fapt -- the Fake APT ==================== Install packages using the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) without root access - no sudo needed to install fapt - no sudo needed to run fapt (ie to install other software) - usable in conjunction with globally-installed packages (similar to virtualenv WITH site packages) - no special activation needed - debootstrap not needed (no need to download redundant dependencies) This should be useful whenever you don't have root access: - shared hosting - shared school computer system - PaaS providers ([dotCloud](http://dotcloud.com) etc.) Requirements: - shell access - system uses apt for its own package management - fakeroot - gcc fapt uses prebuilt binary packages, it does NOT build packages upon downloading Rationale --------- The whole point of unix is to be multi-user, but a system isn't very useful if I don't have the software I need. "Sure," says the sysadmin, "you can install whatever you want. Just go find the tarball, download unpack, compile and install it locally." Works great. Until you need to install ffmpeg; 30 dependencies later (excluding any special codecs) you appreciate why they call it dependency hell. Isn't that what package management was made for? I thought so too. Installation ------------ Step one (and only): eval `curl https://github.com/gabrielgrant/fapt/raw/master/quickstart.sh` Note: the astute among you will likely have noted that `eval`ing things straight off the wire is not exactly the most secure practice. Feel free to open up quickstart.sh and run the containing commands. It's pretty short. Usage ----- fapt only does installation at the moment, so the command works like apt-get install: fapt <package name> [<other package name> [...]] Thanks ------ This project wouldn't have happened without: - fakeroot - fakechroot - apt/dpkg - Google - man-pages Copyright Gabriel Grant, 2011 License: GNU General Public License, version 3 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)