Challenge

Not all PowerShell Modules are published to the PowerShellGallery, many are hosted on GitHub. Plus, many of the modules published to the gallery are also hosted on GitHub and in repo branches. PowerShell open source authors (like myself) have newer versions in source control that have not been promoted to the PowerShell gallery because they are not complete or fully tested.

There needs to be an easy way to get the latest updates from the repo.

Solution

Install-ModuleFromGitHub. This script works in a similar way to the PowerShell built-in cmdlet Install-Module. It streamlines the multi-step process of downloading the zip from GitHub, unblocking it, unzipping it and copying it to a well known module directory. It also checks for a ‘psd1’ file, cracks it open and uses the ModuleVersion to create a directory for it to copy the bits to.

In Action

Additional Benefits

PowerShell Users

You can grab the lastest updates of your favorite PowerShell Module before the author publishes them to the gallery (at your own risk).

Plus, you don’t need to navigate GitHub to find it. You can use Find-Module and pipe it Install-ModuleFromGitHub. If the author setup the ProjectUri setting when publishing the module, you’ll be good to go. If not, open an issue on their repo and suggest a change.

Example

Find-Module ImportExcel | Install-ModuleFromGitHub

If your favorite PowerShell module is not on the gallery, no problem, just specify the repo and you’re good to go.

Install-ModuleFromGitHub -GitHubRepo dfinke/ImportExcel

You can even install from a git branch.

Install-ModuleFromGitHub -GitHubRepo dfinke/ImportExcel -Branch NewChartType

PowerShell Module Authors

Authors get several benefits too if they use GitHub to host their PowerShell modules. First, their users can quickly get the the latest bits without any additional work. Install-ModuleFromGitHub lays out their PowerShell module as is, in the write places and uses a version (if included in the psd1).

Another benefit is, private repos for companies doing PowerShell development. You can set up people in your organization to install from master or branches, no additional work on your part, aside from creating and maintaining the branch.

Install-ModuleFromGitHub -GitHubRepo /psdev/CustomPSModule -Branch TestNewParams

Grab the PowerShell Module

On the PowerShell Gallery Install-ModuleFromGitHub.

Thank you

Thank you to Damian Reeves, his questions and suggestions typically lead to creating interesting ideas like Install-ModuleFromGitHub.