FLATPAK MANIFEST(5) flatpak manifest FLATPAK MANIFEST(5)
NAME
flatpak-manifest - Information for building an application
DESCRIPTION
Flatpak uses manifest, or recipe, files in a json or yaml format to
describe how an application and its bundled dependencies can be built
from sources. The manifest gets used by flatpak-builder.
FILE FORMAT
The top level of the manifest file describes global attributes of the
application, how it can be built, and the list of modules that need to
be built.
Toplevel properties
These are the properties that are accepted:
id or app-id (string)
A string defining the application id.
branch (string)
The branch to use when exporting the application. If this is unset
the defaults come from the default-branch option.
This key overrides both the default-branch key, and the
--default-branch commandline option. Unless you need a very
specific branchname (like for a runtime or an extension) it is
recommended to use the default-branch key instead, because you can
then override the default using --default-branch when building for
instance a test build.
default-branch (string)
The default branch to use when exporting the application. Defaults
to master.
This key can be overridden by the --default-branch commandline
option.
collection-id (string)
The collection ID of the repository, defaults to being unset.
Setting a globally unique collection ID allows the apps in the
repository to be shared over peer to peer systems without needing
further configuration. If building in an existing repository, the
collection ID must match the existing configured collection ID for
that repository.
extension-tag (string)
If building an extension, the tag for the extension point to use.
Since flatpak 0.11.4 a runtime may define multiple locations for
the same extension point with the intention that different branches
for the extension are mounted at each location. When building an
extension it is necessary to know what extension point to install
the extension to. This option resolves any ambiguity in which
extension point to choose. If not specified, the default choice is
to install into either the only location for the extension point or
into the location for the untagged extension point. If there are
multiple locations for the same extension point defined with
different tags then an error will occur.
token-type (integer)
The type of token needed to install this commit. Setting this to a
value greater than 0 implies that authentication will be needed to
install the flatpak.
runtime (string)
The name of the runtime that the application uses.
runtime-version (string)
The version of the runtime that the application uses, defaults to
master.
sdk (string)
The name of the development runtime that the application builds
with.
var (string)
Initialize the (otherwise empty) writable /var in the build with a
copy of this runtime.
metadata (string)
Use this file as the base metadata file when finishing.
command (string)
The filename or path to the main binary of the application. Note
that this is really just a single file, not a commandline. If you
want to pass arguments, install a shell script wrapper and use that
as the command.
Also note that the command is used when the application is run via
flatpak run, and does not affect what gets executed when the
application is run in other ways, e.g. via the desktop file or
D-Bus activation.
build-runtime (boolean)
Build a new runtime instead of an application.
build-extension (boolean)
Build an extension.
separate-locales (boolean)
Separate out locale files and translations to an extension runtime.
Defaults to true.
id-platform (string)
When building a runtime sdk, also create a platform based on it
with this id.
metadata-platform (string)
The metadata file to use for the platform we create.
writable-sdk (boolean)
If true, use a writable copy of the sdk for /usr. Defaults to true
if build-runtime is specified.
appstream-compose (boolean)
Run appstream-compose during cleanup phase. Defaults to true.
sdk-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra sdk extensions in /usr.
platform-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra sdk extensions when creating the platform.
base (string)
Start with the files from the specified application. This can be
used to create applications that extend another application.
base-version (string)
Use this specific version of the application specified in base. If
unspecified, this uses the value specified in branch
base-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra extensions from the base application when
initializing the application directory.
inherit-extensions (array of strings)
Inherit these extra extension points from the base application or
sdk when finishing the build.
inherit-sdk-extensions (array of strings)
Inherit these extra extension points from the base application or
sdk when finishing the build, but do not inherit them into the
platform.
tags (array of strings)
Add these tags to the metadata file.
build-options (object)
Object specifying the build environment. See below for details.
modules (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects specifying the modules to be built in order.
String members in the array are interpreted as the name of a
separate json or yaml file that contains a module. See below for
details.
add-extensions (objects)
This is a dictionary of extension objects. The key is the name of
the extension. See below for details.
add-build-extensions (objects)
This is a dictionary of extension objects similar to
add-extensions. The main difference is that the extensions are
added early and are available for use during the build.
cleanup (array of strings)
An array of file patterns that should be removed at the end.
