies must be relocated, this can be achieved by using a new configuration path (ALR_CONFIG or -c global switch). In that case, the aforementioned paths will be found under /path/to/config/cache.

Set working directory with --chdir ​

PR #1479

A new switch --chdir (short form -C) is introduced which requires a target directory argument. alr then runs as though it were invoked in that directory.

Request review of an index submission with alr publish --request-review ​

PR #1409

When a submission has passed all server-side tests, for the time being it must be reviewed and merged manually. This can now be done with alr publish --request-review <num>.

Cancel an index submission with alr publish --cancel ​

PR #1406

A pending submission can be closed with alr publish --cancel <num> --reason <text>.

Track user's index submissions with alr publish --status ​

PR #1400

The new alr publish --status switch will print a table with unmerged pull requests opened by the user against the community index repository.

Automatic release submission during alr publish ​

PR #1398

alr publish will now prompt to continue after manifest creation into a series of steps culminating on the creation of a draft pull request on the community index repository.

The new steps will perform all necessary actions: forking of the community repository into the user account, cloning, committing of the new manifest, and pull request creation.

For alr to be able to do these steps on the user's behalf, the user has to provide a 'Personal Access Token (PAT)' with 'repo' permissions.

The old behavior, ending the assistant after manifest creation, can be achieved with the new --skip-submit flag.

Removal of alr test --docker ​

PR #1366

The option to test indexed releases with the local alr using a Docker image has been removed, as it never made too much sense for alr to invoke itself, and it introduced unwanted complexity into the alr test command.

Global sharing of dependencies via config setting ​

PR #1367

A new built-in configuration key can be used to define a directory where all dependencies will be stored:

alr config --set --global dependencies.dir /abs/path/to/existing/dir

Without --global, as usual, the setting will only affect the working crate.

The use of this feature entails a penalty in that crate configuration files will be regenerated before every build to ensure consistent build profiles.

Caveat emptor: dependencies built by several dependents with different configuration options or scenario variables might cause race conditions or other unexpected issues. Use this feature with caution.

Test of a working crate with alr test ​

PR #1356

This PR enables the use of alr test on local crates. Previously, it could only be used on indexed ones.

By default, running alr test will build the crate in release mode. This behavior can be overridden by defining one or more test actions.

Binary releases moved to system cache from system config directory ​

PR #1349

Alire was storing large binary releases like compilers in the config location, which is against best practices.

Users are advised to delete the old location to recover disk space, or to manually move the contents to avoid redownloading toolchains.

• Old location: <user home>/.config/alire/cache
• New location: <user home>/.cache/alire

Installation of indexed crates ​

PR #1335

It is now possible to install an indexed crate directly:

$ alr install hello

This is roughly equivalent to alr get hello && cd hello* && alr install

The main differences are:

• Cleanup is automatic.
• Several crates can be installed in one go, e.g.: alr install hello hangman.
• alr get will always retrieve the latest version, whereas alr install will also require a complete solution to dependencies.

Installation of local crates ​

PR #1322

alr install without arguments performs the installation of the current crate. With --info, it shows the contents of an installation prefix. For example:

$ alr -n init --bin mycrate && cd mycrate
$ alr install
$ alr install --info
Installation prefix found at /home/user/.alire
Contents:
   mycrate=0.1.0-dev

Or, to install the hangman game:

$ alr get hangman && cd hangman*
$ alr install

New subcommand alr install ​

PR #1302

A new subcommand alr install allows the installation of binaries to a location intended to be added to the user's PATH. The default install location is $HOME/.alire, with binaries going into $HOME/.alire/bin.

This is a experimental feature that will see improvements and tweaks in further PRs and as we gather feedback on its usage.

At present, only binary releases can be installed (e.g., compilers, gprbuild, gnatprove). There is no ability to uninstall releases either (but reinstallation can be forced).

Only one version per executable can be installed, meaning that, for example, only one toolchain version can exist in an installation prefix. So, this feature is intended to make the user's preferred version of a crate generally available in the system for use outside of Alire, but not to replace e.g. the ability of Alire to use several compilers, or to reuse compiled libraries as dependencies in several workspaces.

