# Usage of nvchecker commands

nvchecker (short for new version checker) is for checking if a new version of some software has been released.

This is the version 2.0 branch. For the old version 1.x, please switch to the `v1.x` branch.

## Dependency

- Python 3.7+

- Python library: structlog, platformdirs, tomli (on Python < 3.11)

- One of these Python library combinations (ordered by preference):

  - tornado + pycurl

  - aiohttp

  - httpx with http2 support (experimental; only latest version is supported)

  - tornado

- All commands used in your software version configuration files

## Install and Run

To install:

    pip3 install nvchecker

To use the latest code, you can also clone this repository and run:

    python3 setup.py install

To see available options:

    nvchecker --help

Run with one or more software version files:

    nvchecker -c config_file.toml

A simple config file may look like:

    [nvchecker]
    source = "github"
    github = "lilydjwg/nvchecker"

    [python-toml]
    source = "pypi"
    pypi = "toml"

You normally will like to specify some “version record files”; see below.

### JSON logging

With `--logger=json` or `--logger=both`, you can get a structured logging for programmatically consuming. You can use `--json-log-fd=FD` to specify the file descriptor to send logs to (take care to do line buffering). The logging level option (`-l` or `--logging`) doesn’t take effect with this.

The JSON log is one JSON string per line. The following documented events and fields are stable, undocumented ones may change without notice.

event=updated

  An update is detected. Fields `name`, `old_version` and `version` are available. `old_version` maybe `null`.

event=up-to-date

  There is no update. Fields `name` and `version` are available.

event=no-result

  No version is detected. There may be an error. Fields `name` is available.

level=error

  There is an error. Fields `name` and `exc_info` may be available to give further information.

### Upgrade from 1.x version

There are several backward-incompatible changes from the previous 1.x version.

1. Version 2.x requires Python 3.7+ to run.

2. The command syntax changes a bit. You need to use a `-c` switch to specify your software version configuration file (or use the default).

3. The configuration file format has been changed from ini to toml. You can use the `nvchecker-ini2toml` script to convert your old configuration files. However, comments and formatting will be lost, and some options may not be converted correctly.

4. Several options have been renamed. `max_concurrent` to `max_concurrency`, and all option names have their `-` be replaced with `_`.

5. All software configuration tables need a `source` option to specify which source is to be used rather than being figured out from option names in use. This enables additional source plugins to be discovered.

6. The version record files have been changed to use JSON format (the old format will be converted on writing).

7. The `vcs` source is removed. (It’s available inside lilac at the moment.) A `git` source is provided.

8. `include_tags_pattern` and `ignored_tags` are removed. Use List Options instead.

## Version Record Files

Version record files record which version of the software you know or is available. They are a simple JSON object mapping software names to known versions.

### The `nvtake` Command

This command helps to manage version record files. It reads both old and new version record files, and a list of names given on the commandline. It then update the versions of those names in the old version record file.

This helps when you have known (and processed) some of the updated software, but not all. You can tell nvchecker that via this command instead of editing the file by hand.

This command will help most if you specify where you version record files are in your config file. See below for how to use a config file.

### The `nvcmp` Command

This command compares the `newver` file with the `oldver` one and prints out any differences as updates, e.g.:

    $ nvcmp -c sample_source.toml
    Sparkle Test App None -> 2.0
    test 0.0 -> 0.1

## Configuration Files

The software version source files are in toml format. The key name is the name of the software. Following fields are used to tell nvchecker how to determine the current version of that software.

See sample_source.toml for an example.

### Configuration Table

A special table named `__config__` provides some configuration options.

Relative path are relative to the source files, and `~` and environmental variables are expanded.

Currently supported options are:

oldver

  Specify a version record file containing the old version info.

newver

  Specify a version record file to store the new version info.

proxy

  The HTTP proxy to use. The format is `proto://host:port`, e.g. `http://localhost:8087`. Different backends have different level support for this, e.g. with `pycurl` you can use `socks5h://host:port` proxies.

max_concurrency

  Max number of concurrent jobs. Default: 20.

http_timeout

  Time in seconds to wait for HTTP requests. Default: 20.

keyfile

  Specify a toml config file containing key (token) information. This file should contain a `keys` table, mapping key names to key values. See specific source for the key name(s) to use.

  Sample `keyfile.toml`:

      [keys]
      # https://github.com/settings/tokens
      # scope: repo -> public_repo
      github = "ghp_<stripped>"

### Global Options

The following options apply to every check sources. You can use them in any item in your configuration file.

prefix

  Strip the prefix string if the version string starts with it. Otherwise the version string is returned as-is.

from_pattern, to_pattern

  Both are Python-compatible regular expressions. If `from_pattern` is found in the version string, it will be replaced with `to_pattern`.

