Difference between revisions of "Sugar Network/Recipe Specification"

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−
<noinclude>
+
== Summary ==
−
{{TOCright}}
 
−
[[Category:Activity Team]]
 
−
</noinclude>
 
  
−
Service publishing workflow is similar to activities. There is an info file, here ''service/service.info'', which describes current status(not history) of development process. All these fields, finally, go to feed file while publishing new version. Service.info file is an analog of scenario files in regular GNU/Linux distributions like .spec files in RPM.
+
The document describes software specification files format which is a superset on top of the Sugar [[Development_Team/Almanac/Activity_Bundles|activity bundles]] specification. This format is backwards compatible with [[Development_Team/Almanac/Activity_Bundles#.info_file_format|activity.info]] files to make sure that software starts well from the regular Sugar Shell. But the major purpose of introducing new format is supporting software hosted on the [[Sugar Network]]. In particular, new format assumes the following functionality:
  
−
== [Service] section ==
+
* Support binary based software;
 +
* Provide information about software dependencies;
 +
* Introduce stability levels to make it possible (for interested in people) to run development versions using the same, like for stable releases, distribution channel;
 +
* Distribute not only Sugar activities, e.g., software libraries;
 +
* Include all required information to make it possible to reuse the same spec file on different software evolution phases, like, making sources tarball, building binaries on Sugar Labs [[Platform_Team/Open_Build_Service|instance]] of the [http://openbuildservice.org/ Open Build Service], executing.
  
−
File ''service.info' should contain at least ''[Service]'' section:
+
The format is partially based on the [http://0install.net/ Zero Install] [http://0install.net/interface-spec.html specification] since implementation code reuses Zero Install library in order to launch software on users side.
  
−
* ''name'', the identity of service, this field defines name of feed's root directory on the server http://download.sugarlabs.org/services/ as well
+
== Spec file locations ==
−
* ''summary'', short descriptive line
 
−
* ''description'', long descriptive line, to wrap long text, all lines after second, should start with spaces<br>could be omited to reuse ''summary'' field
 
−
* ''license'', in 0install, typically a Trove category, as used on freshmeat.net, but could be [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing#Good_Licenses fedora names], since the rest of sugar uses them
 
−
* ''homepage'' web link to project home page
 
  
−
== [Runtime] section ==
+
There are two possible spec file locations (staring from the top directory of a distribution bundle):
  
−
This section describes parameters that should be taken into account only if service has 0install implementations(including source implementations) in contrast with [[Documentation Team/Services/Native packages usage|pure]] wrappers around native packages.
+
* {{Code|/activity/activity.info}}<br>for Sugar activities to make them capable to be launched from the regular Sugar Shell;
 +
* {{Code|/sweets.recipe}}<br>in the rest of cases.
  
−
Section contains:
+
== Configuration sections ==
  
−
* ''version'', used only for services with [[#Native_versions|native]] versioning scheme
+
As ''activity.info'' files, new format is based on [[wikipedia:INI_file|INI files]] and should contain at least one of the following sections.
−
* ''binding'', what environment variables, 0install should export to session which uses this service
 
−
binding = [prepend|append|replace] ''<variable-name>'' [''<insert-text-to-prepand-variable-value>''] [; ...]
 
−
* ''main'', for applications, path to exec file from service root directory
 
−
* ''requires'', for any arch and binary implementations, list of runtime services that should exist before using service
 
−
requires = <service-name> [<not-before-version>[-<before-version>]] [; ...]
 
−
* exec, command how to make bundle for ''dist'' command, ''0sugar'' will pick up newly created file in service root directory<br>Shell command, executed from service root directory. If this command starts to get complicated, you should move it to a script and just set this attribute to the command to run the script.<br>By default ''0sugar'' just bundle entirely service directory excluding temporary files.
 
−
exec = make distcheck
 
  
−
== [Library] section ==
+
=== Common options ===
  
−
Adds additional parameters if service is a library. Libraries should have plain ''version'' value and with ''age'' field, it will be used in [http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/Libtool-versioning.html#Libtool-versioning libtool] like style e.g. in [[#Autotools|autotools]] based projects.
+
Regardless of the software type, a recipe section (or one of them) should contain the following options.
  
