Packaging mise

A package manager that installs mise should own its updates, so turn off mise self-update in your package and tell users how to update instead. Self-update stays on unless the package does one of the things below.

Each method makes mise doctor report self_update_available: no, makes mise self-update fail instead of replacing the binary, and stops the automatic updates that self_update.auto turns on. mise prints your update instructions, if you ship them, when mise self-update fails, when mise version or mise doctor finds a newer release, and when a project's min_version asks for a newer mise. Without instructions, those last two messages say "self-update is disabled for this install, update mise the same way you installed it".

Build features

cargo build --release builds with three default Cargo features:

Feature	Effect
native-tls	TLS through the platform library, which is OpenSSL on Linux
vfox/vendored-lua	Compiles the Lua 5.1 that vfox plugins run on; without it, mise links a system Lua 5.1
self_update	The mise self-update implementation

The rustls and rustls-native-roots features use rustls in place of native-tls.

The build needs Rust at or above the rust-version in Cargo.toml, a C compiler, and, with native-tls on Linux, pkg-config and the OpenSSL headers. See build dependencies.

Disable self-update at build time

Build without the self_update feature. This example keeps native TLS and the bundled Lua:

cargo build --release --no-default-features --features native-tls,vfox/vendored-lua

The self-update subcommand still exists, so scripts that call it get a clear error instead of "unknown command". It prints your update instructions, if the package ships them, and fails with mise's self-update feature has been disabled at build time, cannot update. This is the only method that mise self-update --force cannot get past.

Paths mise checks

The marker and instructions files below are looked up relative to the install prefix. mise finds it from its own executable: it resolves symlinks, then takes the directory two levels up, so /usr/bin/mise gives /usr.

Disable self-update with a marker file

Install an empty .disable-self-update file at any one of these paths under the prefix:

• lib/.disable-self-update (Homebrew uses this one)
• lib/mise/.disable-self-update (the AUR mise-bin package uses this one)
• lib64/mise/.disable-self-update

Ship update instructions

An instructions file also turns off self-update, and gives users the command to run instead. Install it at any one of:

• lib/mise-self-update-instructions.toml
• lib/mise/mise-self-update-instructions.toml
• lib64/mise/mise-self-update-instructions.toml

mise prints the file's message. Without a message key, it prints the value of the first other key in alphabetical order.

# Debian and Ubuntu (apt)
message = "To update mise from the APT repository, run:\n\n  sudo apt update && sudo apt install --only-upgrade mise\n"

# Fedora and CentOS Stream (dnf)
message = "To update mise from COPR, run:\n\n  sudo dnf upgrade mise\n"

Set MISE_SELF_UPDATE_INSTRUCTIONS to a file path to use that file instead of searching the prefix.

Override the result for testing

MISE_SELF_UPDATE_AVAILABLE=false turns off self-update without installing anything, and MISE_SELF_UPDATE_AVAILABLE=true turns it back on even when a marker or instructions file is present. Neither has an effect on a build without the self_update feature.

mise self-update --force skips the availability check, so a user who passes it replaces the binary even when a marker file, an instructions file, or MISE_SELF_UPDATE_AVAILABLE=false is in effect. Treat these runtime methods as "do not update by default", not as a hard block.

Test a package

Test packaging changes in a disposable container or machine for the target distribution. The examples below need a running Docker engine. Start the container from your host shell, then run the installation commands inside it. You are root there and sudo is not installed, so leave sudo off the commands you copy. These checks install from the published repositories; to test a package you built, copy it into the container and install it there.

Ubuntu and Debian (apt)

docker run -ti --rm ubuntu bash

The image has no package lists, so run apt-get update first. Then follow the apt instructions and run mise --version. To test the PPA instead, run apt-get install -y software-properties-common first; it provides add-apt-repository.

Fedora (dnf)

docker run -ti --rm fedora bash

Inside the container, follow the Fedora instructions, then run mise --version.

RHEL 9 (dnf)

docker run -ti --rm registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:latest bash

Inside the container, follow the RHEL 9 instructions, then run mise --version. RHEL 9 needs the centos-stream+epel-next-9 COPR chroot; dnf copr enable without it looks for an epel-9 build that does not exist.