openSUSE Conference 2017: Your desktop application as a cross-distribution AppImage

Let's bundle your desktop application as a cross-distribution "one app = one file" AppImage. In this workshop, you will learn from AppImage lead developer Simon Peter and Open Build Service lead developer Adrian Schröter how to build your application in a reproducible, secure way, and how to distribute it in the AppImage format, including digital signatures and binary delta updates.

What to bring: Your desktop application, ideally already building on Travis CI or Open Build Service. A notebook. An open mind, persistence, and willingness to experiment.

Transcript

1. WORKSHOP openSUSE Conference May 27, 2017 Simon Peter AppImage Adrian Schröter Open Build Service Your desktop application as a cross-distribution AppImage
2. TO RECAP
3. "As a developer, I want to reach users with minimal effort"
4. .exe .dmg .AppImage
5. EXECUTABLE EXECUTABLE SQUASHFS IMAGE SQUASHFS IMAGE AppImage • One file per app and version
6. EXECUTABLE EXECUTABLE SQUASHFS IMAGE SQUASHFS IMAGE AppImage • Binary • Mounts the image with FUSE when executed
7. EXECUTABLE EXECUTABLE SQUASHFS IMAGE SQUASHFS IMAGE AppImage • Bundle app and everything that is not part of all target systems: icons, i18n, Qt 5, KF5,… • Built on host that as old as the oldest target systems
8. APPIMAGE SPEC https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageSpec
9. MAKING APPIMAGES
10. APPIMAGETOOL Turns an AppDir into an AppImage Get it from https://github.com/probonopd/AppImageKit/releases Usage in a nutshell, assuming that you already have an AppDir in place: chmod a+x appimagetool­x86_64.AppImage ./appimagetool­x86_64.AppImage some.AppDir
11. mkdir ­p leafpad/leafpad.AppDir && cd leafpad # Get existing binary wget ­c „http://.../leafpad_0.8.17­2_amd64.deb“ # Turn into an AppDir cd leafpad.AppDir dpkg ­x ../leafpad_*.deb . cp ./usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/leafpad.svg . cp ./usr/share/applications/leafpad.desktop . wget ­c https://.../AppRun chmod a+x AppRun cd .. # Package as an AppImage wget ­c https://.../appimagetool.AppImage chmod a+x appimagetool.AppImage ./appimagetool.AppImageleafpad.AppDir/ HELLO WORLD,…
12. …MORE LIKE THIS # Build on an „old enough“ build system (for which recent compilers and build tools exist, e.g., CentOS 6.x) # Make sure it is relocatable (no hardcoded „/usr“); otherwise patch it # Turn into an AppDir ... chmod a+x AppRun # Bundle any libraries that might not be there in a recent enough version # on each target system # Package the AppDir as an AppImage ... ./appimagetool.AppImage leafpad.AppDir ./Leafpad­x86_64.AppImage # Test on each target system ­ really! (I use Live ISOs)
13. live demo: Download and extract AppImage, re-generate AppImage
14. LINUXDEPLOYQT Turns a usr/ filesystem tree into an AppDir, and the AppDir in into an AppImage (using appimagetool) Originally focused on Qt desktop applications but can also be used for non-Qt applications Get it from github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt/releases/ Recommended to run on Travis CI or OBS
15. Making appdir/usr/… tree Using qmake: qmake PREFIX=/usr make ­j4 make INSTALL_ROOT=appdir install ; find appdir/ Using CMake: cmake . ­DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr make ­j4 make DESTDIR=appdir install ; find appdir/ Using autotools: ./configure ­­prefix=/usr make ­j4 make install DESTDIR=$(readlink ­f appdir) find appdir/
16. LINUXDEPLOYQT wget ­c "https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt/releases/download/continuous/ linuxdeployqt­continuous­x86_64.AppImage" chmod a+x linuxdeployqt*.AppImage unset QTDIR; unset QT_PLUGIN_PATH ; unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH ./linuxdeployqt*.AppImage ./appdir/usr/share/applications/*.desktop ­bundle­non­qt­libs ./linuxdeployqt*.AppImage ./appdir/usr/share/applications/*.desktop ­appimage
17. CONTINUOUS APPIMAGE WORKFLOW 2 Push commit to GitHub 1 Prepare build sys- tem, e.g., CentOS 6 with Qt5,… 3 Build and package as an AppImage 4 Upload to, e.g., Bintray, GitHub Releases 5 Post download link on Project homepage
18. LIVE DEMO
19. OBS AppImage
20. OBS: trusted, reliable, auditable build system that tracks security updates of dependencies, ensures licensing compliance, and hosts build products An ideal match! OBS APPIMAGE
21. Let‘s walk through https://github.com/probonopd/AppImageKit/ wiki/Using-Open-Build-Service OBS APPIMAGE
22. live demo of the QtQuickApp on OBS „hello world“
23. Your turn now… Can we get it to work with your app? https://github.com/probonopd/AppImageKit/ wiki/Using-Open-Build-Service OBS APPIMAGE
24. appimage.org #AppImage build.opensuse.org #opensuse-buildservice
25. BACKUP
26. Works for all common Linux distributions Run the latest applications on mature (e.g., enterprise) OSes One app = one file Super simple for users: just download one AppImage file, make it executable, and run No unpacking or installation necessary SOLVES...
27. No root needed No system libraries changed Works out of the box, no installation of runtimes needed Works on Live ISOs, university lab computers,... Can use the same AppImages when dual-booting multiple distributions SOLVES...
28. „This is just very cool.“ https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds/posts/WyrATKUnmrS
29. Krita OFFICIAL APPIMAGES Microsoft PowerShell KDevelop Scribus OpenShot digiKam JetBrains Toolbox MuseScore Kdenlive Subsurface ImagePlay Drawpile ...hundreds more Avidemux
30. BUT... FOSDEM 2017
32. MORE • Binary delta updates using AppImageUpdate – only download what has changed • Sandboxing using, e.g., Firejail • Optional appimaged daemon for desktop integration (menus, icons, MIME types, updates,...)
33. "As a tester, I want to run multiple builds without messing up my system.“
34. "As a user, I want to download an application from the original author and run it, now!“