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Prepare for Packaging

Setting up Packager file​

In order to utilise the build system, you must first set up a configuration file that has your packager details.

This file lives in the .config/solus folder of your home directory. You will need to create the .config/solus folder as well as the inner packager file. Inside the packager file, you need two keys, Name and Email. This is used when generating the machine file so that the packager details are stored within the resulting binary package.

[Packager]
Name=Your Name Here
Email=your.email@address

Installing Development Tools​

We need to install a few things in order to get started with packaging. The main packages we need are provided by the system.devel component.

Namely:

  • ypkg the program that actually builds packages
  • make used by our build tools for scripting
sudo eopkg it -c system.devel

Additionally, we need a few more tools to carry out the packaging process:

  • git is used for version control of the solus sources
  • arcanist is required to submit patches for packages to the Solus Dev Tracker
  • solbuild is a lightweight container environment for building packages repeatably
  • solbuild-config-unstable sets up solbuild for working with the unstable repository
sudo eopkg it git arcanist solbuild solbuild-config-unstable

Setting up a Dev Tracker Account​

The Solus Dev Tracker is where all packaging patches are submitted and reviewed. It runs Phabricator, and we use arcanist to submit patches directly from the command line.

To submit patches you will need an account. Register a new Phabricator account, or log in with a Github account.

Setting up Arcanist​

In three easy steps, you can set up arcanist for the first time:

sudo eopkg it arcanist
arc set-config default https://dev.getsol.us
arc install-certificate

On the third step you will be given a unique link to log into the Dev Tracker, to create a Conduit API Token. This token will be used to allow the CLI arc utility to communicate with the Dev Tracker.

Setting Up solbuild​

The solbuild tool must first be initialized with a base image. All builds thereafter will use this as a base, and construct a temporary overlay root to save on time and disk space in builds.

Initializing solbuild​

Next, you need to initialize solbuild via:

sudo solbuild init

This will take some time as it downloads and prepares the image.

Updating solbuild​

It is a good idea to keep the base image updated. It will help reduce build times by not having to repeatedly download updates to packages in the base image, and will strictly need to pull down the packages your build needs.

To update solbuild, run:

sudo solbuild update

Setting up common​

Next you need to set up common, a set of make scripts that enables you to more easily manage, build, check, and publish packages.

You need to clone the common repository with git by doing git clone https://dev.getsol.us/source/common.git in the same directory you will have sub-folders for packages you are building.

Next you need to set up symlinks. Do this from the same directory you executed the git command:

ln -sv common/Makefile.common .
ln -sv common/Makefile.toplevel Makefile
ln -sv common/Makefile.iso .

Next, inside the folder of the package you are building, run: echo "include ../Makefile.common" > Makefile

This will enable you to call make commands from inside the package folder.

Your folder should look something similar to this:

| common/
| your-package/
| - Makefile
| Makefile
| Makefile.common
| Makefile.iso

Building packages (Solus only)​

After setting up common, you can now build the package. Note that build dependencies and such will be installed locally (in the chroot environment).

make

You will be prompted to enter your password by sudo so dependencies may be downloaded and the necessary eopkg files may be generated.

Once you’ve achieved a successful build, the resulting .eopkg files will be moved to the current directory, along with the machine file, pspec_*.xml (currently pspec_x86_64.xml). We recommending checking the contents of your generated eopkg file(s) to ensure everything is located in the appropriate locations. You can do this by using lseopkg file_name.eopkg.