- Contributing guide
- Introduction
- Schema
- Testing
- The anatomy of a package
- Package specification
- Expressions
- Examples
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC2119, and RFC8174 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
- Make sure to follow the naming guidelines.
- Refer to the common fields example for a good starting point for a new package.
- Refer to the different examples and/or existing package definitions for further guidance.
- Testing a package MUST be done locally prior to creating a PR. See testing for more information.
Tip
Use the YAML language server combined with the schemastore schema to get diagnostics and autocompletion (see Schema).
Package definitions are validated against a well-defined JSON schema. The full schema is hosted on http://schemastore.org/.
Tip
Use b0o/SchemaStore.nvim and the YAML language server to integrate these schemas in Neovim. This gives you diagnostics and autocompletion inside the editor when editing package definitions:
Testing a package locally can be achieved by configuring the mason.nvim
client to source package definitions locally
from your filesystem.
Important
In order for mason.nvim
to be able to parse the YAML files you must have yq
installed on your system. Tip: install
yq
(:MasonInstall yq
) from the core registry before testing.
Take note of the path where you have mason-org/mason-registry
cloned on your file system. To configure mason.nvim
to
source packages from there you'll use the file:
protocol, like so:
require("mason").setup {
registries = {
"file:~/dev/mason-registry"
}
}
Before continuing, make sure Mason has been properly configured to source packages locally by opening the :Mason
window and pressing g?
to open the help view:
Tip
You can emulate different platforms ("targets") by providing the --target=
option to :MasonInstall
. For example:
:MasonInstall --target=linux_arm64 my-package
Note that this is only a soft emulation and only impacts how the package definition is parsed.
Packages are defined following a well-defined specification. Package definitions are hosted as
separate YAML files that MUST be located at packages/<package-name>/package.yaml
.
Package sources are identified via a purl identifier. Each package source (purl) MUST contain a version
component specifying the latest available version, e.g pkg:github/rust-lang/rust-analyzer@2023-04-04
.
Package versions are automatically kept up-to-date via Renovate.
The following is a rough outline of the package definition schema:
name: string
description: string
homepage: URL
licenses: SPDXLicense[]
languages: string[]
categories: Category[]
source:
id: string
[key: string]: any
bin?:
[executable: string]: string
share?:
[share_location: string]: string
opt?:
[opt_location: string]: string
The package name MUST be unique. The name of a package MUST follow the following naming scheme:
- If the upstream package name is sufficiently unambiguous, or otherwise widely recognized, that name MUST be used.
- If the upstream package provides a single executable with a name that is sufficiently unambiguous, or otherwise widely recognized, the name of the executable MUST be used.
- If either the package or executable name is ambiguous, a name where a clarifying prefix or suffix is added SHOULD be used.
- As a last resort, the name of the package should be constructed to best convey its target language and scope, e.g.
json-language-server
for a JSON language server.
Short description of the package. The description SHOULD be sourced from the upstream package directly.
Longer descriptions MUST be split on multiple lines, as to not exceed the max line length (120).
Example:
description: |
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, officia excepteur ex fugiat reprehenderit enim labore culpa sint ad nisi Lorem pariatur
mollit ex esse exercitation amet. Nisi anim cupidatat excepteur officia.
Tip
To automatically format the description across multiple lines, run :setlocal textwidth=120
, visually select the
description and press gw
(:help gw
).
The homepage of the package. The homepage SHOULD be a public website if available, otherwise it MUST be a URL to the source code.
The URL MUST be a well-formed URL. The URL scheme MUST be either http
or https
.
List of licenses associated with this package. MUST contain at least one entry.
The license MUST be a SPDX-compatible license identifier. Should the package use a license not available as a SPDX identifier, the license "proprietary" (all lower case) MUST be used.
Examples:
MIT
Apache-2.0
GPL-3.0-only
The languages the package targets. MAY be empty. A language is an arbitrary string (e.g., "Rust"
). The casing of the
string MUST be the same as other references to the same language in other package definitions, i.e. it's an error if
package A specifies Javascript
and package B specifies JavaScript
.