−
Section contains:
+
<div id="context"></div>
  
−
* ''age'' libtool like age of version
+
'''context''' = ''GUID''
  
−
== [Buildtime] section ==
+
Required (but see the [[#.5BActivity.5D|[Activity]]] section). The value which uniquely identifies a software project this particular version implements. This is a Sugar Network [[Platform_Team/Sugar_Network/Objects_model|Context]] GUID.
  
−
File ''service.info'' could have optional ''[Buildtime]'' section which describes additional parameters that should be taken into account during other service(which uses this one) building i.e. it is an equivalent for *-dev(el) packages in GNU/Linux distributions.
+
<div id="name"></div>
  
−
Section contains:
+
'''name''' = ''NAME''
  
−
* ''requires'', additional dependencies that will be required during building other service which depends on this one
+
Optional. Free-form name. (It is equal to the ''implemented'', by default.)
  
−
* ''files'', list of files that will be included to buildtime.xml feed and won't be included to runtime.xml, format:
+
<div id="summary"></div>
−
files = <glob-mask> [; <glob-mask> ...]
 
  
−
* ''generate-documentation'', if set, documentation project will be created on [http://api.sugarlabs.org/services/], for now only ''epydoc'' value is supported
+
'''summary''' = ''ONE_LINE_TEXT''
  
−
== [Build] section ==
+
Required. Short descriptive line.
  
−
If service contains binary implementations, this section should present to describe building process.
+
<div id="description"></div>
  
−
Section contains:
+
'''description''' = ''MULTI_LINE_TEXT''
  
−
* ''requires'', what services should be installed before building this one from sources
+
Optional. Long descriptive text. To wrap long text, all lines starting from the second, should start with spaces. This field is equal to ''summary'' by default.
−
requires = <service-name> [<not-before-version>[-<before-version>]] [; ...]
 
  
−
* ''exec'', command how to build binaries<br>Its value is a shell command, executed inside the build directory $BUILDDIR. It must compile the source in $SRCDIR, putting the final result (ready for distribution) in $DISTDIR. If this command starts to get complicated, you should move it to a script (either inside the main source archive or in a separate dependency) and just set this attribute to the command to run the script.<br>'''NOTE''': This command will be executed not only in service developer environment but also on user side if proper binary wasn't found, so do not use here any development related commands like ''autogen.sh''<br>For example, followed command builds regular autotools based project
+
<div id="license"></div>
−
exec = "$SRCDIR"/configure --prefix="$DISTDIR" && make install
 
  
−
== Support several ABIs of service dependencies ==
+
'''license''' = ''LICENSE'' [; ...]
  
−
File ''service.info'' could contain other sections for various binary implementations. These sections are intended to describe particular dependencies environment and should contain only:
+
Required. Short license names. The licenses should conform with the [[Activity Library]] licensing [[Activity_Library/Editors/Policy/Licensing|policy]].
  
−
* ''requires'' that overwrite ''Service'''s section ''requires''
+
<div id="homepage"></div>
  
−
For example if service developer is going to add binary implementations for f9/f11, and the same service dependency in these distributions has different ABIs, activity developer has to build two additional binaries, for f9 and f11. In that case developer creates two sections ''F9'' and ''F11'', put exact dependency versions(to separate particular section from others) and invoke ''0sugar dist_bin <section-name>'' in proper f9/f11 environment.
+
'''homepage''' = ''URL''
 +
 
 +
Required. Software project home page.
 +
 
 +
<div id="icon"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''icon''' = ''FILENAME''
 +
 
 +
Optional (but see the [[#.5BActivity.5D|[Activity]]] section). Path to the icon file starting from the path where the recipe file is located.
 +
 
 +
<div id="tags"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''tags''' = ''TAG'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. Tags give more context by which to group the software. This is done to allow users to make search more easily.
 +
 
