Stow – symlink farm manager

Stow is a symlink farm manager which takes distinct packages of software and/or data located in separate directories on the filesystem, and makes them appear to be installed in the same place. For example, /usr/local/bin could contain symlinks to files within /usr/local/stow/emacs/bin, /usr/local/stow/perl/bin etc., and likewise recursively for any other subdirectories such as …/share, …/man, and so on.

This is particularly useful for keeping track of system-wide and per-user installations of software built from source, but can also facilitate a more controlled approach to management of configuration files in the user’s home directory, especially when coupled with version control systems.

The approach used by Stow is to install each package into its own tree, then use symbolic links to make it appear as though the files are installed in the common tree. Administration can be performed in the package’s private tree in isolation from clutter from other packages. Stow can then be used to update the symbolic links. The structure of each private tree should reflect the desired structure in the common tree; i.e. (in the typical case) there should be a bin directory containing executables, a man/man1 directory containing section 1 man pages, and so on.

Stow is implemented as a combination of a Perl script providing a CLI interface, and a backend Perl module which does most of the work.

This is free and open source software.

Website: cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/stow.git
Support:
Developer: Stow developers
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Stow is written in Perl. Learn Perl with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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