# chef/omnibus

Easily create full-stack installers for your project across a variety of platforms.

Repository: https://github.com/chef/omnibus
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/omnibus
Language: Ruby
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-12-09T17:22:09+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 48/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 56, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5314, "days_push": 267, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1316, forks 295 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:20.809163+00:00)

## What it is
Omnibus is a Ruby-based tool and DSL for creating full-stack, self-contained installers for software projects across multiple platforms (deb, rpm, msi, pkg, etc.). It packages an application with all its dependencies into a single platform-native installer artifact.

## Use cases
- build a self-contained installer for my application
- package my software as a deb or rpm
- create a Windows MSI installer for my project
- bundle all runtime dependencies into one installer
- generate cross-platform installers from a single project definition
- produce a macOS pkg installer for a CLI tool

## When to choose
- you need to distribute software with all dependencies bundled into a single native installer
- you want reproducible, platform-specific packages (deb, rpm, msi, pkg) from one DSL definition
- your users need a simple one-step install without managing dependencies themselves

## When to avoid
- you only need lightweight language-level packages like gems, npm modules, or pip wheels
- you want container images or Docker-based distribution instead of native installers
- you need cross-compilation - Omnibus builds for the platform it runs on, so you must build on each target OS

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: build-tool, deployment, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli, ruby
- tags: installer-packaging, full-stack-installers, packaging, dsl, ruby-gem, devops, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- chef/omnibus (main) score 48

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:20.809163+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:48:27.507332+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/chef/omnibus (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:20.809163+00:00, sha 674f41f2254e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.