Inko's version manager

Inko has its own version manager called ivm. Using ivm you can install and manage multiple versions of Inko; whether you are using Linux, macOS, or Windows. ivm is written in Rust and does not come with system dependencies of its own.

Supported platforms

ivm works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It probably also works on the various BSDs, but we haven't tested this. For all platforms a 64-bits architecture is required.

Installing

Both ivm and Inko require that you have Rust and cargo installed. We recommend that you install Rust and cargo using rustup. Once installed, you can install ivm by running the following:

cargo install ivm

This will install the ivm executable in $HOME/.cargo/bin, where $HOME is your home directory (%USERPROFILE% on Windows). You need to add this to your shell's PATH if not done already. You also need to add the directory containing Inko executables to your path:

Bash

export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$HOME/.local/share/ivm/bin:$PATH"

Fish

set -x PATH $HOME/.cargo/bin $HOME/.local/share/ivm/bin $PATH

cmd.exe

setx PATH "%USERPROFILE%\.cargo\bin;%LocalAppData%\ivm\bin;%PATH%"

Tip

When using Windows, you need to restart your terminal after running the setx command, as it doesn't affect your current terminal.

You can then install ivm by running the following command:

cargo install ivm

To test if the installation was successful, run the following:

ivm --version

This should print a message like "ivm version XXX" where "XXX" is the current version of ivm.

Updating

To update ivm, run the following:

cargo install ivm --force

Usage

To install a version (e.g. 0.8.1):

ivm install 0.8.1     # This will install version 0.8.1
ivm install latest    # This will install the latest available version

Tip

Make sure to set a default version after installing Inko, otherwise you have to use ivm run VERSION inko ... to use Inko.

To uninstall a version:

ivm uninstall 0.8.1     # This will uninstall version 0.8.1
ivm uninstall latest    # This will uninstall the latest _installed_ version

To list all installed versions:

ivm list

To list all available versions:

ivm known

To change the default Inko version:

ivm default 0.8.1

To remove any temporary data:

ivm clean

To run a command with a specific Inko version:

ivm run 0.8.1 inko --version    # This will run `inko --version` using Inko 0.8.1
ivm run latest inko

To remove all data of ivm (except the ivm executable itself):

ivm implode

For more information, run ivm --help.

Setting a default version

The default command is used to set a default Inko version to use. When set, ivm will create a symbolic link in its bin/ directory to the inko executable of the default version. By setting a default version you can just use inko ... instead of the much more verbose ivm run VERSION inko ....

For this to work the bin directory must be in your path, as covered in the installation instructions. If you aren't sure where that directory is located, run the following:

ivm show bin

This will print the path to the bin directory, which you can then add to your PATH variable.