Examples:

$ alr install gnatprove
ⓘ Installing gnatprove=12.1.1...
ⓘ Installation complete.

$ alr install
Installation prefix found at /home/jano/.alire
Contents:
   gnatprove=12.1.1

$ PATH+=:$HOME/.alire/bin gnatprove --version
Usage: gnatprove -Pproj [switches] [-cargs switches]
...

$ alr install gnatprove^11
error: Requested release gnatprove=11.2.3 has another version already
installed: gnatprove=12.1.1. (This error can be overridden with --force.)

$ alr --force install gnatprove^11  # Downgrade installation

Find dependents of a release with `alr show --dependents ​

PR #1170

A new switch for alr show lists the newest release that depends on another given release. For example, to find direct dependencies on libhello:

$ alr show libhello --dependents
CRATE  VERSION  DEPENDENCY
hello  1.0.1    ^1.0.0

To identify all dependents, both direct and indirect, use --dependents=shortest, which will also show the shortest dependency chain from (indirect) dependent to dependee:

$ alr show aws --dependents=shortest
CRATE                    VERSION  DEPENDENCY  CHAIN
adabots                  1.2.0    ^21.0.0     adabots=1.2.0»aws=21.0.0
awa                      2.4.0    ~21.0.0     awa=2.4.0»utilada_aws=2.5.0»aws=21.0.0
awa_unit                 2.4.0    ~21.0.0     awa_unit=2.4.0»awa=2.4.0»utilada_aws=2.5.0»aws=21.0.0
matreshka_spikedog_awsd  21.0.0   *           matreshka_spikedog_awsd=21.0.0»aws=21.0.0
servletada_aws           1.6.0    ~21.0.0     servletada_aws=1.6.0»utilada_aws=2.5.0»aws=21.0.0
utilada_aws              2.5.0    ~21.0.0     utilada_aws=2.5.0»aws=21.0.0
webdriver                1.0.0    *           webdriver=1.0.0»aws=21.0.0

Finally, to obtain all paths through which dependents reach a dependency, use the all value. In this case crates may appear more than once in the listing:

$ alr show --dependents=all cortex_m
CRATE               VERSION  DEPENDENCY  CHAIN
minisamd51_bsp      0.1.0    ^0.1.0      minisamd51_bsp=0.1.0»samd51_hal=0.2.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
minisamd51_example  0.1.1    ^0.1.0      minisamd51_example=0.1.1»minisamd51_bsp=0.1.0»samd51_hal=0.2.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
pico_bsp            2.0.0    ~0.5.0      pico_bsp=2.0.0»rp2040_hal=2.0.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
pico_examples       2.0.0    ~0.5.0      pico_examples=2.0.0»rp2040_hal=2.0.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
pico_examples       2.0.0    ~0.5.0      pico_examples=2.0.0»pico_bsp=2.0.0»rp2040_hal=2.0.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
pygamer_bsp         0.1.0    ^0.1.0      pygamer_bsp=0.1.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
pygamer_bsp         0.1.0    ^0.1.0      pygamer_bsp=0.1.0»samd51_hal=0.2.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
rp2040_hal          2.0.0    ~0.5.0      rp2040_hal=2.0.0»cortex_m=0.5.0
samd51_hal          0.2.0    ^0.1.0      samd51_hal=0.2.0»cortex_m=0.5.0

Finer control of build profiles in alr build ​

PR #1119

Build profiles can be now tweaked from the command-line with a new switch:

• alr build --profiles '*=development'# Set all profiles to development
• alr build --profiles '%=validation'# Set profiles without an override in a manifest to validation

Explicit crates can be given, intermixed with one of the wildcards, which apply to the rest of crates in the build:

• alr build --profiles '*=development,libhello=release'# Set all profiles to development but for libhello

The existing switches --release, --validation, --development continue to control root crate profile and take the highest priority:

• alr build --validation --profiles '*=development'# Set the working crate to validation and the rest to development

Reuse build profile of alr build when issuing alr run ​

PR #1080

alr run will trigger a build to have an up-to-date executable, and before this PR this was always a development build. Now, the last profile used during an alr build will be reused.

