Getting started

This guide walks you through installing epkg and running your first package operations.

Installing epkg

Linux, macOS, Windows WSL2:

curl -fsSL https://raw.atomgit.com/openeuler/epkg/raw/master/bin/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.atomgit.com/openeuler/epkg/raw/master/bin/install.ps1 | iex

Then start a new shell so PATH is updated.

First environment and package

By default you have a main environment. Create another environment with a specific channel and install packages there.

1. Create an environment (e.g. Alpine):

   epkg env create alpine -c alpine
   

   Example output:

   Creating environment 'alpine' in $HOME/.epkg/envs/alpine
   

2. Install packages in that environment:

   epkg -e alpine install bash jq
   

   You will see a dependency plan and download/install progress. Example summary:

   Packages to be freshly installed:
   DEPTH       SIZE  PACKAGE
   0       469.7 KB  bash__5.3.3-r1__x86_64
   0       147.9 KB  jq__1.8.1-r0__x86_64
   0       520.1 KB  coreutils__9.8-r1__x86_64
   

... Packages to be exposed:

• jq__1.8.1-r0__x86_64
• bash__5.3.3-r1__x86_64 0 upgraded, 19 newly installed, 0 to remove, 2 to expose, 0 to unexpose. Need to get 4.6 MB archives. After this operation, 11.0 MB of additional disk space will be used.

3. **Run a command from that environment**:

```bash
epkg -e alpine run jq --version
# e.g. jq-1.8.1

# Three isolation modes are available:
epkg -e alpine run --isolate=env bash  # default: mount + user namespaces
epkg -e alpine run --isolate=fs bash   # chroot-based isolation
epkg -e alpine run --isolate=vm bash   # VM-based isolation

Or register the environment so its binaries are on your PATH for daily cli use:

epkg env register alpine
# epkg() will auto run: eval "$(epkg env path)" to update PATH in your current shell
jq --version

Verify installation

• List environments: epkg env list
• List packages in an env: epkg -e alpine list
• Show env PATH: epkg env path

Common workflows

Use packages from different distributions

Create separate environments for different channels and register them:

epkg env create debian-env -c debian
epkg env create alpine-env -c alpine-3.23
epkg env register debian-env
epkg env register alpine-env
# Now both envs' binaries are in PATH, in register order
export PATH="$HOME/.epkg/envs/debian-env/ebin:$HOME/.epkg/envs/alpine-env/ebin:..."

Project-specific environment

For a project that needs specific packages, create an environment at the project root:

cd /path/to/myproject
epkg env create --root ./.eenv -c alpine
epkg --root ./.eenv install python3-pip  # --root is optional if you are under project dir
epkg run ./script.py

Next steps: Environments, Package operations, Advanced usage.