# Could we make first-class support for packages that are "just files" and not repositories?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/could-we-make-first-class-support-for-packages-that-are-just-files-and-not-repositories/36931>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** packages, package-manager\
**Created:** [April 3, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/could-we-make-first-class-support-for-packages-that-are-just-files-and-not-repositories/36931 "2020-04-03T00:59:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![GunnarFarneback](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gunnarfarneback/32/1827_2.png) [@GunnarFarneback](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GunnarFarneback)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 6:44am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/could-we-make-first-class-support-for-packages-that-are-just-files-and-not-repositories/36931/21 "2021-10-14T06:44:03Z")

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> [@MA\_Laforge](#):
>
> ```julia
> julia> ]
> (MyProjEnv) pkg> add /path/to/MyPackageLib/MyAwesomePkg
> 
> ```
> 
> But this won’t work unless `MyAwesomePkg` is a Git repository (the Git root itself; it is insufficient to be a subdirectory of a Git repo).

Starting from Julia 1.5 you can do this with a subdirectory, e.g. if `MyPackageLib` is the `git` root, using the syntax

```julia
(MyProjEnv) pkg> add /path/to/MyPackageLib:MyAwesomePkg

```

(That said, `Pkg.add` of a local path is relatively rarely what you want, most of the time you rather want to `Pkg.develop`.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MA\_Laforge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ma_laforge/32/385_2.png) [@MA\_Laforge](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/MA_Laforge)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/could-we-make-first-class-support-for-packages-that-are-just-files-and-not-repositories/36931/22 "2021-10-16T02:37:03Z")

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Good point. I tend to deliberately omit talking about multi-package repositories to avoid throwing out too much information — but also because I don’t feel that comfortable with them yet, for some reason. I’m also not a big fan of pushing this feature yet, in case people are working in pre-v1.5 environments (but that’s probably not a good reason).

I _ **really** _ should start playing with this feature more. It does address a very real issue in a rather elegant (straightforward way).

Though I must say I would probably find them much less confusing if all packages in these multi-package Git repository bundles were registered simultaneously under the same revision number. I realize that means more `Pkg` complexity, and less flexibility in our solutions, but I think it better fits the way Git repositories work.

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