Is it possible to run afterPack on a per-target basis?

[Nantris]

I'm working on a workaround for https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/42510 but it it seems like I can't target only AppImage and it would affect Snap and other Linux targets too.

Is there any way I can modify only the AppImage?

Of course, if I get this working I'll share what I've got!

[Sytten]

Same I am looking for a hook per target but for auto-update. So far what I am using is a custom publish provider to hack into the build process, it works but its a mess.

[Nantris]

@Sytten can you clarify what you're looking for exactly?

[Sytten]

I need a hook to create a file in the resources different based on the target.

[Sytten]

@mmaietta I can code this, but I don't have the authority / experience to decide what it should look like. I think something like beforeTargetBuild would be good.

[mmaietta]

So the limitation is within PlatformPackager as afterPack accepts a list of targets, which the Packager then assembles per-Target. The downside here is that compressed archives (tar.gz, zip, etc.) all are within the same ArchiveTarget that iterates through it separately, so PlatformPackager doesn't have insight into when a specific archive is created. All archives are created from the same linux-unpacked folder though, so inserting a file into resources will be included in all archives.

I'm wondering if your usecase might be best solved with the event artifactBuildStarted which has targetPresentableName for you to key specific logic to the destination archive. https://www.electron.build/app-builder-lib.interface.configuration#artifactbuildstarted

I'm thinking something along the lines of

module.exports = (context: ArtifactBuildStarted) => {
	const yourFile = "<path to your file>"
	const unpackedResources = path.resolve(path.dirname(context.file), "linux-unpacked", "resources"))
	const dest = path.join(unpackedResources, path.basename(yourFile))

 	if (context.targetPresentableName === "AppImage") {
 		fs.copySync(yourFile, dest)
 	} else if (fs.existSync(dest){
 		fs.rm(dest)
 	}
}

This would insert or remove your file from resources on a per-target basis.

[Sytten]

Interesting, I will try it out for sure. I thought this was async due to the Started name, but it might not.

[mmaietta]

It can contain async operations, as it's still awaited in code when the event is emitted. This is to maintain consistency with other hooks, but also prevent side effects of files being manipulated while electron-builder's packaging phase is in progress.

[Nantris]

That seems promising and I'd love to leverage what already exists, but it seems too late to modify the internals of the AppImage at that phase unless I repack it.

The processing and tedium of repacking isn't too onerous but I do wonder if that might break auto-updates or anything by potentially changing the hash or blockmap?

[Sytten]

As far as I am understand this hook would allow to modify the permission of the sandbox binary before its packed in the appimage which should work around the permission issue. I am also facing this problem, so I will also try to dig into it.

The publish is done after that hook and worst case you can customize the auto update provider (this is what I did).

[Nantris]

I was able to make headway with this method. It's a little clunky. It would be nice if the context included the appOutDir but it's a minor thing.

[mmaietta]

I see no reason why not to support that. I don't have time currently to work on this specifically, as I'm focused on other bugs and trying to balance with work. Feel free to open up a PR if you can!

[Sytten]

@mmaietta Another thing I realized while doing some testing, there is a flag called isAsyncSupported. Some targets will be true and will run concurrently. We likely need a way to disable that otherwise artifactBuildStarted will just override each other. I can take a look at how this currently works but it's a big limitation of the hook for sure.

[mmaietta]

Hmmm valid point. Modifying any of the unpacked directories during a parallel packaging would be an issue, especially more so with the upcoming experimental config property for concurrent builds of targets+archs https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/106640dd42a3db08bfbe3a3a32fe333e93ba5c10/packages/app-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts#L170-L173

We could theoretically have an unpacked directory for each archive target, but holy moly, that would tremendously increase the footprint/size-taken of each build.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.

[softworkz]

Please see my feature request and workaround here: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/9296