needs

Check if required executables are installed on the system

TLDR

Check if tools are installed and show their versions

$ needs [tool1] [tool2] [tool3]

Check without retrieving version information

$ needs --no-versions [tool1] [tool2]

Show full version strings instead of short versions

$ needs --full-versions [tool1] [tool2]

Run quietly, only reporting via exit code

$ needs -q [tool1] [tool2]

Check with verbose logging

$ needs -vvv [tool1] [tool2]

SYNOPSIS

needs [options] [executables...]

needs is a CLI tool that verifies whether specified executables are installed on a system and optionally retrieves their version information. It runs checks using multi-threaded execution for speed, provides colored output, and supports pipe-friendly output.Binary names can be provided as command-line arguments or listed in a `needsfile` (one or more binaries per line).Exit codes indicate whether all required tools are present (0 for success, 1 for missing), making it suitable for use in scripts and CI pipelines.

PARAMETERS

-n, --no-versions

Skip version checks, only verify that binaries exist.

-f, --full-versions

Show the full version string for each binary instead of a shortened version.

-q, --quiet

Stay quiet, only communicate results via exit code (0 if all found, 1 if any missing).

-v, --verbosity

Increase verbosity level. Can be repeated for more detail (e.g., -vvv for logs, -vvvv for timing info).

--help

Display help information.

--version

Show the version of needs itself.

CAVEATS

Version detection relies on each tool supporting a standard version flag (`--version` or `-v`). Some tools may not have their version detected correctly. The `--no-versions` and `--full-versions` flags are only available when compiled with the `version-retrieval` feature (enabled by default).

HISTORY

needs was created by NQMVD and is written in Rust.