It can be tiring to:
- Constantly, over and over collect some new interesting plugins to install/load.
- Over and over reconstruct the new findings on the new machines.
- Constantly extend and tweak the ice list of each plugin, so that it's hard on eyes, especially for an outsider.
Meta-Plugins annex helps in those problems:
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| (1) finding new plugins |
the annex contains a curated, broad list of plugins, e.g.: all the console tools like fd, fzf, exa, ripgrep, etc., |
| (2) reconstructing the findings in new environments |
it's easy to say and memorize e.g.: zinit for console-tools – one label pulls a group of plugins and also the curated, optimal, default ice lists for each of them, |
| (3) constant increase of complexity of the commands |
the provided, hopefully best/optimal ices for each plugin are handled transparently and automatically; care is given to each ice list so that the plugin loads without any glitches (e.g.: without "No files for compilation found." message and other, even such slight issues). |
Other unique benefits of the Meta-Plugins annex:
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| plugin dependencies | The meta-plugins implement a dependency mechanism (to some extent), so that e.g.: selecting a from-source built ogham/exa will automatically pull-in also the Rust compiler (available under meta-plugin name: rust-toolchain). |
| flexible disabling of chosen sub-plugins in any meta-plugin | A meta-plugin can contain many sub-plugins and it's possible to skip installing some of them by the skip'plg-1 plg-2…' ice, e.g.: zinit skip'ripgrep fd' for console-tools. This way despite that some of the meta-plugins are broad the user still has control over what's and how much is being installed. |
| common from-source meta-plugins | For the plugins that provide the binary programs it is often the case that a meta-plugin exists that'll build the program from source (e.g.: fuzzy meta-plugin and its fuzzy-src counterpart). This might be handy e.g.: if there's no binary for our machine. |
# Installs total of 22 plugins
zinit for annexes zsh-users+fast console-tools fuzzy