> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://chadboyce.gitbook.io/notes/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://chadboyce.gitbook.io/notes/bin.md).

# bin

A tool used to install binary files of command-line programs from Github.

> I have also found a nice script to do basically the same thing: [github-install.sh](https://gist.github.com/redraw/13ff169741d502b6616dd05dccaa5554)

***

Manages binary files downloaded from different sources

![bin](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1578458/87901619-ee629a80-ca2d-11ea-8609-8a8eb39801d2.gif)

## Installing †

1. Download `bin` from the [releases](https://github.com/marcosnils/bin/releases)
2. Run `./bin install github.com/marcosnils/bin` so `bin` is managed by `bin` itself
3. Run `bin ls` to make sure bin has been installed correctly. You can now remove the first file you downloaded.
4. Enjoy!

(†) irony

## Usage

Install a release from github with the following command:

```shell
bin install github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind # installs latest Kind release

bin install github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/tag/v0.8.0 # installs a specific release

bin install github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind ~/bin/kind # installs latest on a specific path
```

You can install Docker images and use them as regular CLIs:

```shell
bin install docker://hashicorp/terraform:light # install the `light` tag for terraform

bin install docker://quay.io/calico/node # install the latest version of calico/node
```

```shell
bin ensure # Ensures that all binaries listed in the configuration are present
bin help # Help about any command
bin install <repo> [path] # Downloads the latest binary and makes it executable
bin list # List current binaries and it's versions
bin prune # Removes from the DB missing binaries
bin remove <bin>... # Deletes one or more binaries
bin update [bin]... # Scans binaries and prompts for update
```

## FAQ

### I see releases on Github, but `bin` does not pick them up

At the moment, `bin` does only consider the [latest release from Github](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#get-the-latest-release) according to the following definition:

> The latest release is the most recent non-prerelease, non-draft release, sorted by the `created_at` attribute. The `created_at` attribute is the date of the commit used for the release, and not the date when the release was drafted or published.

You *can* however install a specific pre-release by specifying the URL for the pre-release, e.g. `bin install https://github.com/bufbuild/buf/releases/tag/v0.40.0`.

### I used `bin` and I got rate limited by Github or want to access private repos, what can I do?

Create a Github personal access token by following the steps in this guide: [Creating a personal access token](https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token). The access token used with `bin` does not need any scopes.

Create an environment variable named `GITHUB_AUTH_TOKEN` with the value of your newly created access token. For example in bash: `export GITHUB_AUTH_TOKEN=<your_token_value>`.