 +
<div id="version"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''version''' = ''VERSION''
 +
 
 +
Required. Current version of the software using [[#Version_numbers|special notation]]. Note, to make Sugar activity bundles compatible with pristine Sugar, use a limited format subset supported by the Sugar Shell.
 +
 
 +
<div id="stability"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''stability''' = ''LEVEL''
 +
 
 +
Required. Stability level of the current version. Values conform to the [[#Software_stability_levels|below list]].
 +
 
 +
<div id="requires"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''requires''' = ''DEPENDENCY'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. List of [[#Dependencies|dependencies]] that should exist at run-time before launching the release.
 +
 
 +
=== [Activity] ===
 +
 
 +
This section type should be present only in Sugar activities.
 +
 
 +
<div id="activity_version"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''activity_version''' = ''VERSION''
 +
 
 +
Required. An alias of the ''version'' option.
 +
 
 +
<div id="bundle_id"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''bundle_id''' = ''BUNDLE_ID''
 +
 
 +
Required. An alias of the ''context'' option.
 +
 
 +
<div id="icon"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''icon''' = ''FILENAME_WITHOUT_SUFFIX''
 +
 
 +
Required. Behaviour from {{Code|activity.info}} is supported (value should not have a {{Code|.svg}} suffix, and the icon file can be found only in the {{Code|activity}} subdirectory) and, while deprecated, it needs to be used to not break backwards compatibility. For the remaining cases, the regular ''icon'' behaviour should be used instead.
 +
 
 +
<div id="activity_exec"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''exec''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Required. Sugar will pass additional [[Development_Team/Low-level_Activity_API#Command_Line_Arguments| command line arguments]] to this command.
 +
 
 +
<div id="mime_types"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''mime_types''' = ''MIME_TYPE'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. List of mime types supported by the activity. It's used when opening a file from the web, or to present to the user a list of activities that can open a certain Journal object.
 +
 
 +
<!--
 +
=== [Application] ===
 +
 
 +
Application to run outside of Sugar Shell.
 +
 
 +
'''exec''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Required. The relative path of an executable command inside the implementation that should be executed by default when the sweet is run. Command can have optional arguments.
 +
 
 +
=== [Library] ===
 +
 
 +
'''binding''' = [prepend|append|replace] <variable-name> [<insert-text-to-prepend-variable-value>] [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Required. The environment variables 0install should export to the process that uses this sweet.
 +
-->
 +
=== [Archive] ===
 +
 
 +
This configuration section makes sense only while building binary distribution bundles from the sources. The section is optional for spec files that describe software assumed to be launched as-is, e.g., ''.xo'' bundles.
 +
 
 +
Each ''[Archive]'' section describes one particular binary bundle. There are might be several sections to define binaries for different cases:
 +
 
 +
* To save storage space or bandwidth when some bundles will contain any-arch data that are common for all platforms, and another bundle will contain binaries for a particular platform;
 +
* Per language bundles, e.g., for media content.
 +
 
 +
All archive sections are named:
 +
 
 +
Archive[:''SUBNAME'']
 +
 
 +
And contain the following options:
 +
 
 +
<div id="archive-include"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''include''' = ''GLOB'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. [[#Glob_patterns|Glob pattern]] for files to include in the archive. By default, all files are assumed.
 +
 
 +
<div id="archive-exclude"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''exclude''' = ''GLOB'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. Like the ''include'' option, but used for excluding files from the archive. In addition, various temporary files will be excluded, like ''.bak'' or ''.pyc''.
 +
<!-- Not yet implemented
 +
'''langs''' = <lang-name> [; ...]
 +
include[<lang-name>] = <glob-pattern> [; ...]
 +
exclude[<lang-name>] = <glob-pattern> [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. A special form of ''include''/''exclude'' options that are intended to create separate, per locale, archives. If a language is mentioned in the ''langs'' list, but doesn't have any ''include[]''/''exclude[]'' options, ''include''/''exclude'' will be used (in that case, using the special [[#Predefined_constants|LANG]] constant makes sense).-->
 +
 
