Atom Editor - How do you install packages without using apm package installer?

Question

I want to install a package, bracket-colorizer, but it doesn't show up in my package installer inside Atom by default. In this thread, someone replies,

APM will stop working, but Atom packages are basically just tags on a github repo, so if you clone the package into ~/.atom/packages and checkout to a specific tag, everything should still work.

I don't know what checkout to a specific tag means here. I git cloned a package into %localappdata%\atom\packages, and went to File>Settings>Packages, but did not see it there. How do I install a package after cloning it to atom\packages? I'm using Windows 7 in case that matters.

I tried using apm but I get an error, I thought this was maybe because apm wasn't working anymore since Atom was sunset/deprecated but I saw someone else say it worked for him just a few days ago. Here is the errors I get when trying "apm" or "apm -v", or trying to install a package with apm.

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:796
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/git.node'
Require stack:
- C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resources\app\apm\node_modules\gi
t-utils\src\git.js
- C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resources\app\apm\lib\install.js
- C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resources\app\apm\lib\develop.js
- C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resources\app\apm\lib\apm-cli.js
- C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resources\app\apm\lib\cli.js
←[90m    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:793
:17)←[39m
←[90m    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:686:27)←[39m
←[90m    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:848:19)←[39m
←[90m    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:74:18)←[39m
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\atom\app-1.59.0\resource
s\app\apm\node_modules\←[4mgit-utils←[24m\src\git.js:3:22)
←[90m    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:955:30)←[39m
←[90m    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:991:10
)←[39m
←[90m    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:811:32)←[39m
←[90m    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:723:14)←[39m
←[90m    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:848:19)←[39m {
  code: ←[32m'MODULE_NOT_FOUND'←[39m,
  requireStack: [
    ←[32m'C:\\Users\\[user]\\AppData\\Local\\atom\\app-1.59.0\\resources\\app\\ap
m\\node_modules\\git-utils\\src\\git.js'←[39m,
    ←[32m'C:\\Users\\[user]\\AppData\\Local\\atom\\app-1.59.0\\resources\\app\\ap
m\\lib\\install.js'←[39m,
    ←[32m'C:\\Users\\[user]\\AppData\\Local\\atom\\app-1.59.0\\resources\\app\\ap
m\\lib\\develop.js'←[39m,
    ←[32m'C:\\Users\\[user]\\AppData\\Local\\atom\\app-1.59.0\\resources\\app\\ap
m\\lib\\apm-cli.js'←[39m,
    ←[32m'C:\\Users\\[user]\\AppData\\Local\\atom\\app-1.59.0\\resources\\app\\ap
m\\lib\\cli.js'←[39m
  ]
}

Are there any ways still to install Atom packages other than apm?

Answer 1

That information for installing packages with apm is incomplete, but also there is an easier way to do this anyway:

• Install a recent version of Pulsar-Edit
• Install the package as per normal either in the editor's GUI or with ppm.
• (Optional) Update the package to a newer version hosted in Github by cloning the code into the installed package directory in $HOME/.pulsar/packages (or elsewhere depending on OS platform).