Patterns starting with / are taken to be full pathnames (without
the /app prefix), otherwise they just match the basename.
cleanup-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run during the cleanup phase.
cleanup-platform (array of strings)
Extra files to clean up in the platform.
cleanup-platform-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run during the cleanup phase of
the platform.
prepare-platform-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run after importing the base
platform, but before applying the new files from the sdk. This is a
good place to e.g. delete things from the base that may conflict
with the files added in the sdk.
finish-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments passed to the flatpak build-finish command.
rename-desktop-file (string)
Any desktop file with this name will be renamed to a name based on
id during the cleanup phase.
rename-appdata-file (string)
Any appdata (metainfo) file with this name will be renamed to a
name based on id during the cleanup phase.
rename-icon (string)
Any icon with this name will be renamed to a name based on id
during the cleanup phase. Note that this is the icon name, not the
full filenames, so it should not include a filename extension.
appdata-license (string)
Replace the appdata (metainfo) project_license field with this
string. This is useful as the upstream license is typically only
about the application itself, whereas the bundled app can contain
other licenses too.
copy-icon (boolean)
If rename-icon is set, keep a copy of the old icon file.
desktop-file-name-prefix (string)
This string will be prefixed to the Name key in the main
application desktop file.
desktop-file-name-suffix (string)
This string will be suffixed to the Name key in the main
application desktop file.
Build Options
Build options specify the build environment of a module, and can be
specified globally as well as per-module. Options can also be specified
on a per-architecture basis using the arch property.
These are the properties that are accepted:
cflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CFLAGS during the build.
Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cflags from previous build options before
adding it from these options.
cppflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CPPFLAGS during the build.
Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cppflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cppflags from previous build options before
adding it from these options.
cxxflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CXXFLAGS during the build.
Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cxxflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cxxflags from previous build options before
adding it from these options.
ldflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable LDFLAGS during the build.
Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
ldflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear ldflags from previous build options before
adding it from these options.
prefix (string)
The build prefix for the modules (defaults to /app for applications
and /usr for runtimes).
libdir (string)
The build libdir for the modules (defaults to /app/lib for
applications and /usr/lib for runtimes).
append-path (string)
This will get appended to PATH in the build environment (with an
leading colon if needed).
prepend-path (string)
This will get prepended to PATH in the build environment (with an
trailing colon if needed).
append-ld-library-path (string)
This will get appended to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the build environment
(with an leading colon if needed).
prepend-ld-library-path (string)
This will get prepended to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the build environment
(with an trailing colon if needed).
append-pkg-config-path (string)
This will get appended to PKG_CONFIG_PATH in the build environment
(with an leading colon if needed).
prepend-pkg-config-path (string)
This will get prepended to PKG_CONFIG_PATH in the build environment
(with an trailing colon if needed).
env (object)
This is a dictionary defining environment variables to be set
during the build. Elements in this override the properties that set
the environment, like cflags and ldflags. Keys with a null value
unset the corresponding variable.
secret-env (array of strings)
This is a array defining which host environment variables is
transfered to build-commands or post-install environment.
build-args (array of strings)
This is an array containing extra options to pass to flatpak build.
test-args (array of strings)
Similar to build-args but affects the tests, not the normal build.
config-opts (array of strings)
This is an array containing extra options to pass to configure.
secret-opts (array of strings)
This is an array of options that will be passed to configure, meant
to be used to pass secrets through host environment variables. Put
the option with an environment variables and will be resolved
beforehand. '-DSECRET_ID=$CI_SECRET'
make-args (array of strings)
An array of extra arguments that will be passed to make
make-install-args (array of strings)
An array of extra arguments that will be passed to make install
strip (boolean)
If this is true (the default is false) then all ELF files will be
stripped after install.
no-debuginfo (boolean)
By default (if strip is not true) flatpak-builder extracts all
debug info in ELF files to a separate files and puts this in an
extension. If you want to disable this, set no-debuginfo to true.
no-debuginfo-compression (boolean)
By default when extracting debuginfo we compress the debug
sections. If you want to disable this, set no-debuginfo-compression
to true.
arch (object)
This is a dictionary defining for each arch a separate build
options object that override the main one.
Extension
Extension define extension points in the app/runtime that can be
implemented by extensions, supplying extra files which are available
during runtime..
