PACKAGING.md

Packaging Flutter Flatseal

Guide for creating distribution packages for Flutter Flatseal.

Table of Contents

1. Snap Package
2. Flatpak Package
3. AppImage
4. Debian Package
5. RPM Package
6. Arch Linux Package

Snap Package

Snap packages work across many Linux distributions.

Prerequisites

sudo apt install snapcraft

Create snapcraft.yaml

Create snap/snapcraft.yaml:

name: flutter-flatseal
version: '1.0.0'
summary: Manage Flatpak permissions
description: |
  A Flutter application to manage Flatpak sandbox permissions,
  inspired by the original Flatseal project.

base: core22
confinement: classic
grade: stable

parts:
  flutter-flatseal:
    plugin: flutter
    source: .
    flutter-target: lib/main.dart
    build-packages:
      - clang
      - cmake
      - ninja-build
      - libgtk-3-dev
    stage-packages:
      - libgtk-3-0
      - flatpak

apps:
  flutter-flatseal:
    command: flutter_flatseal
    desktop: linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop
    plugs:
      - desktop
      - desktop-legacy
      - wayland
      - x11
      - home
      - network

Build Snap

snapcraft clean
snapcraft

Install Locally

sudo snap install flutter-flatseal_1.0.0_amd64.snap --dangerous

Publish to Snap Store

snapcraft login
snapcraft upload flutter-flatseal_1.0.0_amd64.snap --release=stable

Flatpak Package

Create a Flatpak package for distribution through Flathub.

Prerequisites

sudo apt install flatpak-builder

Create Manifest

Create com.example.FlutterFlatseal.yml:

app-id: com.example.FlutterFlatseal
runtime: org.freedesktop.Platform
runtime-version: '23.08'
sdk: org.freedesktop.Sdk
command: flutter_flatseal

finish-args:
  - --share=ipc
  - --socket=wayland
  - --socket=x11
  - --socket=fallback-x11
  - --device=dri
  - --filesystem=host
  - --system-talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak

modules:
  - name: flutter-flatseal
    buildsystem: simple
    build-commands:
      - install -Dm755 flutter_flatseal /app/bin/flutter_flatseal
      - install -Dm644 linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop /app/share/applications/com.example.FlutterFlatseal.desktop
      - install -Dm644 linux/flutter_flatseal.png /app/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/com.example.FlutterFlatseal.png
    sources:
      - type: archive
        path: flutter-flatseal-1.0.0.tar.gz

Build Flatpak

# Build
flatpak-builder --force-clean build-dir com.example.FlutterFlatseal.yml

# Test locally
flatpak-builder --run build-dir com.example.FlutterFlatseal.yml flutter_flatseal

# Create repository
flatpak-builder --repo=repo --force-clean build-dir com.example.FlutterFlatseal.yml

# Install from local repo
flatpak --user remote-add --no-gpg-verify flutter-flatseal-repo repo
flatpak --user install flutter-flatseal-repo com.example.FlutterFlatseal

Publish to Flathub

1. Fork https://github.com/flathub/flathub
2. Create PR with your manifest
3. Follow Flathub guidelines

AppImage

Portable application format that works on most Linux distributions.

Prerequisites

# Download appimagetool
wget https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/releases/download/continuous/appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage

Create AppDir Structure

#!/bin/bash
set -e

APP_DIR=flutter-flatseal.AppDir

# Create directory structure
mkdir -p $APP_DIR/usr/bin
mkdir -p $APP_DIR/usr/lib
mkdir -p $APP_DIR/usr/share/applications
mkdir -p $APP_DIR/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps

# Copy application
cp -r build/linux/x64/release/bundle/* $APP_DIR/usr/bin/
mv $APP_DIR/usr/bin/flutter_flatseal $APP_DIR/usr/bin/flutter-flatseal

# Copy desktop file
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop $APP_DIR/usr/share/applications/

# Copy icon
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.png $APP_DIR/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/

# Create AppRun script
cat > $APP_DIR/AppRun <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
SELF=$(readlink -f "$0")
HERE=${SELF%/*}
export PATH="${HERE}/usr/bin:${PATH}"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${HERE}/usr/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
exec "${HERE}/usr/bin/flutter-flatseal" "$@"
EOF

chmod +x $APP_DIR/AppRun

# Create desktop file
cat > $APP_DIR/flutter-flatseal.desktop <<EOF
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Flutter Flatseal
Exec=flutter-flatseal
Icon=flutter_flatseal
Type=Application
Categories=System;Settings;
EOF

# Link icon
ln -sf usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/flutter_flatseal.png $APP_DIR/flutter_flatseal.png

Build AppImage

# Create AppImage
./appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage flutter-flatseal.AppDir

# Result: Flutter_Flatseal-x86_64.AppImage

Test AppImage

chmod +x Flutter_Flatseal-x86_64.AppImage
./Flutter_Flatseal-x86_64.AppImage

Debian Package

Create a .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu distributions.

Prerequisites

sudo apt install dpkg-dev debhelper

Create Debian Package Structure

mkdir -p debian-package/DEBIAN
mkdir -p debian-package/usr/bin
mkdir -p debian-package/usr/share/applications
mkdir -p debian-package/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps

Create Control File

Create debian-package/DEBIAN/control:

Package: flutter-flatseal
Version: 1.0.0
Section: utils
Priority: optional
Architecture: amd64
Depends: libgtk-3-0, flatpak
Maintainer: Your Name <your.email@example.com>
Description: Manage Flatpak permissions
 A Flutter application to manage Flatpak sandbox permissions,
 inspired by the original Flatseal project.
 .
 Features include viewing installed Flatpak applications,
 managing permissions, and overriding sandbox settings.