 +
<div id="arch"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''arch''' = ''ARCH''
 +
 
 +
Optional. Makes sense only for binary archives, and can contain:
 +
 
 +
* ''all'' for noarch (by default),
 +
* ''any'' for binaries to use the current architecture.
 +
 
 +
=== [Build] ===
 +
 
 +
This section is required if software needs additional work in order to prepare a ready-to-use installation. It is important to use [[#Predefined_constants|predefined constants]] for options that contain shell commands. All shell commands will be executed from the {{Code|%(BUILDDIR)s}} directory.
 +
 
 +
'''NOTE''' The commands in this section will be executed, not only in the developer's environment, but also in the user's, if a proper binary wasn't found; so move all development-related commands, like {{Code|autogen.sh}}, to the ''[Source]'' section.
 +
 
 +
<div id="build-requires"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''requires''' = ''DEPENDENCY'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. This defines what [[#Dependencies|dependencies]] should be present before building the software from sources. Note that common ''requires'' option values are not auto included in the build-time dependencies.
 +
 
 +
<div id="clean"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''clean''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Optional. Cleanup build environment before running ''configure'' command.
 +
 
 +
<div id="configure"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''configure''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Optional. Shell command to configure sources before building, e.g., invoking the configure script in auto-tools-based projects. If the source code does not require a configuration stage, this option could be omitted.
 +
 
 +
<div id="build-make"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''make''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Optional. Shell command to make binaries from sources. If the source code does not require a making stage, this option could be omitted.
 +
 
 +
<div id="install"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''install''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Required. Shell command to place files that are ready for distribution into the {{Code|%(DESTDIR)s}} directory. If ''install'' is missing, the entire {{Code|%(BUILDDIR)s}} (excepting temporary files) will be copied.
 +
 
 +
=== [Source] ===
 +
 
 +
The section makes sense only while building sources bundles and is a replacement of former ''MANIFEST'' file in Sugar activity bundles.
 +
 
 +
<div id="source-exec"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''exec''' = ''SHELL_COMMAND''
 +
 
 +
Optional. Execute an external program to create sources tarball. Option might be used, e.g., to run {{Code|make dist}} command.
 +
 
 +
<div id="source-include"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''include''' = ''GLOB'' [; ...]
 +
'''exclude''' = ''GLOB'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. If the ''exec'' option was not used, all files will be bundled and these [[#Glob_patterns|glob patterns]] might be used to reify the selection.
 +
 
 +
<div id="source-requires"></div>
 +
 
 +
'''requires''' = ''DEPENDENCY'' [; ...]
 +
 
 +
Optional. The [[#Dependencies|dependencies]] that should be present before creating sources tarball. For example, if the ''exec'' command generates .c files from .vala, the vala dependency should be mentioned in the ''requires'' option.
 +
 
 +
=== Predefined constants ===
 +
 
 +
Constants defined within the ''[Build]'' section:
 +
 
 +
* ''BUILDDIR'' where the build happens, directory contains un-tarred sources bundle. This variable can be used in ''binding'' options as well. During the local build, it will point environment variables to the root of sources directory.
 +
* ''DESTDIR'' temporary path to place installed files before bundling them
 +
* ''PREFIX'' should be used as installation prefix path, e.g., for {{Code|./configure --prefix}}
 +
* ''CFLAGS'' default gcc CFLAGS
 +
* ''CXXFLAGS'' default gcc CXXFLAGS
 +
 
 +
In sections that contain a ''langs'' option:
 +
 
 +
* ''LANG'' current language while building per language implementation
 +
 
 +
== Version numbers ==
 +
 
 +
A version number string has the following form:
 +
 
 +
Version := DottedList ("-" Modifier? DottedList?)*
 +
DottedList := (Integer ("." Integer)*)
 +
Modifier := "pre" | "rc" | "post"
 +
 
 +
Numerically, the modifiers come in the order "-pre" (pre-release), "-rc" (release candidate), "-" (no modifier name), "-post" (post-release or patch level). Versions are ordered like this:
 +
 