The categories the package belongs to. MAY be empty. If not empty, each entry MUST be one of:
Compiler
DAP
Formatter
LSP
Linter
Runtime
The source of the package. The source
entry contains all necessary information to properly install the package. At the
very minimum it MUST contain an id
property. The id
property MUST be a purl-compatible package identifier.
The purl identifier MUST contain a version component.
The source object MAY contain additional properties to support installation.
Examples:
source:
id: pkg:npm/typescript-language-server@2.0.0
source:
id: pkg:github/rust-lang/rust-analyzer@2022-12-05
The executables the package provides. The key is the canonical name of the executable, and the value is either (i) a
relative path to the executable from the package directory, or (ii) an expression that delegates path resolution (e.g.,
npm:typescript-language-server
or cargo:rust-analyzer
), or (iii) an expression.
On Unix systems, a symlink is created. On Windows, a wrapper batch .cmd
executable is always created.
Example:
bin:
typescript-language-server: npm:typescript-language-server
rust-analyzer: bin/rust-analyzer
The architecture independent files the package provides.
The mapping MUST either (i) link a single target file to a single source file, or (ii) link a target directory to a source directory, or (iii) an expression.
This creates symlinks (uv_fs_symlink
) on all platforms.
Example:
share:
# Links $MASON/share/jdtls/lombok.jar -> <package>/lombok.jar
jdtls/lombok.jar: lombok.jar
# Links $MASON/share/jdtls/plugins/ -> <package>/plugins/**/* (i.e. all files within the target directory)
jdtls/plugins/: plugins/
Important
The contents of linked files MUST be compatible with all machines, regardless of hardware architecture.
The optional, add-on, contents of a package. This is for example useful in situations when a package provides auxiliary
binaries that should not be linked to the "global" Mason bin/
directory.
The mapping MUST either (i) link a single target file to a single source file, or (ii) link a target directory to a source directory, or (iii) an expression.
This creates symlinks (uv_fs_symlink
) on all platforms.
Example:
opt:
# Links $MASON/opt/solang/llvm15.0/LICENSE -> <package>/doc/LICENSE
solang/llvm15.0/LICENSE: doc/LICENSE
# Links $MASON/opt/solang/llvm15.0/ -> <package>/llvm15.0/**/* (i.e. all files within the target directory)
solang/llvm15.0/: llvm15.0/
When specified, a component of a package definition may include expressions. These expressions can only be used in
string values, and are denoted by {{expr}}
. This allows for dynamically evaluating values, when needed.
Example:
# ...
source:
id: pkg:github/rust-lang/rust-analyzer@v1.0.0
asset:
- target: darwin_x64
file: rust-analyzer-darwin_x64_{{ version | strip_prefix "v" }}.tar.gz
bin: rust-analyzer-darwin_x64
some_other_bin: rust-fmt-darwin_x64
- target: linux_x64
file: rust-analyzer-linux_x64_{{ version | strip_prefix "v" }}.tar.gz
bin: rust-analyzer-linux_x64
some_other_bin: rust-fmt-linux_x64
bin:
# This will be evaluated to either "rust-analyzer-darwin_x64" or "rust-analyzer-linux_x64", depending on which
# platform the package is being installed on.
rust-analyzer: "{{source.asset.bin}}"
rustfmt: "{{source.asset.some_other_bin}}"
Expressions use basic Lua syntax with the additional ability to pipe values to a limited set of transformation functions. All expressions are evaluated in a context, where values are accessed through normal variable access.
The following fields are common for all packages and are subject to the same requirements.
Refer to the following sections for a detailed description:
Example:
---
name: lua-language-server
description: A language server that offers Lua language support - programmed in Lua.
homepage: https://github.com/LuaLS/lua-language-server
licenses:
- MIT
languages:
- Lua
categories:
- LSP
Important
The document MUST start with a YAML header notation (---
).
