choco ls command - list information about an installed package

[drusellers]

I would like a feature similar to brew ls <packageName> as mentioned in #644

Depends on #690.

[ferventcoder]

Choco list pkgname already exists - with a different purpose. Perhaps choco ls pkgname?

[drusellers]

If list exists and most think of ls as an alias, than maybe something like choco files <packageName> The specific issue I ran into was installing a powershell thing and then I had no idea where to go look for it. So anything that can help with that experience would be awesome.

[alexchandel]

choco ls is a cool idea for listing the files, and it parallels the standard unix ls command.

It's worth noting that brew list (and its alias brew ls) actually has two functions. With no arguments it lists the installed packages, but with an argument (e.g. brew list wine or brew ls wine) it lists the files of that packages. Not that that's necessarily the best way to do it, that that it isn't.

[Lemmingh]

Hi, @alexchandel

choco ls is a cool idea for listing the files, and it parallels the standard unix ls command.

No, it is NOT cool at all.

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There are a great number of ways to degrade end users' experience.
For CLI, they include but are not limited to

• Introducing many aliases for the same thing
• Using different naming styles and syntax conventions between commands
• Using complex syntax
• Requiring user to know the internal (It occurs usually when a program requires user to provide how to do instead of what to do.)
• Providing unclear guides and instructions

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It's obvious that the commands of choco are formed by human readable English words, and most of the words are in their base form. Only few aliases break the rule by using plural noun so far.

The ls does NOT parallel the command naming convention of choco. It will lead to confusion if it appears.

Besides, for most users, Chocolatey is just a utility to help them setup computer.
Many users of Chocolatey are average user of Windows PC.
Even if you are an IT pro, it is still NOT a good idea to spend time in distinguishing between commands and then choose your preferred one — It is a waste of energy.

Additionally, on the one hand, a word such as ls is awfully meaningless to those who have little knowledge of Unix.
On the other hand, for those who are familiar with Unix, ls is quite similar to list, but they are intended to do different things in choco.
Again, it will lead to confusion if it appears, just like what drusellers said

If list exists and most think of ls as an alias, then ...

Conclusion:
choco ls is a bad idea. We'd better use another name.

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Now, let's go back to the original topic of this issue.

This issue is about a way to get install location (and perhaps file list) of a package in choco.

Besides, there are related issues in ChocolateyGUI:

• installation path column for installed packages ChocolateyGUI#278 for adding installation path column of installed packages in list view of Chocolatey GUI
• Show install location in package info ChocolateyGUI#597 for displaying install location in the package details page of Chocolatey GUI

In my opinion, the command choco file <packageName> proposed by drusellers is a nice place to display this info.

It can also be added to the output of choco info <packageName> --local-only, which was added in 0.9.10.0, if it's possible.

[pauby]

We don't have any plans to add ls as an alias for list.

I'm going to go ahead and close this, but we can reopen it if necessary.

[epa]

Hi @pauby , thank you for looking at this issue. But I fear you might have misunderstood what it is about. You say, "We don't have any plans to add ls as an alias for list." But that's not what is being requested here. Rather, what a few people have asked for is a way to list the files (or at least the install directory) of a given Chocolatey package once it has been installed.

On other packaging systems this is a common operation, for example rpm -ql bash will list the files in the bash package installed on the system. For Chocolatey this could be choco ls firefox or whatever. It would not be the same as the existing list command. The exact name used doesn't much matter, I think.

[pauby]

To find the files in the package you could either open it or visit the package page if it's on the Chocolatey Community Repository. For software the package will generally include the Chocolatey PowerShell scripts and the installer, if it can be redistributed.

To find the installation directory, I believe there are other issues requesting this. From memory this would come through the info command.

Neither of them need a separate command.