 +
0.1
 +
1
 +
1.0
 +
1.2-pre
 +
1.2-pre1
 +
1.2-rc1
 +
1.2
 +
1.2-0
 +
1.2-post
 +
1.2-post1-pre
 +
1.2-post1
 +
1.2.1-pre
 +
1.2.1.4
 +
1.2.2
 +
1.2.10
 +
3
 +
 
 +
== Software stability levels ==
 +
 
 +
The spec file also gives a stability rating for each implementation. The following levels are allowed (must be lowercase in the feed files):
 +
 
 +
* ''stable'',
 +
* ''testing'',
 +
* ''developer'',
 +
* ''buggy'',
 +
* ''insecure''.
 +
 
 +
Stability ratings are expected to change over time. When any new release is made, its stability should be set to testing. Users who have selected Help test new versions will then start using it. Other users will continue with the previous stable release. After a while (days, weeks or months, depending on the project) with no serious problems found, the implementation's stability can be changed to stable so that everyone will use it.
 +
 
 +
If problems are found, it can instead be marked as ''buggy'', or ''insecure'' to avoid selecting these versions while launching on users side. ''developer'' is like a more extreme version of ''testing'', where the program is expected to have bugs.
 +
 
 +
When to use ''buggy''? Don't mark old releases as buggy every time you do a new release, just because a few bugs have been fixed. People who have selected network connectivity automatically pickup the new version anyway, so marking an older version as ''buggy'' only affects people who have explicitly stated that they don't want to use the latest version, but would prefer to use an older release to save network use.
 +
 
 +
== Dependencies ==
 +
 
 +
Dependencies might be used to declare software that the current release depends on.
 +
 
 +
The format of a dependency string is:
 +
 
 +
''DEPENDENCY'' [(<|<=|=|>=|>) ''VERSION'']
 +
 
 +
The ''DEPENDENCY'' value is a GUID associated with dependency project, i.e., ''context'' value from dependency spec file. In general, it might be any software Sugar Network [http://node.sugarlabs.org/context Context], but current implementation assumes only GNU/Linux [http://node.sugarlabs.org/context?type=package packages].
 +
 
 +
== Glob patterns ==
 +
 
 +
The ''include'' and ''exclude'' options contain file patterns. A pattern could be of two types:
 +
 
 +
* doesn't contain ''/'' or ''**'' substrings, will be applied only to file names
 +
* contains ''/'' or ''**'' substring, will be applied to the full file path (relative to the root), thus could affect several directory levels
 +
 
 +
Only these pattern symbols are allowed:
 +
 
 +
* ''*'' matches everything, except directory separator
 +
* ''?'' matches any single character, except directory separator
 +
* ''**'' matches everything, including directory separator

Latest revision as of 18:00, 3 July 2013

Summary

The document describes software specification files format which is a superset on top of the Sugar activity bundles specification. This format is backwards compatible with activity.info files to make sure that software starts well from the regular Sugar Shell. But the major purpose of introducing new format is supporting software hosted on the Sugar Network. In particular, new format assumes the following functionality:

  • Support binary based software;
  • Provide information about software dependencies;
  • Introduce stability levels to make it possible (for interested in people) to run development versions using the same, like for stable releases, distribution channel;
  • Distribute not only Sugar activities, e.g., software libraries;
  • Include all required information to make it possible to reuse the same spec file on different software evolution phases, like, making sources tarball, building binaries on Sugar Labs instance of the Open Build Service, executing.

The format is partially based on the Zero Install specification since implementation code reuses Zero Install library in order to launch software on users side.

Spec file locations

There are two possible spec file locations (staring from the top directory of a distribution bundle):

  • /activity/activity.info
    for Sugar activities to make them capable to be launched from the regular Sugar Shell;
  • /sweets.recipe
    in the rest of cases.

Configuration sections

As activity.info files, new format is based on INI files and should contain at least one of the following sections.

