Making Github repos "first class citizens"

[JoshPaulie]

Proposal

I'm proposing pipx accept specs with the following format: username/repo
Which would simply be expanded to git+https://github.com/username/repo.git under the hood.

This would provide a simpler way for Python developers to distribute their projects, without the need to take up some of PyPI's namespace.

Aesthetic

I'd argue the former is a lot neater to leave on your README.md than the latter

pipx install username/repo
pipx install git+https://github.com/username/repo.git

Precedent

Other communities, like NeoVim's plugin community, use this pattern to install plugins. Although it might seem a bit cumbersome to not only remember the app name but also the author's name, you quickly adjust.

Other repository hosts

Would not be supported.

[chrysle]

My opinion on that mostly coincides with that of @gaborbernat in #812 (comment).

[JoshPaulie]

Seems unrelated. No need to integrate the GitHub api. It'd be a matter of checking the passed spec for a pattern matching "username/repo", and if so, interpolate.

[chrysle]

and if so, interpolate.

However that's GitHub-specific and would most probably call in people who make use of other frequently used Git hosting services like GitLab or Codeberg and want the same feature. I don't think GH should be preferred to other services.

[Gitznik]

I have to agree with @chrysle here.

Technically we could do what go get does (supporting install via github/user/repo among other git hosting providers), but that's a non-trivial task and IMO not necessary for the fairly minor gain in readability.

[JoshPaulie]

I guess that's that! I still believe it would greatly simplify distributing Python apps.

Thanks for the discussion! Big proponent of pipx, such a great addition to the ecosystem. 😄