Copy Files

# Copy application
cp -r build/linux/x64/release/bundle/* debian-package/usr/bin/

# Copy desktop file
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop debian-package/usr/share/applications/

# Copy icon
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.png debian-package/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/

Build Package

dpkg-deb --build debian-package flutter-flatseal_1.0.0_amd64.deb

Install Package

sudo dpkg -i flutter-flatseal_1.0.0_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f  # Fix dependencies

RPM Package

Create an RPM package for Fedora/RHEL/CentOS.

Prerequisites

sudo dnf install rpm-build rpmdevtools

Setup RPM Build Tree

rpmdev-setuptree

Create Spec File

Create ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/flutter-flatseal.spec:

Name:           flutter-flatseal
Version:        1.0.0
Release:        1%{?dist}
Summary:        Manage Flatpak permissions

License:        GPL-3.0
URL:            https://github.com/meta-flutter/flutter-flatseal
Source0:        %{name}-%{version}.tar.gz

BuildRequires:  cmake
BuildRequires:  ninja-build
BuildRequires:  gtk3-devel
Requires:       gtk3
Requires:       flatpak

%description
A Flutter application to manage Flatpak sandbox permissions,
inspired by the original Flatseal project.

%prep
%setup -q

%build
# Application is pre-built

%install
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/bin
mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/share/applications
mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps

cp -r * $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/bin/
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/share/applications/
cp linux/flutter_flatseal.png $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/

%files
/usr/bin/flutter_flatseal
/usr/share/applications/flutter_flatseal.desktop
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/flutter_flatseal.png

%changelog
* Thu Nov 14 2024 Your Name <your.email@example.com> - 1.0.0-1
- Initial package

Build RPM

# Create source tarball
cd build/linux/x64/release
tar czf ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/flutter-flatseal-1.0.0.tar.gz bundle/

# Build RPM
cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS
rpmbuild -ba flutter-flatseal.spec

Install RPM

sudo dnf install ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/flutter-flatseal-1.0.0-1.fc38.x86_64.rpm

Arch Linux Package

Create a PKGBUILD for Arch Linux.

Create PKGBUILD

Create PKGBUILD:

# Maintainer: Your Name <your.email@example.com>
pkgname=flutter-flatseal
pkgver=1.0.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="Manage Flatpak permissions"
arch=('x86_64')
url="https://github.com/meta-flutter/flutter-flatseal"
license=('GPL3')
depends=('gtk3' 'flatpak')
source=("$pkgname-$pkgver.tar.gz")
sha256sums=('SKIP')

package() {
    cd "$srcdir/$pkgname-$pkgver"
    
    # Install binary
    install -Dm755 flutter_flatseal "$pkgdir/usr/bin/flutter_flatseal"
    
    # Install desktop file
    install -Dm644 linux/flutter_flatseal.desktop \
        "$pkgdir/usr/share/applications/flutter_flatseal.desktop"
    
    # Install icon
    install -Dm644 linux/flutter_flatseal.png \
        "$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/flutter_flatseal.png"
}

Build Package

makepkg -si

Publish to AUR

1. Create AUR account at https://aur.archlinux.org
2. Generate SSH keys and add to AUR
3. Clone AUR repository:

   git clone ssh://aur@aur.archlinux.org/flutter-flatseal.git

4. Add PKGBUILD and .SRCINFO
5. Commit and push

Universal Build Script

Create package.sh to build all formats:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

VERSION="1.0.0"

echo "Building Flutter Flatseal v$VERSION packages..."

# Build application
flutter build linux --release

# Build Snap
if command -v snapcraft &> /dev/null; then
    echo "Building Snap package..."
    snapcraft
fi

# Build AppImage
if [ -f appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage ]; then
    echo "Building AppImage..."
    ./build-appimage.sh
fi

# Build Debian package
echo "Building Debian package..."
./build-deb.sh

echo "Package building complete!"
echo "Check the output directories for packages."

Distribution

GitHub Releases

1. Create release tag:

   git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release v1.0.0"
   git push origin v1.0.0

2. Upload packages to GitHub Releases

Package Repositories

• Snap Store: snapcraft upload
• Flathub: Submit PR to flathub/flathub
• AUR: Push to AUR repository
• PPA: Create Launchpad PPA

Signing Packages

Sign AppImage

gpg --armor --detach-sign Flutter_Flatseal-x86_64.AppImage

Sign Debian Package

dpkg-sig --sign builder flutter-flatseal_1.0.0_amd64.deb

Sign RPM

rpm --addsign flutter-flatseal-1.0.0-1.fc38.x86_64.rpm

Best Practices

1. Version Consistency: Use same version across all package formats
2. Metadata: Include proper descriptions, categories, and keywords
3. Icons: Provide icons in multiple sizes
4. Desktop Integration: Proper .desktop files with correct categories
5. Dependencies: Declare all required dependencies
6. Testing: Test packages on clean systems
7. Documentation: Include changelog and installation instructions
8. Signing: Sign packages for security
9. Repository: Maintain package build scripts in version control
10. Automation: Use CI/CD for automated package builds

References

• Snapcraft Documentation
• Flatpak Documentation
• AppImage Documentation
• Debian Packaging Guide
• RPM Packaging Guide
• Arch Package Guidelines