feat(linux): publish .deb and .rpm alongside the AppImage - #522
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Linux shipped one AppImage, so apt and dnf users had to fall back to a FUSE-dependent binary with no package manager integration. Add native packages for both, built by the same tauri run. The single-target limit was deliberate and pinned by a test, so that test is rewritten rather than deleted: the target list stays an explicit set, because every entry becomes a release asset the publish job's required-asset check must also list. Each format is produced by a separate tauri bundler and can fail on its own, so the payload verification now runs against all three rather than trusting the AppImage as a proxy. It is factored into one function and checks what it always checked -- the binary, a complete EmbeddedServer, and an executable node -- against an extracted tree per format. rpm2cpio and cpio are not on ubuntu-latest by default and are installed for the rpm arm. Verified locally by building and unpacking both packages: each installs its runtime at /usr/lib/TokenTracker/EmbeddedServer/node, which candidate_runtime_roots already probes, so the app resolves its runtime from a packaged install with no code change. Stripping EmbeddedServer from a rebuilt .deb makes the verification fail, so the check is not decorative. Both packages are roughly 55MB against the AppImage's 120MB: they link the system GTK/WebKit instead of bundling it, which is also why they depend on the distro shipping a compatible webkit2gtk-4.1.
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Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 4 included reviews per hour; 3 remain after this review. 📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughLinux release packaging now produces AppImage, DEB, and RPM artifacts from one Tauri build. The workflow validates and stages each artifact, uploads all three assets, and requires them before publication. Documentation and tests cover the new package formats. ChangesLinux release packaging
Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to This PR adds native Linux packages while preserving the existing AppImage path; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review. Suggested reviewers: Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant Linux release job
participant Tauri bundler
participant Package artifacts
participant Release publication
Linux release job->>Tauri bundler: build AppImage, DEB, and RPM
Tauri bundler->>Package artifacts: produce package outputs
Linux release job->>Package artifacts: validate contents and permissions
Linux release job->>Release publication: upload all Linux assets
Release publication->>Release publication: require all Linux assets before publishing
🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
Full details: Docstring CoverageExplanation Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 2 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.) ✨ Finishing Touches🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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xiufengsun
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I reviewed exact head 4b42b615f4160186ae41df2d2a16ee476b8f9b87. The package verification is thorough, but this changes the release contract from one Linux AppImage / four total assets to AppImage + deb + rpm / six total assets without updating the repository source of truth.
CLAUDE.md still explicitly requires a single AppImage and exactly four release assets, and the release/read-back procedure is defined from that contract. Please update CLAUDE.md and all aligned release documentation/tests in the same PR, including the expected asset inventory and verification steps, so maintainers and automation do not enforce contradictory policies. Then rerun the combined release workflow tests.
Conclusion: NO-MERGE until the canonical release contract is updated.
Publishing .deb and .rpm left CLAUDE.md describing a Linux job that builds a single AppImage and a publish job that verifies four assets, so the canonical contract contradicted the workflow it documents. Update it to three Linux packages and six assets, and add an explicit asset inventory table: the publish job's required-asset check is the thing that refuses to flip the draft live, so the list maintainers read should be the same list, alongside the note that changing it means touching the workflow and test/linux-client-workflow.test.js together. The Linux README's distribution list had ended up with two overlapping AppImage bullets and an Install section that jumped straight into the AppImage with no heading, leaving the new apt and dnf sections dangling under it. Restructure into one release-packages bullet and three parallel subsections. Correct the dependency claims while here. Every README said the AppImage needs webkit2gtk-4.1, gtk3 and libayatana-appindicator from the distro, which the build tree disproves: the AppDir carries libwebkit2gtk-4.1, libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1, libgtk-3, libappindicator3 and the WebKitWebProcess / WebKitNetworkProcess helpers, and AppRun prepends $APPDIR/usr/lib and usr/lib64 to LD_LIBRARY_PATH so those copies are what load. The system stack is what the packages need instead -- the .deb declares libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, libgtk-3-0, libayatana-appindicator3-1 and libappindicator3-1, the .rpm the equivalent sonames -- which is also why they are 55MB against the AppImage's 120MB, and why the .deb is uninstallable on Debian 12. librsvg is dropped from the runtime lists: it is a build dependency, and nothing named rsvg is in the AppDir. Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_016aEn9CK81VhkFR2q1zwHPp
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Fixed in 14bbd3d. You're right that the contract was left contradicting the workflow — thanks for catching it.
Aligned docs
Tests — the two that pinned the old contract were already rewritten rather than deleted in 4b42b61 (
One correction that came out of this. Every README claimed the AppImage "needs |
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Inline comments:
In `@CLAUDE.md`:
- Line 120: Update the DMG-eligible changes guidance near the release workflow
command to remove the claim that the three Linux packages build in parallel;
state that they are produced within the Linux job, which runs alongside the
macOS and Windows jobs.
- Line 106: Update the release asset validation used by the publish job to
enforce that the release contains exactly the six listed assets, rejecting any
additional assets; keep the documented inventory and corresponding workflow/test
references synchronized.