These are the properties that are accepted:
directory (string)
The directory where the extension is mounted. If the extension
point is for an application, this path is relative to /app,
otherwise it is relative to /usr.
bundle (boolean)
If this is true, then the data created in the extension directory
is omitted from the result, and instead packaged in a separate
extension.
remove-after-build (boolean)
If this is true, the extension is removed during when finishing.
This is only interesting for extensions in the add-build-extensions
property.
Additionally the standard flatpak extension properties are supported,
and put directly into the metadata file: autodelete, no-autodownload,
subdirectories, add-ld-path, download-if, enable-if, merge-dirs,
subdirectory-suffix, locale-subset, version, versions. See the flatpak
metadata documentation for more information on these.
Module
Each module specifies a source that has to be separately built and
installed. It contains the build options and a list of sources to
download and extract before building.
Modules can be nested, in order to turn related modules on and off with
a single key.
These are the properties that are accepted:
name (string)
The name of the module, used in e.g. build logs. The name is also
used for constructing filenames and commandline arguments,
therefore using spaces or '/' in this string is a bad idea.
disabled (boolean)
If true, skip this module
sources (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects defining sources that will be downloaded and
extracted in order. String members in the array are interpreted as
the name of a separate json or yaml file that contains sources. See
below for details.
secret-env (array of strings)
An array defining which host environment variables is transfered to
build-commands or post-install environment.
config-opts (array of strings)
An array of options that will be passed to configure
secret-opts (array of strings)
An array of options that will be passed to configure, meant to be
used to pass secrets through host environment variables. Put the
option with an environment variables and will be resolved
beforehand. '-DSECRET_ID=$CI_SECRET'
make-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments that will be passed to make
make-install-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments that will be passed to make install
rm-configure (boolean)
If true, remove the configure script before starting build
no-autogen (boolean)
Ignore the existence of an autogen script
no-parallel-make (boolean)
Don't call make with arguments to build in parallel
install-rule (string)
Name of the rule passed to make for the install phase, default is
install
no-make-install (boolean)
Don't run the make install (or equivalent) stage
no-python-timestamp-fix (boolean)
Don't fix up the *.py[oc] header timestamps for ostree use.
cmake (boolean)
Use cmake instead of configure (deprecated: use buildsystem
instead)
buildsystem (string)
Build system to use: autotools, cmake, cmake-ninja, meson, simple,
qmake
builddir (boolean)
Use a build directory that is separate from the source directory
subdir (string)
Build inside this subdirectory of the extracted sources
build-options (object)
A build options object that can override global options
build-commands (array of strings)
An array of commands to run during build (between make and make
install if those are used). This is primarily useful when using the
"simple" buildsystem. Each command is run in /bin/sh -c, so it can
use standard POSIX shell syntax such as piping output.
post-install (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that are run after the install phase.
Can for example clean up the install dir, or install extra files.
cleanup (array of strings)
An array of file patterns that should be removed at the end.
Patterns starting with / are taken to be full pathnames (without
the /app prefix), otherwise they just match the basename. Note that
any patterns will only match files installed by this module.
ensure-writable (array of strings)
The way the builder works is that files in the install directory
are hard-links to the cached files, so you're not allowed to modify
them in-place. If you list a file in this then the hardlink will be
broken and you can modify it. This is a workaround, ideally
installing files should replace files, not modify existing ones.
only-arches (array of strings)
If non-empty, only build the module on the arches listed.
skip-arches (array of strings)
Don't build on any of the arches listed.
cleanup-platform (array of strings)
Extra files to clean up in the platform.
run-tests (boolean)
If true this will run the tests after installing.
test-rule (string)
The target to build when running the tests. Defaults to "check" for
make and "test" for ninja. Set to empty to disable.
test-commands (array of strings)
Array of commands to run during the tests.
modules (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects specifying nested modules to be built before
this one. String members in the array are interpreted as names of a
separate json or yaml file that contains a module.
Sources
These contain a pointer to the source that will be extracted into the
source directory before the build starts. They can be of several types,
distinguished by the type property.
Additionally, the sources list can contain a plain string, which is
interpreted as the name of a separate json or yaml file that is read
and inserted at this point. The file can contain a single source, or an
array of sources.
