Please Consider Enhanced Installation Options for Xata Client App

[serdardalgic]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently, the CLI App can only be installed via using npm, as detailed in the documentation here. While this approach is functional, expanding installation methods to include various package management systems and container images would significantly enhance usability and promote broader adoption among diverse user bases.

Describe the solution you'd like I'd like to see expanded installation options for the CLI App. This includes enabling installation via alternative distribution methods such as

• Enabling installation via Homebrew for Mac,
• Providing Linux package formats (deb, rpm, APK, snap)
• Supporting FreeBSD's pkg and port systems
• Offering a cross-platform standalone installation script
• Distributing OCI container images via the public GitHub Packages registry.

In order to use the Xata CLI app, users shouldn't need to have npm installed on their systems. It should be possible to utilize a standalone solution, such as containers.

This is relatively an exhaustive list, the prioritization can be based on the user portfolio. However, I personally believe enabling installation via Homebrew and providing OCI container image would greatly enhance the usability and the accessibility.

Describe alternatives you've considered

As this is an enhancement proposal, the current installation method via npm is already sufficient. However, this may limit the CLI's accessibility and usability for users who prefer different installation methods.

Additional context

[SferaDev]

Hey @serdardalgic! Thanks for your feedback.

We are thinking of doing this change and packaging the CLI in a redistributable for the reasons you mentioned. It's on our road plan although unfortunately it has not been prioritized yet. However, since we are expanding the target audience outside of JavaScript/TypeScript developers, this feels as a quite important thing to fix for adoption.

[SferaDev]

@eemmiillyy As discussed we could try to use oclif pack and adapt the autoupdater to work with GitHub releases