Package formats

What is built, how, and how each format is checked. All formats are Linux, 64-bit x86, unsigned; their origin is proven by GitHub's build provenance attestation and SHA256SUMS.

#The four formats

There is no ARM package and nothing for Windows or macOS.

#The release files

Version 0.9 named its files after the app's old name; its update notice looks for files under that name, so it probably finds no direct download in a 1.0 release. Not tried yet.

#The sandbox

The .deb and .rpm install Chromium's chrome-sandbox helper SUID root and always keep the sandbox. An unpacked app (the .tar.gz, the AppImage) cannot have a SUID helper, and Ubuntu 24.04 and later restrict the other way to sandbox; there run.sh and the AppImage start the app with --no-sandbox and print why. Otherwise the app could not start at all.

#The per-user install

install.sh installs to ~/.local/share/nodewise-studio, a launcher in ~/.local/bin and the menu entry and icons under ~/.local/share. It refuses to overwrite a launcher it did not make, refuses while the app is running, and replaces an old copy in one step. A copy of version 0.9 that its install.sh put in the home folder under the app's old name is removed with that copy's own uninstall.sh (its settings stay, for the app to take over); while that copy runs, it stays and install.sh says so. uninstall.sh removes only what install.sh made and keeps the profile; --purge deletes the profile too.

#What goes into a package

Only what runs: dist/ (main, preload, the renderer bundle, the notices, the bundled Help), the runtime node_modules of main, package.json and the window icon (packagerConfig.ignore in forge.config.js). Of better-sqlite3 only the Linux x64 module ships. The fuses (@electron-forge/plugin-fuses) switch off running as Node, NODE_OPTIONS, the inspector arguments and loading the app from outside app.asar; scripts/check-fuses.js reads them back from every built binary. The copyright file of both packages is the app's licence followed by the notices of everything that ships.

#Commands

xvfb-run -a npm run package:linux   # build, make every format, check them
npm run make:linux                  # .deb (and .rpm where rpmbuild exists), then the tar.gz (and the AppImage)
npm run smoke:linux                 # the checks of the made packages
node scripts/check-fuses.js <exe>   # the fuses of a binary
node scripts/make-sbom.js out.cdx.json
SMOKE_PACKAGE=deb node scripts/smoke-installed-package.js check

The files appear in out/make/deb/x64/, out/make/rpm/x64/ and out/make/portable/. Tools: fakeroot and dpkg for the .deb, rpm for the .rpm, squashfs-tools and the AppImage type 2 runtime for the AppImage, desktop-file-utils, lintian and shellcheck for the checks. Building from source

#See also

• For developers
• Releasing
• Installing