arcsetup

arcsetup is a cross-platform command-line utility and library designed to streamline the setup and maintenance of Arc-based development environments. It centralizes project scaffolding, dependency management, and environment configuration to provide reproducible, shareable setups.

Core features include templated project scaffolding, pinning of exact dependency versions, automatic installation of required tools and runtimes, environment isolation via virtual environments, and a plugin system that extends support to additional languages, platforms, or package managers. arcsetup uses a configuration file (arcsetup.yaml) to define project requirements, templates, and hooks.

Architecture: It consists of a small core runner, a template registry, and a plugin interface. Templates are stored in a registry and can be customized or published by the community. The tool can work with multiple package managers and supports scripting hooks for pre- and post-install actions.

Usage: Typical commands include arcsetup init to bootstrap a project from a template, arcsetup install to resolve and install dependencies, arcsetup configure to set environment variables, and arcsetup build or arcsetup run for quick verification. It emphasizes reproducibility by recording exact versions and environment details in a lock file.

Scope and reception: arcsetup is primarily used within the Arc programming language community and related tooling ecosystems. Its applicability to non-Arc stacks is limited, and adoption varies by project. Cross-platform issues may arise on Windows without supplementary tooling.

See also: Arc (programming language), configuration management, dependency management tools, template engines.