In `@README.md`:
- Line 94: Add a Debian 12 compatibility warning to the Linux installation notes
at README.md lines 94 and 123-139, README.ja.md line 59, and README.ko.md line
59, explaining that the .deb may fail because Debian 12 provides
libayatana-appindicator3-1 instead of libappindicator3-1, and direct Debian 12
users to the AppImage.
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.github/workflows/ci.ymlCLAUDE.mdREADME.de.mdREADME.ja.mdREADME.ko.mdREADME.mdREADME.zh-CN.mdTokenTrackerLinux/README.md
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- TokenTrackerLinux/README.md
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The asset inventory said `publish` refuses a draft that does not carry exactly six assets. It loops over the six names and fails on a missing one; extras are never inspected. Say what the check does rather than describing a stricter gate that is not there. The release step put "(all in parallel)" next to "the three Linux packages", which reads as the packages building concurrently. One `tauri build` runs three bundlers in sequence; what is parallel is the three platform jobs. The .deb declares both libayatana-appindicator3-1 and libappindicator3-1, and Debian 12 dropped the latter in favour of the former, so apt refuses the package there. TokenTrackerLinux/README.md already said so; the install docs users actually reach did not. Added to README.md in both places that offer the .deb, and to all four translations rather than only the two flagged -- the rest carry the same .deb line and would otherwise keep promising an install that fails. Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_016aEn9CK81VhkFR2q1zwHPp
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The
The failure itself is correct — While you're there, Not a blocker, just noting the risk we're both accepting. Nothing in CI exercises the deb/rpm bundlers or the extraction path; Push the stderr fix and I'll merge. |
pick_one is only ever called inside a command substitution, so its ::error:: line landed in $image / $deb / $rpm_pkg instead of the workflow log. The step still failed under set -e, but silently -- in the one workflow where that costs the most, with the draft already created and two platforms uploaded.
2 participants
Linux currently ships a single AppImage. Two reasons to also ship native packages:
AppImages carry a lot of bloat. They bundle their own copy of GTK, WebKit and every supporting library so they can run anywhere, and the user pays for that on every download and on disk. Measured on this change: the AppImage is ~120 MB while the same app as a
.debor.rpmis ~55 MB — less than half, for identical functionality. The distro already ships those libraries; the AppImage just refuses to use them.Many users prefer their platform's own packaging.
apt install/dnf installgives them the system's install, upgrade and removal path, a properly registered desktop entry, and no FUSE dependency — instead of a loose executable they have tochmod +x, place somewhere sensible, and update by hand. For plenty of people that's the difference between installing the app and not bothering.This adds
.deband.rpm, built by the sametauri buildrun.This is a policy change, not a bug fix. The single-target limit was deliberate and pinned by a test whose message says so:
"Linux ships a single AppImage; adding targets here multiplies release assets"So it's entirely reasonable to say no. I've rewritten that test rather than deleting it — the target list stays an explicit set, with a message pointing at the three places that must change together (build, payload verification, publish asset list).
Sizes
TokenTracker-linux-x86_64.AppImageTokenTracker-linux-x86_64.debTokenTracker-linux-x86_64.rpmThe trade-off: the packages depend on the distro shipping a compatible
webkit2gtk-4.1, where the AppImage carries its own. That's exactly why this is additive — the AppImage stays for anyone who needs the self-contained version.Payload verification
The existing check extracted the AppImage and failed if
EmbeddedServer/nodewas missing — the thing that catches a brokenbundle.resourcesmapping before it reaches users. Each format is produced by a separate tauri bundler and can fail independently, so that check now runs against all three rather than treating the AppImage as a proxy. It's factored into oneverify_payloadfunction asserting the same things it always did: the binary, a completeEmbeddedServer(tracker.js,package.json,dashboard/dist/index.html), and an executablenode.rpm2cpioandcpioare not onubuntu-latestby default, so the rpm arm installs them; the test asserts that, since without them the rpm could never be inspected.Verified locally
Built and unpacked both packages rather than assuming:
/usr/lib/TokenTracker/EmbeddedServer/node, whichcandidate_runtime_rootsalready probes via<prefix>/lib/<PRODUCT_DIR_NAME>— so a packaged install resolves its runtime with no code changenodeis executable in both; all three requiredEmbeddedServerfiles present.debwithEmbeddedServerstripped and confirmed it fails with a non-zero exit — the check is not decorativerpm/cpioapt deps fails the workflow testThe AppImage arm could not be exercised on my machine (
linuxdeployneeds FUSE, which CI installs) — that arm is unchanged apart from being moved into the shared function, but CI is the authority on it.One caveat worth your call
Tauri hardcodes
libappindicator3-1as the deb dependency. That package exists in Ubuntu 24.04 (universe) but not Debian 12, so the.debwon't install there.bundle.linux.deb.dependsonly appends to Tauri's defaults — I tried overriding it and it produced duplicate entries while leaving the original in place — so it can't be fixed from config. Documented in the README (Debian users are pointed at the AppImage). If you want it properly fixed, it needs a repack step in CI or a fix upstream in Tauri; happy to add the former if you'd prefer.The Arch
PKGBUILDis untouched and stays a local-build path.Summary by CodeRabbit
New Features
Documentation
Tests