This is just enough info to get you up and running.

Much more info available via gpm help once it's installed.

You need node v0.4 or higher to run this program.

To install an old and unsupported version of gpm that works on node 0.3 and prior:

git clone git:https://github.com/tobsn/gpm.git ./gpm
cd gpm
git checkout origin/0.2
make dev

To install gpm with one command, do this:

curl http:https://gpmjs.org/install.sh | sh

To skip the gpm 0.x cleanup, do this:

curl http:https://gpmjs.org/install.sh | clean=no sh

To say "yes" to the 0.x cleanup, but skip the prompt:

curl http:https://gpmjs.org/install.sh | clean=yes sh

If that fails, try this:

git clone http:https://github.com/tobsn/gpm.git
cd gpm
sudo make install

If you're sitting in the code folder reading this document in your terminal, then you've already got the code. Just do:

sudo make install

and gpm will install itself.

If you don't have make, and don't have curl or git, and ALL you have is this code and node, you can probably do this:

sudo node ./cli.js install

However, note that github tarballs do not contain submodules, so those won't work. You'll have to also fetch the appropriate submodules listed in the .gitmodules file.

tl;dr

• Use sudo for greater safety. Or don't, if you prefer not to.
• gpm will downgrade permissions if it's root before running any build scripts that package authors specified.

As of version 0.3, it is recommended to run gpm as root. This allows gpm to change the user identifier to the nobody user prior to running any package build or test commands.

If you are not the root user, or if you are on a platform that does not support uid switching, then gpm will not attempt to change the userid.

If you would like to ensure that gpm always runs scripts as the "nobody" user, and have it fail if it cannot downgrade permissions, then set the following configuration param:

gpm config set unsafe-perm false

to prevent it from ever running in unsafe mode, even as non-root users.

So sad to see you go.

sudo gpm uninstall gpm 

Or, if that fails,

sudo make uninstall

Usually, the above instructions are sufficient. That will remove gpm, but leave behind anything you've installed.

If you would like to remove all the packages that you have installed, then you can use the gpm ls command to find them, and then gpm rm to remove them.

To remove cruft left behind by gpm 0.x, you can use the included clean-old.sh script file. You can run it conveniently like this:

gpm explore gpm -- sh scripts/clean-old.sh

If you would like to use gpm programmatically, you can do that. It's not very well documented, but it IS rather simple.

var gpm = require("gpm")
gpm.load(myConfigObject, function (er) {
  if (er) return handlError(er)
  gpm.commands.install(["some", "args"], function (er, data) {
    if (er) return commandFailed(er)
    // command succeeded, and data might have some info
  })
  gpm.on("log", function (message) { .... })
})

See ./bin/gpm.js for an example of pulling config values off of the command line arguments using nopt. You may also want to check out gpm help config to learn about all the options you can set there.

Check out the docs, especially the faq.

You can use the gpm help command to read any of them.

If you're a developer, and you want to use gpm to publish your program, you should read this

"gpm" and "the gpm registry" are owned by Isaac Z. Schlueter. All rights not explicitly granted in the MIT license are reserved. See the included LICENSE file for more details.

"Node.js" and "node" are trademarks owned by Joyent, Inc. gpm is not officially part of the Node.js project, and is neither owned by nor officially affiliated with Joyent, Inc.

The packages in the gpm registry are not part of gpm itself, and are the sole property of their respective maintainers. While every effort is made to ensure accountability, there is absolutely no guarantee, warrantee, or assertion made as to the quality, fitness for a specific purpose, or lack of malice in any given gpm package. Modules published on the gpm registry are not affiliated with or endorsed by Joyent, Inc., Isaac Z. Schlueter, Ryan Dahl, or the Node.js project.

If you have a complaint about a package in the gpm registry, and cannot resolve it with the package owner, please express your concerns to Isaac Z. Schlueter at [email protected].

This is mine; not my employer's, not Node's, not Joyent's, not Ryan Dahl's.

If you publish something, it's yours, and you are solely accountable for it. Not me, not Node, not Joyent, not Ryan Dahl.

If other people publish something, it's theirs. Not mine, not Node's, not Joyent's, not Ryan Dahl's.

Yes, you can publish something evil. It will be removed promptly if reported, and we'll lose respect for you. But there is no vetting process for published modules.

If this concerns you, inspect the source before using packages.