  If `from_pattern` is not found, the version string remains unchanged and no error is emitted.

missing_ok

  Suppress warnings and errors if a version checking module finds nothing. Currently only `regex` supports it.

proxy

  The HTTP proxy to use. The format is `proto://host:port`, e.g. `http://localhost:8087`. Different backends have different level support for this, e.g. with `pycurl` you can use `socks5h://host:port` proxies.

  Set it to `""` (empty string) to override the global setting.

  This only works when the source implementation uses the builtin HTTP client, and doesn’t work with the `aur` source because it’s batched (however the global proxy config still applies).

user_agent

  The user agent string to use for HTTP requests.

tries

  Try specified times when a network error occurs. Default is `1`.

  This only works when the source implementation uses the builtin HTTP client.

httptoken

  A personal authorization token used to fetch the url with the `Authorization` header. The type of token depends on the authorization required.

  - For Bearer token set : `Bearer <Your_bearer_token>`

  - For Basic token set : `Basic <Your_base64_encoded_token>`

  In the keyfile add `httptoken_{name}` token.

verify_cert

  Whether to verify the HTTPS certificate or not. Default is `true`.

If both `prefix` and `from_pattern`/`to_pattern` are used, `from_pattern`/`to_pattern` are ignored. If you want to strip the prefix and then do something special, just use `from_pattern`/`to_pattern`. For example, the transformation of `v1_1_0` => `1.1.0` can be achieved with `from_pattern = 'v(\d+)_(\d+)_(\d+)'` and `to_pattern = '\1.\2.\3'`. (Note that in TOML it’s easiler to write regexes in single quotes so you don’t need to escape `\`.)

### List Options

The following options apply to sources that return a list. See individual source tables to determine whether they are supported.

include_regex

  Only consider version strings that match the given regex. The whole string should match the regex. Be sure to use `.*` when you mean it!

exclude_regex

  Don’t consider version strings that match the given regex. The whole string should match the regex. Be sure to use `.*` when you mean it! This option has higher precedence that `include_regex`; that is, if matched by this one, it’s excluded even it’s also matched by `include_regex`.

sort_version_key

  Sort the version string using this key function. Choose among `parse_version`, `vercmp` and `awesomeversion`. Default value is `parse_version`. `parse_version` uses an old version of `pkg_resources.parse_version`. `vercmp` uses `pyalpm.vercmp`. `awesomeversion` uses awesomeversion.

ignored

  Version strings that are explicitly ignored, separated by whitespace. This can be useful to avoid some known mis-named versions, so newer ones won’t be “overridden” by the old broken ones.

### Search in a Webpage

    source = "regex"

Search through a specific webpage for the version string. This type of version finding has these fields:

url

  The URL of the webpage to fetch.

encoding

  (Optional) The character encoding of the webpage, if `latin1` is not appropriate.

regex

  A regular expression used to find the version string.

  It can have zero or one capture group. The capture group or the whole match is the version string.

  When multiple version strings are found, the maximum of those is chosen.

post_data

  (Optional) When present, a `POST` request (instead of a `GET`) will be used. The value should be a string containing the full body of the request. The encoding of the string can be specified using the `post_data_type` option.

post_data_type

  (Optional) Specifies the `Content-Type` of the request body (`post_data`). By default, this is `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`.

This source supports List Options.

### Search in an HTTP header

    source = "httpheader"

Send an HTTP request and search through a specific header.

url

  The URL of the HTTP request.

header

  (Optional) The header to look at. Default is `Location`. Another useful header is `Content-Disposition`.

regex

  A regular expression used to find the version string.

  It can have zero or one capture group. The capture group or the whole match is the version string.

  When multiple version strings are found, the maximum of those is chosen.

method

  (Optional) The HTTP method to use. Default is `HEAD`.

follow_redirects

  (Optional) Whether to follow 3xx HTTP redirects. Default is `false`. If you are looking at a `Location` header, you shouldn’t change this.

### Search with an HTML Parser

    source = "htmlparser"

Send an HTTP request and search through the body a specific xpath.

url

  The URL of the HTTP request.

xpath

  An xpath expression used to find the version string.

post_data

  (Optional) When present, a `POST` request (instead of a `GET`) will be used. The value should be a string containing the full body of the request. The encoding of the string can be specified using the `post_data_type` option.

post_data_type

  (Optional) Specifies the `Content-Type` of the request body (`post_data`). By default, this is `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`.