All sources
only-arches (array of strings)
If non-empty, only build the module on the arches listed.
skip-arches (array of strings)
Don't build on any of the arches listed.
dest (string)
Directory inside the source dir where this source will be
extracted.
Archive sources (tar, zip)
type
"archive"
path (string)
The path of the archive
url (string)
The URL of a remote archive that will be downloaded. This
overrides path if both are specified.
mirror-urls (array of strings)
A list of alternative urls that are used if the main url fails.
git-init (boolean)
Whether to initialise the repository as a git repository.
archive-type (string)
The type of archive if it cannot be guessed from the path.
Possible values are "rpm", "tar", "tar-gzip", "tar-compress",
"tar-bzip2", "tar-lzip", "tar-lzma", "tar-lzop", "tar-xz",
"tar-zst", "zip" and "7z".
md5 (string)
The md5 checksum of the file, verified after download
Note that md5 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha1 (string)
The sha1 checksum of the file, verified after download
Note that sha1 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 checksum of the file, verified after download
sha512 (string)
The sha512 checksum of the file, verified after download
strip-components (integer)
The number of initial pathname components to strip during
extraction. Defaults to 1.
dest-filename (string)
Filename to for the downloaded file, defaults to the basename
of url.
Git sources
type
"git"
path (string)
The path to a local checkout of the git repository. Due to how
git-clone works, this will be much faster than specifying a URL
of file:///...
url (string)
URL of the git repository. This overrides path if both are
specified. When using git via SSH, the correct syntax is
ssh://user@domain/path/to/repo.git.
branch (string)
The branch to use from the git repository. As of 1.2.3 this
will try to auto-detect the upstream default branch. Previously
this defaulted to master.
tag (string)
The tag to use from the git repository
commit (string)
The commit to use from the git repository. If branch is also
specified, then it is verified that the branch/tag is at this
specific commit. This is a readable way to document that you're
using a particular tag, but verify that it does not change.
disable-fsckobjects (boolean)
Don't use transfer.fsckObjects=1 to mirror git repository. This
may be needed for some (broken) repositories.
disable-shallow-clone (boolean)
Don't optimize by making a shallow clone when downloading the
git repo.
disable-submodules (boolean)
Don't checkout the git submodules when cloning the repository.
Bzr sources
type
"bzr"
url (string)
URL of the bzr repository
revision (string)
A specific revision to use in the branch
Svn sources
type
"svn"
url (string)
URL of the svn repository, including branch/tag part
revision (string)
A specific revision number to use
Directory sources
type
"dir"
path (string)
The path of a local directory whose content will be copied into
the source dir. Note that directory sources don't currently
support caching, so they will be rebuilt each time.
skip (array of strings)
Source files to ignore in the directory.
File sources
type
"file"
path (string)
The path of a local file that will be copied into the source
dir
url (string)
The URL of a remote file that will be downloaded and copied
into the source dir. This overrides path if both are specified.
mirror-urls (array of strings)
A list of alternative urls that are used if the main url fails.
md5 (string)
The md5 checksum of the file, verified after download. This is
optional for local files.
Note that md5 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha1 (string)
The sha1 checksum of the file, verified after download. This is
optional for local files.
Note that sha1 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 checksum of the file, verified after download. This
is optional for local files.
sha512 (string)
The sha512 checksum of the file, verified after download. This
is optional for local files.
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir, default to the basename
of path.
Script sources
This is a way to create a shell (/bin/sh) script from an inline set
of commands.
type
"script"
commands (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that will be put in a shellscript
file
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir, default to autogen.sh.
Inline data sources
This is a way to create a file with given contents.
type
"inline"
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir.
contents (string)
Text data that will be put in the file.
base64 (boolean)
Whether content is base64-encoded.
Shell sources
This is a way to create/modify the sources by running shell
commands.
type
"shell"
commands (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that will be run during source
extraction
Patch sources
type
"patch"
path (string)
The path of a patch file that will be applied in the source dir
paths (array of strings)
An list of paths to a patch files that will be applied in the
source dir, in order
strip-components (integer)
The value of the -p argument to patch, defaults to 1.
use-git (boolean)
Whether to use "git apply" rather than "patch" to apply the
patch, required when the patch file contains binary diffs.
use-git-am (boolean)
Whether to use "git am" rather than "patch" to apply the patch,
required when the patch file contains binary diffs. You cannot
use this at the same time as use-git.
options (array of strings)
Extra options to pass to the patch command.