Release 1.2 ​

New subcommand for listing and manual triggering of actions ​

PR #983

Actions defined in a working release can be listed now with alr action. A specific kind of action can be triggered by specifying its kind. Actions in the complete dependency tree can be listed and triggered with the --recursive switch.

$ alr action                # Display actions defined in the root release
$ alr action --recursive    # Display all actions in the root and dependencies
$ alr action post-build     # Run post-build actions in the root release
$ alr action post-build -r  # Run post-build actions in the root and dependencies

UTF-8 Source Encoding ​

PR #972

As part of the build profile feature, the GNAT switch -gnatW8 is unconditionally added to the list of compiler switches in the configuration GPR file. This switch enables the use of UTF-8 for source file encoding.

Support for crates in repository subfolders (monorepos) ​

PR #939

A crate can now be located nested within a repository and still be published as a repository origin. This enables simpler publishing of such crates, as alr publish will automatically recognize the situation. For example, let us say we have this structure:

my_repo
  +-- my_crate
  +-- my_crate_examples

Running alr publish at ./git_repo/my_crate or ./git_repo/my_crate_examples will detect that the crate is not at the root and adjust the origin metadata to take into account the extra path.

Other typical hierarchies that should likewise work are:

my_crate (also a repository)
  +-- examples

my_repo
  +-- crate1
        +-- examples
  +-- crate2
        +-- examples

At this time alr publish will not remove pins, so that is still a manual adjustment that the user may have to perform prior to publishing; that is, the manifest at each nested crate must be manually readied for publishing (just as for any other regular crate).

Root crate build profile ​

PR #896

The default build profile for the root crate is Development. This can be changed with the --release, --validation and --development switches for alr build.

$ alr build --release     # build with release profile
$ alr build --validation  # build with validation profile
$ alr build --development # build with development profile
$ alr build               # build with development profile

Build profiles and switches ​

PR #895

As part of the crate configuration feature, Alire will generate a list of compiler switches in the configuration GPR file. The list of switches is controlled from two features:

• build-profiles
• build-switches

User defined command aliases ​

PR #853

It is now possible to define in configuration (local or global) aliases for the alr commands.

$ alr config --set --global alias.graph 'show --graph'
$ alr graph

Will run the alr show command with the --graph switch.

New command alr exec -- <command line> ​

PR #853

This new command takes an executable and arguments and run them in the Alire environment/context of the current crate.

$ alr exec -- sh -c 'echo ${ALIRE}'
True

Pass alr clean switches to gprclean ​

PR #853

Using the -- delimiter the switches and arguments for alr clean can now be passed to the underlying gprclean execution.

For instance:

$ alr clean -- -XTEST=42

Pass alr build switches to gprbuild ​

PR #850

Using the -- delimiter, the switches and arguments for alr build are now passed to the underlying gprbuild execution.

For instance:

$ alr build -- -f

will force recompilation.

Global switches only allowed before sub-command ​

PR #850

Before this change the global switches (-f, -n, --config=, etc.) could be placed anywhere on the command line. For instance, the following two commands were equivalent:

$ alr -f show
$ alr show -f

Global switches are now only allowed before the sub-command name. Such that:

$ alr -f show # Is OK
$ alr show -f # Is not OK (unrecognized option '-f' for 'show')

Release 1.1 ​

Lockfile moved to alire folder ​

PR #789

The lock file (alire.lock) is now a purely internal file, regenerated as needed from scratch, and needs not be put under version control. Since, furthermore, this file is not intended for user edition or inspection, it is now created inside the alire folder of a crate.

Existing lock files at the root of a crate will be automatically migrated to their new location the first time an alr command that uses the lock file is run inside a crate with the old situation.