Note

An additional dependency “lxml” is required. You can use `pip install 'nvchecker[htmlparser]'`.

### Find with a Command

    source = "cmd"

Use a shell command line to get the version. The output is striped first, so trailing newlines do not bother.

cmd

  The command line to use. This will run with the system’s standard shell (i.e. `/bin/sh`).

### Check AUR

    source = "aur"

Check Arch User Repository for updates. Per-item proxy setting doesn’t work for this because several items will be batched into one request.

aur

  The package name in AUR. If empty, use the name of software (the table name).

strip_release

  Strip the release part.

use_last_modified

  Append last modified time to the version.

### Check GitHub

    source = "github"

Check GitHub for updates. The version returned is in date format `%Y%m%d.%H%M%S`, e.g. `20130701.012212`, unless `use_latest_release` or `use_max_tag` is used. See below.

github

  The github repository, with author, e.g. `lilydjwg/nvchecker`.

branch

  Which branch to track? Default: the repository’s default.

path

  Only commits containing this file path will be returned.

use_latest_release

  Set this to `true` to check for the latest release on GitHub.

  GitHub releases are not the same with git tags. You’ll see big version names and descriptions in the release page for such releases, e.g. zfsonlinux/zfs’s, and those small ones like nvchecker’s are only git tags that should use `use_max_tag` below.

  Will return the release name instead of date.

use_latest_tag

  Set this to `true` to check for the latest tag on GitHub.

  This requires a token because it’s using the v4 GraphQL API.

query

  When `use_latest_tag` is `true`, this sets a query for the tag. The exact matching method is not documented by GitHub.

use_max_tag

  Set this to `true` to check for the max tag on GitHub. Unlike `use_latest_release`, this option includes both annotated tags and lightweight ones, and return the largest one sorted by the `sort_version_key` option. Will return the tag name instead of date.

token

  A personal authorization token used to call the API.

An authorization token may be needed in order to use `use_latest_tag` or to request more frequently than anonymously.

To set an authorization token, you can set:

- a key named `github` in the keyfile

- the token option

This source supports List Options when `use_max_tag` is set.

### Check Gitea

    source = "gitea"

Check Gitea for updates. The version returned is in date format `%Y%m%d`, e.g. `20130701`, unless `use_max_tag` is used. See below.

gitea

  The gitea repository, with author, e.g. `gitea/tea`.

branch

  Which branch to track? Default: the repository’s default.

use_max_tag

  Set this to `true` to check for the max tag on Gitea. Will return the biggest one sorted by old `pkg_resources.parse_version`. Will return the tag name instead of date.

host

  Hostname for self-hosted Gitea instance.

token

  Gitea authorization token used to call the API.

To set an authorization token, you can set:

- a key named `gitea_{host}` in the keyfile, where `host` is all-lowercased host name

- the token option

This source supports List Options when `use_max_tag` is set.

### Check BitBucket

    source = "bitbucket"

Check BitBucket for updates. The version returned is in date format `%Y%m%d`, e.g. `20130701`, unless `use_max_tag` is used. See below.

bitbucket

  The bitbucket repository, with author, e.g. `lilydjwg/dotvim`.

branch

  Which branch to track? Default: the repository’s default.

use_max_tag

  Set this to `true` to check for the max tag on BitBucket. Will return the biggest one sorted by old `pkg_resources.parse_version`. Will return the tag name instead of date.

use_sorted_tags

  If `true`, tags are queried and sorted according to the `query` and `sort` keys. Will return the tag name instead of the date.

query

  A query string use to filter tags when `use_sorted_tags` set (see here for examples). The string does not need to be escaped.

sort

  A field used to sort the tags when `use_sorted_tags` is set (see here for examples). Defaults to `-target.date` (sorts tags in descending order by date).

max_page

  How many pages do we search for the max tag? Default is 3. This works when `use_max_tag` is set.

This source supports List Options when `use_max_tag` or `use_sorted_tags` is set.

### Check GitLab

    source = "gitlab"

Check GitLab for updates. The version returned is in date format `%Y%m%d`, e.g. `20130701`, unless `use_max_tag` is used. See below.

gitlab

  The gitlab repository, with author, e.g. `Deepin/deepin-music`.

branch

  Which branch to track?

use_max_tag

  Set this to `true` to check for the max tag on GitLab. Will return the biggest one sorted by old `pkg_resources.parse_version`. Will return the tag name instead of date.

host

  Hostname for self-hosted GitLab instance.

token

  GitLab authorization token used to call the API.