Extra data sources
type
"extra-data"
filename (string)
The name to use for the downloaded extra data
url (string)
The url to the extra data.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 of the extra data.
size (number)
The size of the extra data in bytes.
installed-size (string)
The extra installed size this adds to the app (optional).
BUILD ENVIRONMENT
When building the application each command is run in a separate sandbox
with access to only the things required for it. This section describes
the details of the sandbox. Any options here can be overridden globally
or per-module with the build-args option (although such manifest will
not work if you start flatpak-builder with --sandbox).
Filesystem
Each module is built in its own build directory, stored in a sub
directory called build/$modulename-$count in the state dir (which is
typically .flatpak-builder/). Additionally there is a symlink
build/$modulename to the latest version. In order to generate
reproducible builds this directory is also mounted as
/run/build/$modulename in the sandbox (or
/run/build-runtime/$modulename when building runtimes). This is used as
current working directory for all build ops.
The destination directory for installation is accessible for writing at
the place it will seen at runtime. In the case of a regular application
this will be /app. If building a runtime it will instead be /usr, and
when building an extension it will be at the extensionpoint directory
somewhere below /app (for app extension) or /usr (for runtime
extensions).
Additionally the there will be (as needed, depending on what is
building) read-only mounts of the sdk at /usr, sdk extensions below
that, and the application at /app. No other filesystem access is
available.
Environment
The environment can be modified in several ways in the manifest, but
the default values are:
FLATPAK_ID
The id of the application currently building.
FLATPAK_ARCH
The architecture currently building.
FLATPAK_DEST
The path to where the current build should install into. This is
/app for application builds.
FLATPAK_BUILDER_N_JOBS
The number of jobs that flatpak-builder would normally use for make
-j. Defaults to ncpus unless the module disabled parallel make.
FLATPAK_BUILDER_BUILDDIR
The path to the build directory of the module currently building.
This is normally /run/build/$MODULE.
PATH
/app/bin:/usr/bin
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
/app/lib
PKG_CONFIG_PATH
/app/lib/pkgconfig:/app/share/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/share/pkgconfig
ACLOCAL_PATH
/app/share/aclocal
C_INCLUDE_PATH
/app/include
CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
/app/include
LDFLAGS
-L/app/lib
LC_ALL
en_US.utf8
Permissions
Builds have the --allow=devel and --allow=multiarch permissions that
regular flatpak runs don't have by default. This limits the syscall
filtering that is normally done so development tools like debuggers
work. Otherwise the build sandbox is very limited, for example there is
no network access.
EXAMPLES
$ flatpak-builder my-app-dir manifest.json
Example manifest file:
{
"id": "org.test.TestApp",
"runtime": "org.freedesktop.Platform",
"runtime-version": "1.2",
"sdk": "org.freedesktop.Sdk",
"command": "test",
"clean": [ "/include", "*.la" ],
"build-options" : {
"cflags": "-O2 -g",
"cxxflags": "-O2 -g",
"env": {
"V": "1"
},
"arch": {
"x86_64": {
"cflags": "-O3 -g",
}
}
},
"modules": [
{
"name": "pygobject",
"config-opts": [ "--disable-introspection" ],
"sources": [
{
"type": "archive",
"url": "http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/pygobject/2.28/pygobject-2.28.6.tar.xz",
"sha256": "fb8a1d4f665130a125011659bd347c7339c944232163dbb9a34fd0686577adb8"
},
{
"type": "patch",
"path": "required-pygobject-fix.patch"
},
{
"type": "file",
"path": "pygobject-extra-file",
"dest-filename": "extra-file"
}
]
},
{
"name": "babl",
"build-options" : { "cxxflags": "-O2 -g -std=c++11" },
"cleanup": [ "/bin" ],
"sources": [
{
"type": "git",
"url": "https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/babl.git"
}
]
},
{
"name": "testapp",
"sources": [
{
"type": "bzr",
"url": "lp:testapp"
}
]
}
]
}
SEE ALSO
flatpak-builder(1)
flatpak FLATPAK MANIFEST(5)
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