Rename binary to git-spice (#1032)

The 'gs' binary conflicting with ghostscript's 'gs' binary
has been a recurring complaint,
and is now affecting user-built extensions, e.g.

- Smexey/git-spice-code-extension#1
- jesseduffield/lazygit#5219

There was previously discussion about this and I agreed to rename it:
#469 (comment)

This finally performs the rename.
However, to remain backwards compatible in this release:

- the official archives, Homebrew Cask, and AUR package
  provide two binaries: 'git-spice' and 'gs'
- if invoked as 'gs', the program prints a warning,
  but otherwise works as normal
- the documentation website continues to use 'gs' for brevity,
  but includes a note about the alias

Things to do after this is released:

- update the homebrew-core formula to build as 'git-spice',
  and add a symlink from 'gs' to 'git-spice'
- afterwards, we can update the import path to go.abhg.dev/git-spice.

Refs #469

(Issue won't be resolved until the release after,
when we delete the 'gs' binary.)

Author: abhinav

.changes/unreleased/Changed-20260222-102014.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: Changed
+body: >-
+  Rename gs binary to git-spice in pre-built packaged artifacts.
+  To ease the transition, both versions of the binary are included,
+  and the command prints a deprecation warning when invoked as "gs".
+time: 2026-02-22T10:20:14.418243-08:00

.goreleaser.yml

@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ builds:
   - env:
       - CGO_ENABLED=0
     main: .
-    binary: gs
+    binary: git-spice
     goos: [darwin, linux, windows]
     goarch: [amd64, arm64, arm]
-    goarm: [5, 6, 7]
+    goarm: ["5", "6", "7"]
     ldflags: '-s -w -X main._version={{.Version}}'
     ignore:
       - goos: darwin
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ builds:
         goarch: arm
     flags:
       - -trimpath
+    hooks:
+      post:
+        - cp "{{ .Path }}" "{{ dir .Path }}/gs{{ .Ext }}"
 
 archives:
   - formats: tar.gz
@@ -43,11 +46,15 @@ aurs:
     git_url: "ssh://aur@aur.archlinux.org/git-spice-bin.git"
     skip_upload: auto
     private_key: '{{ .Env.AUR_KEY }}'
+    provides:
+      - git-spice
+      - gs
     conflicts:
       - git-spice    # no non-bin package exists yet, but just in case
       - ghostscript  # ghostscript also provides a 'gs' binary
     package: |-
-      install -Dm755 "./gs" "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/gs"
+      install -Dm755 "./git-spice" "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/git-spice"
+      ln -s "git-spice" "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/gs"
       install -Dm644 "./LICENSE" "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/git-spice/LICENSE"
       install -Dm644 "./README.md" "${pkgdir}/usr/share/doc/git-spice/README.md"
       install -Dm644 "./CHANGELOG.md" "${pkgdir}/usr/share/doc/git-spice/CHANGELOG.md"
@@ -68,12 +75,14 @@ homebrew_casks:
     description: "A tool for stacking Git branches."
     license: "GPL-3.0-or-later"
     skip_upload: auto
-    binary: gs
+    binaries: ["git-spice"]
     hooks:
       post:
         install: |
+          bin.install_symlink "git-spice" => "gs"
+
           if OS.mac?
-            system_command "/usr/bin/xattr", args: ["-dr", "com.apple.quarantine", "#{staged_path}/gs"]
+            system_command "/usr/bin/xattr", args: ["-dr", "com.apple.quarantine", "#{staged_path}/git-spice"]
           end
 
 

doc/hooks/cliref.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 The syntax is:
 
 - $$gs *$$ will produce a link to the CLI reference page.
+- $$git-spice *$$ will produce a link to the CLI reference page.
 - $$spice.*$$ will produce a link to the configuration reference page.
 
 By default, $$foo$$ will use {foo} as the link text.
@@ -43,6 +44,11 @@ def _replace(match):
             icon = ":material-console:"
             id = title.replace(" ", "-")
             page = _CLI_PAGE
+        elif title.startswith("git-spice "):
+            icon = ":material-console:"
+            suffix = title.removeprefix("git-spice ")
+            id = "gs-" + suffix.replace(" ", "-")
+            page = _CLI_PAGE
         elif title.startswith("spice."):
             icon = ":material-wrench:"
             id = title.replace(".", "").lower()