To set an authorization token, you can set:

- a key named `gitlab_{host}` in the keyfile, where `host` is all-lowercased host name

- the token option

This source supports List Options when `use_max_tag` is set.

### Check PyPI

    source = "pypi"

Check PyPI for updates.

pypi

  The name used on PyPI, e.g. `PySide`.

use_pre_release

  Whether to accept pre release. Default is false.

Note

An additional dependency “packaging” is required. You can use `pip install 'nvchecker[pypi]'`.

### Check RubyGems

    source = "gems"

Check RubyGems for updates.

gems

  The name used on RubyGems, e.g. `sass`.

This source supports List Options.

### Check NPM Registry

    source = "npm"

Check NPM Registry for updates.

npm

  The name used on NPM Registry, e.g. `coffee-script`.

To configure which registry to query, a source plugin option is available. You can specify like this:

    [__config__.source.npm]
    registry = "https://registry.npm.taobao.org"

### Check Hackage

    source = "hackage"

Check Hackage for updates.

hackage

  The name used on Hackage, e.g. `pandoc`.

### Check CPAN

    source = "cpan"

Check MetaCPAN for updates.

cpan

  The name used on CPAN, e.g. `YAML`.

### Check CRAN

    source = "cran"

Check CRAN for updates.

cran

  The name used on CRAN, e.g. `xml2`.

### Check Packagist

    source = "packagist"

Check Packagist for updates.

packagist

  The name used on Packagist, e.g. `monolog/monolog`.

### Check crates.io

    source = "cratesio"

Check crates.io for updates.

cratesio

  The crate name on crates.io, e.g. `tokio`.

### Check Local Pacman Database

    source = "pacman"

This is used when you run `nvchecker` on an Arch Linux system and the program always keeps up with a package in your configured repositories for Pacman.

pacman

  The package name to reference to.

strip_release

  Strip the release part.

### Check Arch Linux official packages

    source = "archpkg"

This enables you to track the update of Arch Linux official packages, without needing of pacman and an updated local Pacman databases.

archpkg

  Name of the Arch Linux package.

strip_release

  Strip the release part, only return part before `-`.

provided

  Instead of the package version, return the version this package provides. Its value is what the package provides, and `strip_release` takes effect too. This is best used with libraries.

### Check Debian Linux official packages

    source = "debianpkg"

This enables you to track the update of Debian Linux official packages, without needing of apt and an updated local APT database.

debianpkg

  Name of the Debian Linux source package.

suite

  Name of the Debian release (jessie, wheezy, etc, defaults to sid)

strip_release

  Strip the release part.

### Check Ubuntu Linux official packages

    source = "ubuntupkg"

This enables you to track the update of Ubuntu Linux official packages, without needing of apt and an updated local APT database.

ubuntupkg

  Name of the Ubuntu Linux source package.

suite

  Name of the Ubuntu release (xenial, zesty, etc, defaults to None, which means no limit on suite)

strip_release

  Strip the release part.

### Check Repology

    source = "repology"

This enables you to track updates from Repology (repology.org).

repology

  Name of the `project` to check.

repo

  Check the version in this repo. This field is required.

subrepo

  Check the version in this subrepo. This field is optional. When omitted all subrepos are queried.

This source supports List Options.

### Check Anitya

    source = "anitya"

This enables you to track updates from Anitya (release-monitoring.org).

anitya

  `distro/package`, where `distro` can be a lot of things like “fedora”, “arch linux”, “gentoo”, etc. `package` is the package name of the chosen distribution.

### Check Android SDK

    source = "android_sdk"

This enables you to track updates of Android SDK packages listed in `sdkmanager --list`.

android_sdk

  The package path prefix. This value is matched against the `path` attribute in all <remotePackage> nodes in an SDK manifest XML. The first match is used for version comparisons.

repo

  Should be one of `addon` or `package`. Packages in `addon2-1.xml` use `addon` and packages in `repository2-1.xml` use `package`.

channel

  Choose the target channel from one of `stable`, `beta`, `dev` or `canary`. This option also accepts a comma-separated list to pick from multiple channels. For example, the latest unstable version is picked with `beta,dev,canary`. The default is `stable`.

host_os

  Choose the target OS for the tracked package from one of `linux`, `macosx`, `windows`. The default is `linux`. For OS-independent packages (e.g., Java JARs), this field is ignored.

This source supports List Options.

### Check Sparkle framework

    source = "sparkle"

This enables you to track updates of macOS applications which using Sparkle framework.

sparkle

  The url of the sparkle appcast.

