DotSlash is now open source
Meta (formerly known as Facebook) announced in a blog post the news that has made the decision to release the Dotslash code, a command line tool designed to simplify the distribution of a set of executables between different platforms. The utility is developed in Rust and Meta has released the code under the MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses.
The essence of DotSlash is the management and automation of the creation of large executable files, eliminating the need to include all supported platform files in one package.
We've open sourced DotSlash, a tool that makes large executables available in source control with negligible impact on repository size, thus avoiding I/O-intensive cloning operations.
What is DotSlash?
DotSlash It is a tool that allows you to include executables great in source code control with minimal impact in the size of the repository. The main idea behind DotSlash is replace a set of platform-specific executables with a single script which contains descriptors for the supported platforms. As such, DotSlash is intended to run scripts that automate downloading executable files appropriate for the current platform, verifying their integrity, and executing them.
This tool addresses similar challenges to shell scripts in running executables on the current platform, but eliminates the need to include executables for all platforms in the package. The tool allows you to store information about compiled executable files in a repository along with the code, while the files are hosted on separate home servers, preventing repository growth and reducing the load on the I/O system during cloning operations.
With DotSlash, a set of platform-specific executables is replaced by a single script containing descriptors for supported platforms. DotSlash takes care of transparently finding, decompressing, and verifying the appropriate remote artifact for the current operating system and CPU.
Among the advantages DotSlash highlights the efficiency in handling executables, since it simplifies their management, avoiding the need for the developer to clone large amounts of files in I/O operations, as well prevent bulk installation of executables to default locations, which can consume large amounts of disk space and slow down software management operations. Additionally, due to the nature of the project, DotSlash is cross-platform and can run in a wide range of development environments, making it highly adaptable to different operating systems and CPU architectures.
How does DotSlash work?
DotSlash performs several key functions to ensure transparent execution of executables on different operating systems and CPU architectures:
- Search and selection- DotSlash transparently searches, decompresses, and verifies the appropriate remote artifact for the current operating system and CPU.
- Release management: Enables you to reliably get the appropriate version of each tool to the right place, which can be a challenging task in complex development environments.
- Automation: Most DotSlash files are generated and committed to source control through automation, ensuring efficient and error-free management of executables.
With DotSlash, the set of platform-specific executables is replaced by a single script that describes the logic for selecting the executable based on supported platforms. When you run a DotSlash script, the executable file required for the current platform is dynamically downloaded, decompressed, verified with a hash, and stored in a local cache for subsequent executions. Files are transferred in a compressed format and DotSlash scripts can be automatically generated for versions published on GitHub.
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