This change obsoletes the recommendation that accompanied PR #501 about putting the lock file under version control.

Conflicting releases ​

PR #781

For releases that have known incompatibilities (duplicated source names, drop-in equivalent crates), it is now possible to express this information through a forbids table array, with the same syntax as dependencies. For example:

[[forbids]]
conflicting_crate = "^1"

Releases related by a forbids property will not appear simultaneously as dependencies in a solution, as the solver will discard these combinations.

Toolchain management ​

PR #775

A variety of GNAT compilers (native and cross-target) is now available through Alire. These compilers are managed with the alr toolchain new command. The available compilers can be listed with alr search --full gnat_.

Toolchain configuration is common to all crates in the active configuration prefix (which can be switched with the global -c option or by providing a path with the ALR_CONFIG environment variable).

The alr toolchain --select subcommand allows selecting the preferred default compiler (or none at all, to continue using the previous mode of operation) for crates that do not specify one.

Crates that require a particular cross-compiler may now specify it as a regular dependency on, e.g., gnat_riscv_elf.

In addition to a default compiler, the preferred version of a compiler for a target may be made available with alr toolchain --install <crate[=version]>. When launching a build, Alire will use preferably the default selected compiler or, if the default is for a different target, one of the other installed compilers. If no installed compiler is available for the crate target, Alire will offer to download the appropriate cross-target compiler.

Finally, running alr toolchain without arguments will list the currently installed compilers and gprbuild versions.

Pins to git branches ​

PR #754

A new option for remote pins exist to track branches:

[[pins]]
wip = { url = "https://gitrepo.com/wip.git" branch="feature" }

Running alr update will pull any changes from the branch.

Pins stored in the manifest ​

PR #743.

The options to modify pins through the command-line (with --use, alr pin [--unpin] crate have been disabled in favor of direct edition of the manifest. This way, pins are more robust against lockfile format changes. These kinds of pins exist:

[[pins]]
foo = { version = "1.3.2+bugfix" } # Require a specific version
bar = { path = "../my/bar" } # Use a local crate to override a dependency
baz = { url = "https://github.com/baz.git" } # No commit, will use HEAD, will update on `alr update`
gru = { url = "https://gitlab.com/gru.git" commit="123456890abcdef..." } # Explicit commit, won't update

Automatic GPR 'with' now in crate configuration ​

PR #740.

When adding or removing dependency with alr with, the list of with statement for each project files of the dependencies is now automatically added to the GPR crate configuration file instead of the root project file.

Git remotes for pinned releases ​

PR #715

The pinning commands (alr with --use, alr pin --use) now also accept a git repository URL, which will be downloaded and used to override a dependency, as previously could be done only with local directories. The pinning feature works recursively, so unpublished crates can now have complete dependencies prior to submission to the community index (which relies only on indexed dependencies).

Switch to help with publishing of multi-crate repositories ​

PR #635.

The alr publish command now supports a new --manifest <file> switch, to help with packaging sources that provide several crates. Maintainers can now prepare different manifest files for the corresponding crates, and select each one in turn for publishing, without the repository itself being an actual Alire crate. Source management must still be taken care of by maintainers; sources should not be shared by project files in different crates intended to be simultaneously included.

Configuration of crates ​

PR #699. PR #673.

Pre-compilation parameterization of source files can be now achieved by declaring variables and initial constant values for these variables in the Alire manifests. This allows customizing code in both the root crate and dependencies. For example:

[configuration.variables]
Device_Name = {type = "String", default = "no device name"}
Debug_Level = {type = "Enum", values = ["Info", "Debug", "Warn", "Error"], default = "Warn"}
Buffer_Size = {type = "Integer", first = 0, last = 1024, default = 256}

[configuration.values]
crate_1.var1 = 42
crate_1.var2 = true
crate_2.var1 = "Debug"

Check more examples and details in the catalog specification section Using configuration.

Release 1.0 ​

Narrow down versions for dependencies given without restrictions ​

PR #675.

