programmilist

Programmilist is a portable, machine-readable manifest designed to enumerate software programs and their metadata as a single cohesive list. It is used by package managers, deployment tools, and orchestration systems to plan, install, update, or execute multiple programs as a unit, enabling reproducible environments and auditable changes.

An entry in a programmilist typically includes a unique identifier, the program name, a version string, and the publisher or vendor. Additional fields commonly capture a description, a list of dependencies, compatible platforms, licensing information, and integrity data such as checksums or digital signatures. Optional fields may cover tags, provenance, installation or execution instructions, and run-time configuration.

Programmilist can be serialized in JSON, YAML, XML, or other structured formats. As a unit of software, it serves as a source of truth for automation pipelines, test environments, and offline installations. Tools consuming a programmilist may validate schema conformance, resolve transitive dependencies, fetch required components, and perform the defined installation or launch steps.

The concept is related to package manifests and application lists in many ecosystems. Programmilist emphasizes a bundled view of software assets and their interdependencies, making it easier to reproduce a complete setup across machines or environments. Adoption depends on tooling support and agreed-upon schema versions.

A minimal programmilist in JSON form might include a bundle identifier, version, and two entries: a data-processor and a notifier. Example: { "id": "pm-001", "version": "1.0", "entries": [ { "name": "data-processor", "version": "2.4.1", "dependencies": ["python3>=3.9"] }, { "name": "notifier", "version": "1.1.0", "dependencies": ["requests>=2.20"] } ] }