bd - Binary Dependency Manager for Go

bd is a simple tool for managing Go binary dependencies. It allows you to specify the required tools, their versions, and target installation directory in a configuration file (bd.json).

Features

• Ensures consistent versions of binaries across environments.
• Installs binaries to a dedicated directory, preventing pollution of global GOBIN.
• Supports custom binary names with version suffixes.
• Avoids dependency conflicts often encountered with tools.go.
• Provides an easy way to execute installed binaries with bd exec.

Installation

# Clone the repository and build manually, or install using go install
go install github.com/afansv/bd@latest

Usage

1. Define your dependencies in bd.json

{
  "binDir": "bin",
  "binaries": [
    { "package": "golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports", "version": "latest", "name": "goimports" },
    { "package": "github.com/mgechev/revive", "version": "v1.3.0", "name": "revive" }
  ]
}

Note: It is recommended to specify exact versions instead of latest to ensure reproducible environments.

Also, you can set Go version for specific package via toolchain property:

{
  "binDir": "bin",
  "binaries": [
    {
      "package": "github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint",
      "version": "v1.63.4",
      "name": "golangci-lint",
      "toolchain": "go1.23.5"
    }
  ]
}

2. Install binaries

bd install

This will install the specified binaries into binDir, appending their versions to the filenames.

Note: You can use --clean, -clean or -c option to clean binDir before installing.

3. Execute binaries

bd exec goimports -w main.go

If the binary is not found, bd will suggest running bd install first.

Alternatively, you can run binaries directly from binDir:

./bin/goimports -w main.go

Why use bd?

• Keeps your project’s tooling self-contained, avoiding version conflicts.
• Works without modifying go.mod or relying on tools.go.
• Ensures team-wide consistency in CI/CD and local development.

Best Practices

• Store bd.json in the repository. It should not be added to .gitignore.
• The binDir directory should be added to .gitignore to avoid committing installed binaries.

License

MIT