Creating Packages

This guide walks you through creating and submitting a PkgForge package.

Prerequisites

• A Linux system (any distro)
• Basic shell scripting knowledge
• A GitHub account

Step 1: Choose a Format

Pick a package format for your application. See each format's page for details on features and trade-offs.

Step 2: Write Your SBUILD

Create a YAML file following the SBUILD specification:

#!/SBUILD
_disabled: false

pkg: "myapp"
pkg_id: "github.com.user.myapp"
pkg_type: "appimage"
ghcr_pkg: "user/myapp"
app_id: "com.example.myapp"
description: "My awesome application"
homepage:
  - "https://github.com/user/myapp"
provides:
  - "myapp"
src_url:
  - "https://github.com/user/myapp"
x_exec:
  host:
    - "aarch64-linux"
    - "x86_64-linux"
  shell: "bash"
  pkgver: |
    curl -qfsSL "https://api.github.com/repos/user/myapp/releases/latest" | jq -r '.tag_name'
  run: |
    soar dl "https://github.com/user/myapp" --match "appimage" -o "./${PKG}" --yes

Key things to remember:

• Output files go to ${SBUILD_OUTDIR} (which is the current directory)
• The main binary must be named ${PKG}
• Use ${SBUILD_TMPDIR} for intermediate files

Step 3: Validate

# Install sbuild and shellcheck
soar install sbuild shellcheck

# Validate your SBUILD
sbuild lint ./myapp.yaml

Step 4: Test Locally

# Run the build
sbuild build ./myapp.yaml

Step 5: Submit

1. Fork pkgforge/soarpkgs
2. Add your SBUILD file under packages/
3. Open a Pull Request

The maintainers will review, help fix any issues, and merge.

Tips

• Browse existing packages for reference
• Check pkgs.pkgforge.qaidvoid.dev to make sure the package doesn't already exist
• Use soar dl for downloading release assets — it handles GitHub/GitLab URLs automatically
• For multi-arch support, use case "$(uname -m)" in your x_exec.run
• See Examples for common patterns