RPM

Packaging for RPM

Note

Some sections in this guide are optional. This includes configuring scripts and certain other steps. Feel free to adapt the instructions based on your specific needs and requirements.

This guide covers how to distribute and manage RPM packages, including retrieving package information, configuring scripts, setting dependencies, and signing packages.

Configuring the RPM package

Tauri allows you to configure the RPM package by adding scripts, setting dependencies, adding a license, including custom files, and more. For detailed information about configurable options, please refer to: RpmConfig.

Add post, pre-install/remove script to the package

The RPM package manager allows you to run scripts before or after the installation or removal of the package. For example, you can use these scripts to start a service after the package is installed.

Here’s an example of how to add these scripts:

1. Create a folder named scripts in the src-tauri directory in your project.

mkdir src-tauri/scripts

2. Create the script files in the folder.

touch src-tauri/scripts/postinstall.sh \
touch src-tauri/scripts/preinstall.sh \
touch src-tauri/scripts/preremove.sh \
touch src-tauri/scripts/postremove.sh

Now if we look inside /src-tauri/scripts we will see:

ls src-tauri/scripts/
postinstall.sh  postremove.sh  preinstall.sh  preremove.sh

3. Add some content to the scripts

preinstall.sh

echo "-------------"
echo "This is pre"
echo "Install Value: $1"
echo "Upgrade Value: $1"
echo "Uninstall Value: $1"
echo "-------------"

postinstall.sh

echo "-------------"
echo "This is post"
echo "Install Value: $1"
echo "Upgrade Value: $1"
echo "Uninstall Value: $1"
echo "-------------"

preremove.sh

echo "-------------"
echo "This is preun"
echo "Install Value: $1"
echo "Upgrade Value: $1"
echo "Uninstall Value: $1"
echo "-------------"

postremove.sh

echo "-------------"
echo "This is postun"
echo "Install Value: $1"
echo "Upgrade Value: $1"
echo "Uninstall Value: $1"
echo "-------------"

4. Add the scripts to thetauri.conf.json file

tauri.conf.json

{
  "bundle": {
    "linux": {
      "rpm": {
        "epoch": 0,
        "files": {},
        "release": "1",
        // add the script here
        "preInstallScript": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/scripts/prescript.sh",
        "postInstallScript": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/scripts/postscript.sh",
        "preRemoveScript": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/scripts/prescript.sh",
        "postRemoveScript": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/scripts/postscript.sh"
      }
    }
  }
}

Setting the Conflict, Provides, Depends, Files, Obsoletes, DesktopTemplate, and Epoch

• conflict: Prevents the installation of the package if it conflicts with another package. For example, if you update an RPM package that your app depends on and the new version is incompatible with your app.

• provides: Lists the RPM dependencies that your application provides.

• depends: Lists the RPM dependencies that your application needs to run.

• files: Specifies which files to include in the package.

• obsoletes: Lists the RPM dependencies that your application obsoletes.

Note

If this package is installed, packages listed as “obsoletes” will be automatically removed if present.

• desktopTemplate: Adds a custom desktop file to the package.

• epoch: Defines weighted dependencies based on version numbers.

Caution

It is not recommended to use epoch unless necessary, as it alters how the package manager compares package versions. For more information about epoch, please check: RPM Packaging Guide.

To use these options, add the following to your tauri.conf.json :

tauri.conf.json

{
  "bundle": {
    "linux": {
      "rpm": {
        "postRemoveScript": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/scripts/postscript.sh",
        "conflicts": ["oldLib.rpm"],
        "depends": ["newLib.rpm"],
        "obsoletes": ["veryoldLib.rpm"],
        "provides": ["coolLib.rpm"],
        "desktopTemplate": "/path/to/your/project/src-tauri/desktop-template.desktop"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add a license to the package

To add a license to the package, add the following to the src-tauri/cargo.toml or in the src-tauri/tauri.conf.json file:

src-tauri/cargo.toml

[package]
name = "tauri-app"
version = "0.0.0"
description = "A Tauri App"
authors = ["you"]
edition = "2021"
license = "MIT" # add the license here
# ...  rest of the file

And for src-tauri/tauri.conf.json

src-tauri/tauri.conf.json

{
  "bundle": {
    "licenseFile": "../LICENSE", // put the path to the license file here
    "license": "MIT", // add the license here
  }
}

Building the RPM package

To build the RPM package, you can use the following command:

npm

npm run tauri build

yarn

yarn tauri build

pnpm

pnpm tauri build

cargo

cargo tauri build

This command will build the RPM package in the src-tauri/target/release/bundle/rpm directory.

Signing the RPM package

Tauri allows you to sign the package with the key you have in your system during the build process. To do this, you will need to generate a GPG key.

Generate a GPG key

To generate a GPG key you can use the following command:

gpg --gen-key

Follow the instruction to generate the key.

Once the key is generated, you will need to add it to your environment variable. You can do this by adding the following to your .bashrc or .zshrc file or just export it in the terminal:

export TAURI_SIGNING_RPM_KEY=$(cat /home/johndoe/my_super_private.key)

If you have a passphrase for the key, you can add it to the environment variable:

export TAURI_SIGNING_RPM_KEY_PASSPHRASE=password

Now you can build the package with the following command:

npm

npm run tauri build

yarn

yarn tauri build

pnpm

pnpm tauri build

cargo

cargo tauri build

Verify the signature

Note

This should be done only to test the signature locally.

Before verifying the signature, you will need to create and import the public key to the RPM database:

gpg --export -a 'Tauri-App' > RPM-GPG-KEY-Tauri-App

sudo rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Tauri-App

Now that the key is imported, we have to edit the ~/.rpmmacros file to utilize the key.

~/.rpmmacros

%_signature gpg
%_gpg_path /home/johndoe/.gnupg
%_gpg_name Tauri-App
%_gpgbin /usr/bin/gpg2
%__gpg_sign_cmd %{__gpg} \
    gpg --force-v3-sigs --digest-algo=sha1 --batch --no-verbose --no-armor \
    --passphrase-fd 3 --no-secmem-warning -u "%{_gpg_name}" \
    -sbo %{__signature_filename} %{__plaintext_filename}

Finally, you can verify the package using the following command:

rpm  -v --checksig tauri-app-0.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Debugging the RPM package

In this section, we will see how to debug the RPM package by checking the content of the package and getting information about the package.

Getting information about the package

To get information about your package, such as the version, release, and architecture, use the following command:

rpm -qip package_name.rpm

Query specific information about the package

For example, if you want to get the name, version, release, architecture, and size of the package, use the following command:

rpm  -qp --queryformat '[%{NAME} %{VERSION} %{RELEASE} %{ARCH} %{SIZE}\n]' package_name.rpm

Note

--queryformat is a format string that can be used to get specific information about the package. The information that can be retrieved is from the rpm -qip command.

Checking the content of the package

To check the content of the package, use the following command:

rpm -qlp package_name.rpm

This command will list all the files that are included in the package.

Debugging scripts

To debug post/pre-install/remove scripts, use the following command:

rpm -qp --scripts package_name.rpm

This command will print the content of the scripts.

Checking dependencies

To check the dependencies of the package, use the following command:

rpm -qp --requires package_name.rpm

List packages that depend on a specific package

To list the packages that depend on a specific package, use the following command:

rpm -q --whatrequires package_name.rpm

Debugging Installation Issues

If you encounter issues during the installation of an RPM package, you can use the -vv (very verbose) option to get detailed output:

rpm -ivvh package_name.rpm

Or for an already installed package:

rpm -Uvvh package_name.rpm