When a user requests a dependency without narrowing down its version set (e.g., alr with foo), the solved version will be used to instead add an "update-safe" dependency (e.g., foo^1.x, foo~0.x). To truly request any version, this can be explicitly entered as alr with 'foo>=0'.

This behavior can be disabled by setting the solver.autonarrow configuration option to false.

The command alr list has been renamed to alr search --crates ​

PR #671.

To consolidate search functionality under the single alr search command, the old behavior of alr list can now be achieved with alr search --crates. By default, alr search looks into releases, but now it can look too into crates with the new --crates switch.

Document caret/tilde use for pre-1.0 versions, and warn about it ​

PR #669.

Alire does not change the meaning of caret (^) and tilde (~) operators for pre/post-1.0 versions. This interpretation has been clarified in the catalog specification, and alr will warn about any suspicious usage. This warning may be disabled by the user with the new warning.caret configuration option.

Do not perform build relocations ​

PR #667.

GPRBuild machinery for build relocation is incompatible with some use cases, so now all builds are performed in place, using the locations given in project files. This should only have a user-visible impact for pinned dependencies, which will see changes in their build directory when Alire builds for dependent crates are run.

Switch to check for unknown enumeration values in the index ​

PR #656.

To allow backwards-compatible use of new supported environment configurations in the index, unknown values in dynamic case expressions are silently ignored when loading an index. In order to allow pinpointing these values (or truly wrong entries), a new switch alr index --check can be used that will reject an index containing unknown values.

This error, either in indexes or a local manifest, can be downgraded to a warning with --force.

Switch manifest licenses field to SPDX expressions ​

PR #629.

The licenses in crate manifests now expects a valid SPDX expression. Custom license identifiers are accepted with the format: custom-[0-9a-zA-Z.-]+.

Example:

licenses = "MIT OR custom-my-own-license"

For the 1.x release, usage of the previous licenses format is obsolete and will trigger a warning. In future major releases this format will not be accepted at all.

Custom editor command for alr edit ​

PR #611.

The code editor launched by alr edit can now be configured instead of using the hard-coded GNATstudio. Use alr config --set --global editor.cmd '<BINARY> <ARGS>' for custom editor and command line arguments. The token ${GPR_FILE} is replaced by a path to the project file to open.

For instance:

$ alr config --set --global editor.cmd 'emacs ${GPR_FILE}'

The default editor is still GNATstudio.

Release 0.7-beta ​

Assistance to generate and publish as tarball ​

PR #529.

By using alr publish --tar, the publishing assistant starts with the creation of a tarball of the sources in an Alire workspace. The user must upload this tarball to an online location, after which the assistant proceeds as if it had been invoked with alr publish http[s]://url/to/tarball.tgz.

First publishing assistant ​

PR #527.

A new publishing assistant can be invoked with alr publish [URL [commit]]. At this time, the assistant requires that all necessary metadata for a release, excepting the [origin] table, is informed in the alire.toml file.

The assistant has local and remote modes of operation. In the local mode, the user invokes the assistant from within a repository on its computer that is up-to-date with its remote, and that contains an Alire workspace. In this case, it is enough to run alr publish.

In the remote mode, the user must prepare a source file or repository in their final online locations, and use alr publish <URL> [<commit>], with the commit being mandatory for repositories and not needed for source archives.

In all cases, alr will fetch the sources, perform a few checks on the completeness of the information, and generate a final metadata file, intended to be submitted to the community index via pull request. An upload link is provided for convenience that can be used to create this pull request.

Complete information about this feature is available in the updated Publishing page.

Other features of the assistant are that, in the local mode, a branch or tag can be specified to pinpoint a commit, and that the test build of the crate can be skipped with --skip-build.

Move manifest and lock files to top-level folder ​

PR #501.

The metadata information about a crate/release has been reworked to simplify user workflows and internal operation. Metadata is stored in the manifest file, which as of this PR is always called alire.toml and located at the root directory of an Alire-enabled workspace. A companion lock file, alire.lock, stores information about the dependency solution and overrides.

