pyrox.dev
1# pkgs.appimageTools {#sec-pkgs-appimageTools}
2
3`pkgs.appimageTools` is a set of functions for extracting and wrapping [AppImage](https://appimage.org/) files.
4They are meant to be used if traditional packaging from source is infeasible, or if it would take too long.
5To quickly run an AppImage file, `pkgs.appimage-run` can be used as well.
6
7::: {.warning}
8The `appimageTools` API is unstable and may be subject to backwards-incompatible changes in the future.
9:::
10
11## Wrapping {#ssec-pkgs-appimageTools-wrapping}
12
13Use `wrapType2` to wrap any AppImage.
14This will create a FHS environment with many packages [expected to exist](https://github.com/AppImage/pkg2appimage/blob/master/excludelist) for the AppImage to work.
15`wrapType2` expects an argument with the `src` attribute, and either a `name` attribute or `pname` and `version` attributes.
16
17It will eventually call into [`buildFHSEnv`](#sec-fhs-environments), and any extra attributes in the argument to `wrapType2` will be passed through to it.
18This means that you can pass the `extraInstallCommands` attribute, for example, and it will have the same effect as described in [`buildFHSEnv`](#sec-fhs-environments).
19
20::: {.note}
21In the past, `appimageTools` provided both `wrapType1` and `wrapType2`, to be used depending on the type of AppImage that was being wrapped.
22However, [those were unified early 2020](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/81833), meaning that both `wrapType1` and `wrapType2` have the same behaviour now.
23:::
24
25:::{.example #ex-wrapping-appimage-from-github}
26
27# Wrapping an AppImage from GitHub
28
29```nix
30{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
31let
32 pname = "nuclear";
33 version = "0.6.30";
34
35 src = fetchurl {
36 url = "https://github.com/nukeop/nuclear/releases/download/v${version}/${pname}-v${version}.AppImage";
37 hash = "sha256-he1uGC1M/nFcKpMM9JKY4oeexJcnzV0ZRxhTjtJz6xw=";
38 };
39in
40appimageTools.wrapType2 {
41 inherit pname version src;
42}
43```
44
45:::
46
47The argument passed to `wrapType2` can also contain an `extraPkgs` attribute, which allows you to include additional packages inside the FHS environment your AppImage is going to run in.
48`extraPkgs` must be a function that returns a list of packages.
49There are a few ways to learn which dependencies an application needs:
50
51 - Looking through the extracted AppImage files, reading its scripts and running `patchelf` and `ldd` on its executables.
52 This can also be done in `appimage-run`, by setting `APPIMAGE_DEBUG_EXEC=bash`.
53 - Running `strace -vfefile` on the wrapped executable, looking for libraries that can't be found.
54
55:::{.example #ex-wrapping-appimage-with-extrapkgs}
56
57# Wrapping an AppImage with extra packages
58
59```nix
60{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
61let
62 pname = "irccloud";
63 version = "0.16.0";
64
65 src = fetchurl {
66 url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
67 sha256 = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
68 };
69in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
70 inherit pname version src;
71 extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];
72}
73```
74
75:::
76
77## Extracting {#ssec-pkgs-appimageTools-extracting}
78
79Use `extract` if you need to extract the contents of an AppImage.
80This is usually used in Nixpkgs to install extra files in addition to [wrapping](#ssec-pkgs-appimageTools-wrapping) the AppImage.
81`extract` expects an argument with the `src` attribute, and either a `name` attribute or `pname` and `version` attributes.
82
83::: {.note}
84In the past, `appimageTools` provided both `extractType1` and `extractType2`, to be used depending on the type of AppImage that was being extracted.
85However, [those were unified early 2020](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/81572), meaning that both `extractType1` and `extractType2` have the same behaviour as `extract` now.
86:::
87
88:::{.example #ex-extracting-appimage}
89
90# Extracting an AppImage to install extra files
91
92This example was adapted from a real package in Nixpkgs to show how `extract` is usually used in combination with `wrapType2`.
93Note how `appimageContents` is used in `extraInstallCommands` to install additional files that were extracted from the AppImage.
94
95```nix
96{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
97let
98 pname = "irccloud";
99 version = "0.16.0";
100
101 src = fetchurl {
102 url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
103 sha256 = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
104 };
105
106 appimageContents = appimageTools.extract {
107 inherit pname version src;
108 };
109in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
110 inherit pname version src;
111
112 extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];
113
114 extraInstallCommands = ''
115 mv $out/bin/${pname}-${version} $out/bin/${pname}
116 install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/irccloud.desktop $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop
117 install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/usr/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png \
118 $out/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png
119 substituteInPlace $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop \
120 --replace 'Exec=AppRun' 'Exec=${pname}'
121 '';
122}
123```
124
125:::
126
127The argument passed to `extract` can also contain a `postExtract` attribute, which allows you to execute additional commands after the files are extracted from the AppImage.
128`postExtract` must be a string with commands to run.
129
130:::{.example #ex-extracting-appimage-with-postextract}
131
132# Extracting an AppImage to install extra files, using `postExtract`
133
134This is a rewrite of [](#ex-extracting-appimage) to use `postExtract`.
135
136```nix
137{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
138let
139 pname = "irccloud";
140 version = "0.16.0";
141
142 src = fetchurl {
143 url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
144 sha256 = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
145 };
146
147 appimageContents = appimageTools.extract {
148 inherit pname version src;
149 postExtract = ''
150 substituteInPlace $out/irccloud.desktop --replace 'Exec=AppRun' 'Exec=${pname}'
151 '';
152 };
153in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
154 inherit pname version src;
155
156 extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];
157
158 extraInstallCommands = ''
159 mv $out/bin/${pname}-${version} $out/bin/${pname}
160 install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/irccloud.desktop $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop
161 install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/usr/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png \
162 $out/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png
163 '';
164}
165```
166
167:::