This Week in Pakfire: Source Packages

[Michael Tremer <michael.tremer@ipfire.org>]

Hello to this week’s update!

Another new addition to Pakfire are source packages. In order to be able to verify builds and reproduce them, we need to make sure that we have a defined set of files that are needed to build some software. In IPFire 2 we solved this by having a large directory and referencing files in there. That works well when you always build the entire distribution in one piece, but it is not very helpful you want to share a single package with another developer for review or testing.

Now, you can bundle everything together so that somebody else has exactly the source that you have seen. Usually that is the source tarball, build instructions and meta data as well optional patches. All is bundled into a package which can be easily shared since it is only one single file.

You can create a source package using the dist command like so:

  # pakfire-builder dist /build/ipfire-3.x/beep/beep.nm
  beep-1.4.12-1.ipfire3.src                                                                                                                                       88k      0B/s 100%

You can then run a build without any further ado:

  # pakfire-builder build beep-1.4.12-1.ipfire3.src.pfm
  Scanning local                                                                                                                                                       00:00 406/406
  Building beep-1.4.12-1.ipfire3.src...
  Name           : beep
  Version        : 1.4.12-1.ipfire3
  Arch           : src
  Size           : 90k
  Download Size  : 90k
  Repo           : @commandline
  Summary        : Beep the PC speaker any number of ways.
  …

After that, you will have some binary packages built which you can install either to your build environment or install on an IPFire system for testing.

We also use the source packages to transfer build jobs to the build service and from there to the builders. One single file that is signed, integrity checked and contains everything that is needed is a great way to have contingent builds that are repeatable and verifiable.

That is all for today. See you next week!

-Michael