These two files can be safely put under version control. The manifest, in particular, is intended to evolve with your Ada project, by being an up-to-date record of any necessary dependencies and other properties (version, project files, executables, maintainers, etc.).

The manifest internal format has been simplified by eliminating the possibility of multiple releases from its contents, which removes some nesting, and removing or making optional some fields that only make sense at the time of publishing a crate to some index. Check the catalog-format-spec file for details.

The alire directory continues to exist, and it is used to store the source code of dependencies, local configuration and backup files. It can be safely ignored for VCS, as its contents are either not critical or can be reconstructed from the manifest information.

New alr with --versions switch ​

PR #464.

A new alr with --versions switch is available to obtain version-focused information of dependencies. Namely, the combined dependencies on a crate are shown, with the release in the solution, and the last known version for the crate:

CRATE      DEPENDENCY      SOLVED  LATEST
a_project  (root)          0.0.0   unknown
hello      ^1              1.0.1   4.0.0
libhello   (^1.0) & (~1.0) 1.0.1   2.0.0
superhello *               1.0.0   1.0.0
unobtanium *               missing unknown
wip        *               /fake   unknown

New alr with --graph and alr with --tree switches ​

PR #465.

The ASCII art dependency graph generated with graph-easy, that was printed at the end of alr with --solve output, is moved to its own alr with --graph switch. A fallback tree visualization is generated when graph-easy is unavailable. This new tree visualization can also be obtained with alr with --tree:

my_project=0.0.0
├── hello=1.0.1 (^1)
│   └── libhello=1.0.1 (^1.0)
├── superhello=1.0.0 (*)
│   └── libhello=1.0.1 (~1.0)
├── unobtanium* (direct,missed) (*)
└── wip* (direct,linked,pin=/fake) (*)

Automatically 'with' GPR project files from dependencies ​

PR #458.

When adding or removing dependency with alr with, a list of with statement for each project files of the dependencies can be automatically added to the root project file:

-- begin auto-gpr-with --
--  This section was automatically added by Alire
with "libhello.gpr";
-- end auto-gpr-with --

project Test is
...

This feature can be permanently enabled or disabled with a local or global configuration option:

alr config --global --set auto-gpr-with false

Crates with project files not compatible with this feature can disable it using the auto-gpr-with entry:

auto-gpr-with=false

Show release-specific dependency sets in solutions ​

PR #453.

The dependency solution shown with the --solve switch now details for each release the particular version set with which a dependency is brought into the dependency closure. For example:

Dependencies (graph):
   hello=1.0.1      --> libhello=1.0.1 (^1.0)
   superhello=1.0.0 --> libhello=1.0.1 (~1.0)

Use crate metadata when pinning to a directory ​

PR #450.

When pinning a dependency to a directory (alr pin|with <crate> --use), detect if the target contains Alire metadata (as usual, in an alire subdir). In that case, use it to determine further dependencies and project file scopes. Also, the target dependency name is verified.

For such a target directory, a shortcut with command is available since the crate name can be determined from the metadata: alr with --use /path/to/target (note the absence of a crate name).

Allow working with incomplete solutions ​

PR #447.

Before this patch, any change in dependencies that resulted in an incomplete solution caused a final "invalid solution" error. Now, any incomplete solution will be presented to the user with details about the unfulfilled dependencies. This solution can be accepted and worked with normally, although the user is responsible to provide in the environment any missing project files.

This change affects all commands that compute a dependency solution, i.e., get, pin, update, with.

Use a directory to fulfill a dependency ​

PR #439

A local path can now be used to fulfill a dependency. The path can be supplied during initial dependency addition or afterwards during pinning, via the --use switch. Such a path will be added to the environment generated by alr setenv. Examples:

$ alr with some_crate --use /some/absolute/or/relative/path
# To simultaneously add a dependency and the directory to use for its GPR file.
# The dependency needs not to exist in the loaded indexes.

$ alr with indexed_crate
$ alr pin indexed_crate --use /path/to/gpr/containing/folder
# To pin a previously added dependency.