Net Install Manager (ninman)

A CLI tool (installable via pipx) for managing installations, rollbacks, versioning, and uninstallation of .NET console applications across Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Features

• Source, Pre-compiled & Git Support: Install directly from .csproj source, pre-compiled binaries (DLLs/EXEs), or remote Git/GitHub repositories.
• Cross-Platform:
  • Linux / macOS: Installs to ~/.local/lib/<app>/<version> (or /usr/local/lib for system), atomic current symlinks, and launchers in ~/.local/bin.
  • Windows: Installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\<app>\versions\<version> (or Program Files for system), current directory junctions, and .cmd + bash launchers in bin/.
• Version Management & Rollback: Automatic version detection (csproj, git tags, binary --version), version regression checks, rollback to previous versions, and version pruning (--versions-to-keep).
• Application Registry & Upgrades: Track installed applications and upgrade them directly (ninman upgrade <app> or ninman upgrade --all), including fetching the latest Git commits/tags.

Installation

pipx install net-install-manager

CLI Usage

Installing an Application

# Install a prebuilt asset from a GitHub release
ninman install-release owner repo --asset-pattern "{rid}-{version}"

# Install from a local .csproj file or current directory
ninman install
ninman install ./src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj
ninman install ./dist/MyApp-v1.2.0

# Install directly from GitHub / Git repository
ninman install https://github.com/owner/repo.git
ninman install owner/repo
ninman install owner/repo@v1.2.0

# Multi-project repositories: select a specific project via subpath or --project
ninman install https://github.com/owner/repo.git --project src/CliApp/CliApp.csproj
ninman install https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/main/src/CliApp
ninman install owner/repo#src/CliApp

# Install as self-contained with version pruning
ninman install --self-contained --versions-to-keep 3

# Force installation / reinstallation of older version
ninman install --force --app-version 1.0.0

Application Maintenance

# Upgrade an application or all tracked applications
ninman upgrade myapp
ninman upgrade --all

# Rollback to the previous version
ninman rollback --previous myapp

# Rollback to a specific version
ninman rollback --target-version 1.1.0 myapp

# Uninstall a specific version or everything
ninman uninstall --target-version 1.0.0 myapp
ninman uninstall --all

Installation Status

# List all tracked applications managed by ninman
ninman list-apps

# Describe the installation details of a given application
ninman app-details myapp

# List installed versions of a given application
ninman list-versions myapp

GitHub release installations discover ninman.yml, ninman.yaml, or a .csproj from the unpacked release asset. Private repositories can use NINMAN_GITHUB_TOKEN, GITHUB_TOKEN, or GH_TOKEN; tokens are used for requests only and are not stored in the application registry.

Configuration (ninman.yaml)

app_directory: my-app
binary_name: myapp
source_binary_name: MyApp.dll # or MyApp.exe
csproj_path: src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj # optional