zig fetch -h should include examples

[hippietrail]

zig fetch -h or zig fetch --help currently tells us:

% zig fetch -h    
Usage: zig fetch [options] <url>
Usage: zig fetch [options] <path>

    Copy a package into the global cache and print its hash.

Options:
  -h, --help                    Print this help and exit
  --global-cache-dir [path]     Override path to global Zig cache directory
  --debug-hash                  Print verbose hash information to stdout
  --save                        Add the fetched package to build.zig.zon
  --save=[name]                 Add the fetched package to build.zig.zon as name
  --save-exact                  Add the fetched package to build.zig.zon, storing the URL verbatim
  --save-exact=[name]           Add the fetched package to build.zig.zon as name, storing the URL verbatim

But should ideally provide examples:

Which formats are supported? Tar and more recently Zip (I believe gzipped Tar is also supported?)

But then there's git URLs, which I believe are supported. Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't know enough about Git but my naïve attempts are not working.

After trying a bunch of things I realized I made some dumb mistakes like doing git fetch instead of zig fetch sometimes or doing zig fetch with a plain https schema instead of a git+https schema. I've removed the specifics which are not really useful.

So I'm assuming an example will help others besides me. (And perhaps there are multiple kinds of Git URLs that work?)

[tisonkun]

Why was this issue closed as not planned? Is it tracked else where?

I hit a case that the zig package is a subpath of the repo/tarball (here). And the build depends on another subpath to build the C lib.

Some document on zig fetch and the format of build.zig.zon file would be helpful ..

This page seems helpful to specify an alternative path to resolve the root path. But nothing about how zig fetch can work. (What kind of URL it expects.)

[mtlynch]

Any chance of reconsidering this issue? I just hit the same thing, and I couldn't figure out from the help output what URL I'm supposed to pass to zig fetch. A github HTTP URL? The .git URL?

This also is one of the top results when I search zig fetch in Kagi, so if anyone comes across this, I think the answer is that Zig fetch wants the path to the source tarball:

zig fetch --save https://github.com/JacobCrabill/zigdown/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz

[andrewrk]

No, zig will not endorse one version control system over another, nor one code hosting service over another, by including examples of them.

[mtlynch]

It doesn't even have to be a real vendor. This would be fine:

zig fetch --save https://example.com/andrewrk/fun-example-tool/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz

Possibly in addition, are you open to more specificity in the help output to let the user know that the URL is supposed to be to a source tarball? Because currently the help text just says "url" without specifying what kind of URL it should be.

[andrewrk]

Sure, that sounds like a nice enhancement 👍

Feel free to submit a patch.