FoxPack

Libraries for Visual FoxPro projects, downloaded from GitHub at a fixed version.

foxpack add jsonfox

FoxPack puts the library in lib\jsonfox\ of your project and records it in foxpack.lock: the exact commit and the SHA-256 of every file. Commit both to git, and anyone who clones the project gets the same bytes with foxpack restore.

FoxPack is written in Visual FoxPro and built with FoxCli: it is a console application, like any other, and its source is the example.

Commands

Command	What it does
foxpack add jsonfox	Install the latest version of a library from the index
foxpack add [email protected]	Install a given version
foxpack add github:user/repo	Install a library that is not in the index (asks first; --yes for scripts)
foxpack restore	Download exactly what foxpack.lock says
foxpack update [library]	Move one library, or all of them, to the latest version
foxpack remove library	Delete it from lib\, from foxpack.lock and from the closed .pjx
foxpack list	The installed libraries (--format json for scripts)
foxpack verify	Check that nobody has edited the copies in lib\

Every command works on the current folder, or on the one given with -p. foxpack <command> --help explains each one, and docs/foxpack.md has all of them.

Rules

• A library's copy is never edited. The fix goes to its repository, and a new version comes back with foxpack update. verify and update notice a changed copy, and update will not overwrite it without --force.
• Fixed versions. A version is a tag of the library's repository, and foxpack.lock keeps its commit: a tag can move, a commit cannot.
• Bytes as they come. A CP1252 .prg is saved exactly as it was published. FoxPack also writes lib\.gitattributes so that git does not change line endings.
• All or nothing. A library is downloaded to a temporary folder and only replaces the old one when every file has arrived.
• No code is run. Installing a library copies files; nothing of the library executes.
• The manual comes with it. When the repository has a README.md, FoxPack installs it next to the code, in lib\<library>\README.md, and records it in foxpack.lock like the other files: it is the manual of that exact version. add and update say where it is, so whoever writes code with the library (a person or an AI agent) reads it first.

With FoxForge

In FoxForge (0.3.22 or later), FoxForge > Current project > Add library... runs foxpack add, and building (Ctrl+F7) puts the files of foxpack.lock in the project and takes out those it no longer lists. The test bench finds the libraries in lib\ too.

Publishing a library

Put a foxpack.json in the root of your repository:

{
  "name": "mylib",
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "What it does",
  "license": "MIT",
  "files": ["MyLib.prg"],
  "usage": "loLib = NEWOBJECT(\"MyLib\", \"MyLib.prg\")"
}

Tag that commit with the same version (v1.0). Anyone can then install it with foxpack add github:you/mylib. To install it by name, add it to the index.

Your README.md is the library's manual, for people and for AI agents (FoxStack serves it to them). docs/library-template.md has the sections to write, ready to copy.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Done
10	The library or the version does not exist
11	Download failed (network, GitHub, a missing file)
12	A copy in lib\ does not match foxpack.lock
13	The repository has no valid foxpack.json
14	The folder is not a project, or foxpack.lock cannot be read

License

MIT. See LICENSE.