asdf/docs/core-manage-versions.md
George Pantazes 21ae495509
Fix heading level and super tiny text
Fix the heading level for By-passing asdf shims.
- The text for H6 was extremely small - much smaller than the normal paragraph text. The font-size for the h6 was 9px. It looked incredibly small and silly. This fix will make the heading bigger, which may be against the original intention to keep this section small and out of the way, but honestly the way it was looked really silly.
- The heading level wasn't consistent, which may or may not be an accessibility issue. This isn't the important part though, just a common sense choice to fix the above issue about the font size.
2021-04-05 11:37:39 -05:00

4.1 KiB

Install Version

asdf install <name> <version>
# asdf install erlang 17.3

If a plugin supports downloading & compiling from source, you can specify ref:foo where foo is a specific branch, tag, or commit. You'll need to use the same name and reference when uninstalling too.

Install Latest Stable Version

asdf install <name> latest
# asdf install erlang latest

Install latest stable version that begins with a given string.

asdf install <name> latest:<version>
# asdf install erlang latest:17

List Installed Versions

asdf list <name>
# asdf list erlang

List All Available Versions

asdf list all <name>
# asdf list all erlang

Limit versions to those that begin with a given string.

asdf list all <name> <version>
# asdf list all erlang 17

Show Latest Stable Version

asdf latest <name>
# asdf latest erlang

Show latest stable version that begins with a given string.

asdf latest <name> <version>
# asdf latest erlang 17

Set Current Version

asdf global <name> <version> [<version>...]
asdf shell <name> <version> [<version>...]
asdf local <name> <version> [<version>...]
# asdf global elixir 1.2.4

global writes the version to $HOME/.tool-versions.

shell set the version to an environment variable named ASDF_${LANG}_VERSION, for the current shell session only.

local writes the version to $PWD/.tool-versions, creating it if needed.

See the .tool-versions file in the Configuration section for details.

?> Alternatively, if you want to set a version only for the current shell session or for executing just a command under a particular tool version, you can set an environment variable like ASDF_${TOOL}_VERSION.

The following example runs tests on an Elixir project with version 1.4.0. The version format is the same supported by the .tool-versions file.

ASDF_ELIXIR_VERSION=1.4.0 mix test

View Current Version

asdf current
# asdf current
# erlang 17.3 (set by /Users/kim/.tool-versions)
# nodejs 6.11.5 (set by /Users/kim/cool-node-project/.tool-versions)

asdf current <name>
# asdf current erlang
# 17.3 (set by /Users/kim/.tool-versions)

Uninstall Version

asdf uninstall <name> <version>
# asdf uninstall erlang 17.3

Shims

When asdf installs a package it creates shims for every executable program in that package in a $ASDF_DATA_DIR/shims directory (default ~/.asdf/shims). This directory being on the $PATH (by means of asdf.sh or asdf.fish) is how the installed programs are made available in the environment.

The shims themselves are really simple wrappers that exec a helper program asdf exec passing it the name of the plugin and path to the executable in the installed package that the shim is wrapping.

The asdf exec helper determines the version of the package to use (as specified in .tool-versions file, selected by asdf local ... or asdf global ...), the final path to the executable in the package installation directory (this can be manipulated by the exec-path callback in the plugin) and the environment to execute in (also provided by the plugin - exec-env script), and finally it executes it.

!> Note that because this system uses exec calls, any scripts in the package that are meant to be sourced by the shell instead of executed need to be accessed directly instead of via the shim wrapper. The two asdf commands: which and where can help with this by returning the path to the installed package:

# returns path to main executable in current version
source $(asdf which ${PLUGIN})/../script.sh

# returns path to the package installation directory
source $(asdf where ${PLUGIN} $(asdf current ${PLUGIN}))/bin/script.sh

By-passing asdf shims

If for some reason you want to by-pass asdf shims or want your environment variables automatically set upon entering your project's directory, the asdf-direnv plugin can be helpful. Be sure to check its README for more details.