Example:
source:
id: pkg:cargo/rnix-lsp@0.2.5
bin:
rnix-lsp: cargo:rnix-lsp
Example: Specify features
To specify the features to install, use the features
qualifier.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:cargo/flux-lsp@0.8.40?features=lsp,cli
Example: Git source
To install a cargo package from a git source you may specify the repository_url
qualifier. This will by default target
tags in the provided git repository (i.e. cargo install --tag <TAG>
). To target commits instead (i.e. cargo install --rev <REV>
), provide an additional &rev=true
qualifier.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:cargo/flux-lsp@0.8.40?repository_url=https://github.com/influxdata/flux-lsp
Example: Specify supported platforms
You MUST provide the supported_platforms
field if the package is only supported on certain platforms.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:cargo/flux-lsp@0.8.40
supported_platforms:
- linux_x64_gnu
- linux_arm64_gnu
Example:
source:
id: pkg:composer/vimeo/psalm@5.4.0
bin:
psalm: composer:psalm
psalm-language-server: composer:psalm-language-server
Example:
source:
id: pkg:gem/standard@1.26.0
bin:
standardrb: gem:standardrb
Example: Specify supported platforms
You MUST provide the supported_platforms
field if the package is only supported on certain platforms.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:gem/standard@1.26.0
supported_platforms:
- linux_x64_gnu
- linux_arm64_gnu
Note: Downloaded release assets are automatically unpacked (e.g. if it's a .tar
file it's unpacked in its download
location).
Example: Platform dependent release assets
When multiple, platform dependent, release assets are provided you MUST register an entry for each applicable platform. This is done by providing a list of assets. The ordering of this list is important as clients may be target to more than one platform and entries appearing first in the list have precedence.
When this source is parsed by the client, the list is "unwrapped" to the very first entry whose target
applies to the
current system.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/LuaLS/lua-language-server@3.6.18
asset:
- target: darwin_arm64
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
- target: darwin_x64
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-darwin-x64.tar.gz
- target: linux_arm64_gnu
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-linux-arm64.tar.gz
- target: linux_x64_gnu
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-linux-x64.tar.gz
- target: win_x86
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-win32-ia32.zip
- target: win_x64
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-win32-x64.zip
It's common that platform-dependent assets contain different files and different folder structures. In order to
facilitate linking executables at a later stage you may provide additional, arbitrary, fields. The following example
adds a bin
field to each entry, which is later used in a expression to link the executable.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/LuaLS/lua-language-server@3.6.18
asset:
- target: darwin_arm64
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
bin: lua-language-server
- target: win_x64
file: lua-language-server-{{version}}-win32-x64.zip
bin: lua-language-server.exe
bin:
lua-language-server: "{{source.asset.bin}}"
Example: Single, platform independent, release asset
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/Dart-Code/Dart-Code@v3.62.0
asset:
file: dart-code-{{ version | strip_prefix "v" }}.vsix
Example: Downloading multiple assets
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/LuaLS/lua-language-server@3.6.18
asset:
file:
- lua-language-server-{{version}}
- lua-language-server-{{version}}.sha256
- LICENSE
Example: Change asset download location
By default, assets are downloaded in the root directory of the package directory. You MAY change the download location
by appending it to the file name itself with a :
prefix.
If the download location ends with a /
the file will be downloaded in that directory, otherwise it's a filename.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/lua/lua@5.1.0
asset:
file:
# download "lua-language-server-{{version}}" to "bin/lua-language-server-{{version}}"
- lua-language-server-{{version}}:bin/
# download "lua-formatter-{{version}}" to "bin/lua-format"
- lua-formatter-{{version}}:bin/lua-format
# download "license" to "LICENSE.txt"
- license:LICENSE.txt
Important
Linux binaries are commonly compiled for GNU systems. These binaries MUST be associated with a _gnu
target, e.g.
linux_x64_gnu
.
Note: Build scripts run on the platform's default shell. On Unix this is bash
, on Windows it's pwsh
.