### Check Pagure

    source = "pagure"

This enables you to check updates from Pagure.

pagure

  The project name, optionally with a namespace.

host

  Hostname of alternative instance like src.fedoraproject.org.

This source returns tags and supports List Options.

### Check APT repository

    source = "apt"

This enables you to track the update of an arbitrary APT repository, without needing of apt and an updated local APT database.

pkg

  Name of the APT binary package.

srcpkg

  Name of the APT source package.

mirror

  URL of the repository.

suite

  Name of the APT repository release (jessie, wheezy, etc)

repo

  Name of the APT repository (main, contrib, etc, defaults to main)

arch

  Architecture of the repository (i386, amd64, etc, defaults to amd64)

strip_release

  Strip the release part.

Note that either pkg or srcpkg needs to be specified (but not both) or the item name will be used as pkg.

### Check Git repository

    source = "git"

This enables you to check tags or branch commits of an arbitrary git repository, also useful for scenarios like a github project having too many tags.

git

  URL of the Git repository.

use_commit

  Return a commit hash instead of tags.

branch

  When `use_commit` is true, return the commit on the specified branch instead of the default one.

When this source returns tags (`use_commit` is not true) it supports List Options.

### Check container registry

    source = "container"

This enables you to check tags of images on a container registry like Docker.

container

  The path for the container image. For official Docker images, use namespace `library/` (e.g. `library/python`).

registry

  The container registry host. Default: `docker.io`

`registry` and `container` are the host and the path used in the pull command. Note that the `docker` command allows omitting some parts of the container name while this plugin requires the full name. If the host part is omitted, use `docker.io`, and if there is no slash in the path, prepend `library/` to the path. Here are some examples:

Pull command | registry | container
--- | --- | ---
docker pull quay.io/prometheus/node-exporter | quay.io | prometheus/node-exporter
docker pull nvidia/cuda | docker.io | nvidia/cuda
docker pull python | docker.io | library/python

This source returns tags and supports List Options.

### Check ALPM database

    source = "alpm"

Check package updates in a local ALPM database.

alpm

  Name of the package.

repo

  Name of the package repository in which the package resides. If not provided, nvchecker will use `repos` value, see below.

repos

  An array of possible repositories in which the package may reside in, nvchecker will use the first repository which contains the package. If not provided, `core`, `extra`, `community` and `multilib` will be used, in that order.

dbpath

  Path to the ALPM database directory. Default: `/var/lib/pacman`. You need to update the database yourself.

strip_release

  Strip the release part, only return the part before `-`.

provided

  Instead of the package version, return the version this package provides. Its value is what the package provides, and `strip_release` takes effect too. This is best used with libraries.

Note

An additional dependency “pyalpm” is required.

### Check ALPM files database

    source = "alpmfiles"

Search package files in a local ALPM files database. The package does not need to be installed. This can be useful for checking shared library versions if a package does not list them in its `provides`.

pkgname

  Name of the package.

filename

  Regular expression for the file path. If it contains one matching group, that group is returned. Otherwise return the whole file path. Paths do not have an initial slash. For example, `usr/lib/libuv\\.so\\.([^.]+)` matches the major shared library version of libuv.

repo

  Name of the package repository in which the package resides. If not provided, search all repositories.

strip_dir

  Strip directory from the path before matching. Defaults to `false`.

dbpath

  Path to the ALPM database directory. Default: `/var/lib/pacman`. You need to update the database yourself with `pacman -Fy`.

### Check Open Vsx

    source = "openvsx"

Check Open Vsx for updates.

openvsx

  The extension’s Unique Identifier on open-vsx.org, e.g. `ritwickdey.LiveServer`.

### Check Visual Studio Code Marketplace

    source = "vsmarketplace"

Check Visual Studio Code Marketplace for updates.

vsmarketplace

  The extension’s Unique Identifier on marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode, e.g. `ritwickdey.LiveServer`.

### Combine others’ results

    source = "combiner"

This source can combine results from other entries.

from

  A list of entry names to wait results for.

format

  A format string to combine the results into the final string.

Example:

    [entry-1]
    source = "cmd"
    cmd = "echo 1"

    [entry-2]
    source = "cmd"
    cmd = "echo 2"

    [entry-3]
    source = "combiner"
    from = ["entry-1", "entry-2"]
    format = "$1-$2"

### Manually updating

    source = "manual"

This enables you to manually specify the version (maybe because you want to approve each release before it gets to the script).

manual

  The version string.

### Extending

It’s possible to extend the supported sources by writing plugins. See How to develop a source plugin for nvchecker for documentation.