Note: By default, Renovate is configured to look for new releases for pkg:github
sources. However, when building from
source, the repository most likely doesn't provide GitHub releases, but instead uses normal git tags. To ensure that
Renovate picks up new versions, you MUST provide a datasource override via a comment (see example below).
Example:
source:
# renovate:datasource=github-tags
id: pkg:github/stoplightio/vscode-spectral@v1.1.2
build:
run: |
npm exec yarn@1 install
npm exec --package=yarn@1 'node make package'
bin:
spectral-language-server: node:dist/server/index.js
Example: Platform-dependent build scripts
Sometimes the build script cannot be expressed in a shell-agnostic way. You MUST then provide a list of entries with the appropriate targets. The ordering of this list is important as clients may be target to more than one platform and entries appearing first in the list have precedence.
When this source is parsed by the client, the list is "unwrapped" to the very first entry whose target
applies to the
current system.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:github/vala-lang/vala-language-server@1.0.0
build:
- target: unix
run: |
meson -Dprefix="$PWD" build
ninja -C build install
- target: win
run: |
meson -Dprefix="($pwd).path" build
ninja -C build install
Example:
source:
id: pkg:golang/golang.org/x/tools/gopls@v0.11.0
bin:
gopls: golang:gopls
Example: Specifying additional package path
Use the subpath component to specify a sub-path of a golang package.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:golang/golang.org/x/tools@v0.7.0#cmd/goimports
Example:
source:
id: pkg:luarocks/luacheck@1.1.0
bin:
luacheck: luarocks:luacheck
Example: Specifying a server
Use the repository_url
qualifier to specify a different server (i.e. luarocks install --server
).
Example:
source:
id: pkg:luarocks/luaformatter@scm-1?repository_url=https://luarocks.org/dev
Example: dev target
Use the dev
qualifier to specify a dev target (i.e. luarocks install --dev
).
Example:
source:
id: pkg:luarocks/teal-language-server@dev-1?dev=true
Example:
source:
id: pkg:npm/typescript-language-server@3.3.1
bin:
typescript-language-server: npm:typescript-language-server
Example: Additional npm dependencies
Some packages may require additional npm dependencies to be installed in the same location. This can be achieved by
providing the extra_packages
field.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:npm/typescript-language-server@3.3.1
extra_packages:
- typescript
Packages provided in extra_packages
are passed as-is to npm, so they may require version constraints such as
typescript@4
.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:nuget/fsautocomplete@0.58.2
bin:
fsautocomplete: nuget:fsautocomplete
Example:
source:
id: pkg:opam/ocaml-lsp-server@1.10.2
bin:
ocamllsp: opam:ocamllsp
Example:
source:
id: pkg:pypi/yamllint@1.30.0
bin:
yamllint: pypi:yamllint
Example: Adding extra specifiers
To add "extra" specifiers to a pypi package (i.e. pip install python-lsp-server[all]
), use the extra
qualifier.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:pypi/python-lsp-server@1.7.2?extra=all
Example: Additional pypi dependencies
Some packages may require additional pypi dependencies to be installed in the same location. This can be achieved by
providing the extra_packages
field.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:pypi/yapf@0.32.0
extra_packages:
- toml
Packages provided in extra_packages
are passed as-is, so they may require version constraints such as toml==4
.
Open VSX is an open-source registry for VS Code extensions.
Example:
source:
id: pkg:openvsx/vscjava/vscode-java-debug@0.55.0
download:
file: vscjava.vscode-java-debug-{{version}}.vsix
Example: Platform-dependent file
If the Open VSX package provides platform-dependent files they need to be registered explicitly. In addition to target
and file
, the target_platform
field must be defined and correspond to an OpenVSX platform identifier (e.g.
linux-x64
).
source:
id: pkg:openvsx/BroadcomMFD/cobol-language-support@2.1.1
download:
- target: linux_x64
file: BroadcomMFD.cobol-language-support-{{ version }}@linux-x64.vsix
target_platform: linux-x64
- target: darwin_arm64
file: BroadcomMFD.cobol-language-support-{{ version }}@darwin-arm64.vsix
target_platform: darwin-arm64