Common options

Regardless of the software type, a recipe section (or one of them) should contain the following options. 

context = GUID

Required (but see the [Activity] section). The value which uniquely identifies a software project this particular version implements. This is a Sugar Network Context GUID. 

name = NAME

Optional. Free-form name. (It is equal to the implemented, by default.) 

summary = ONE_LINE_TEXT

Required. Short descriptive line. 

description = MULTI_LINE_TEXT

Optional. Long descriptive text. To wrap long text, all lines starting from the second, should start with spaces. This field is equal to summary by default. 

license = LICENSE [; ...]

Required. Short license names. The licenses should conform with the Activity Library licensing policy. 

homepage = URL

Required. Software project home page. 

icon = FILENAME

Optional (but see the [Activity] section). Path to the icon file starting from the path where the recipe file is located. 

tags = TAG [; ...]

Optional. Tags give more context by which to group the software. This is done to allow users to make search more easily. 

version = VERSION

Required. Current version of the software using special notation. Note, to make Sugar activity bundles compatible with pristine Sugar, use a limited format subset supported by the Sugar Shell. 

stability = LEVEL

Required. Stability level of the current version. Values conform to the below list. 

requires = DEPENDENCY [; ...]

Optional. List of dependencies that should exist at run-time before launching the release.

[Activity]

This section type should be present only in Sugar activities. 

activity_version = VERSION

Required. An alias of the version option. 

bundle_id = BUNDLE_ID

Required. An alias of the context option. 

icon = FILENAME_WITHOUT_SUFFIX

Required. Behaviour from activity.info is supported (value should not have a .svg suffix, and the icon file can be found only in the activity subdirectory) and, while deprecated, it needs to be used to not break backwards compatibility. For the remaining cases, the regular icon behaviour should be used instead. 

exec = SHELL_COMMAND

Required. Sugar will pass additional command line arguments to this command. 

mime_types = MIME_TYPE [; ...]

Optional. List of mime types supported by the activity. It's used when opening a file from the web, or to present to the user a list of activities that can open a certain Journal object.

[Archive]

This configuration section makes sense only while building binary distribution bundles from the sources. The section is optional for spec files that describe software assumed to be launched as-is, e.g., .xo bundles.

Each [Archive] section describes one particular binary bundle. There are might be several sections to define binaries for different cases:

  • To save storage space or bandwidth when some bundles will contain any-arch data that are common for all platforms, and another bundle will contain binaries for a particular platform;
  • Per language bundles, e.g., for media content.

All archive sections are named: 

Archive[:SUBNAME]

And contain the following options: 

include = GLOB [; ...]

Optional. Glob pattern for files to include in the archive. By default, all files are assumed. 

exclude = GLOB [; ...]

Optional. Like the include option, but used for excluding files from the archive. In addition, various temporary files will be excluded, like .bak or .pyc. 

arch = ARCH

Optional. Makes sense only for binary archives, and can contain:

  • all for noarch (by default),
  • any for binaries to use the current architecture.

[Build]

This section is required if software needs additional work in order to prepare a ready-to-use installation. It is important to use predefined constants for options that contain shell commands. All shell commands will be executed from the %(BUILDDIR)s directory.

NOTE The commands in this section will be executed, not only in the developer's environment, but also in the user's, if a proper binary wasn't found; so move all development-related commands, like autogen.sh, to the [Source] section. 

requires = DEPENDENCY [; ...]

Optional. This defines what dependencies should be present before building the software from sources. Note that common requires option values are not auto included in the build-time dependencies. 

clean = SHELL_COMMAND

Optional. Cleanup build environment before running configure command. 

configure = SHELL_COMMAND

Optional. Shell command to configure sources before building, e.g., invoking the configure script in auto-tools-based projects. If the source code does not require a configuration stage, this option could be omitted. 

make = SHELL_COMMAND

Optional. Shell command to make binaries from sources. If the source code does not require a making stage, this option could be omitted. 

install = SHELL_COMMAND

Required. Shell command to place files that are ready for distribution into the %(DESTDIR)s directory. If install is missing, the entire %(BUILDDIR)s (excepting temporary files) will be copied.

[Source]

The section makes sense only while building sources bundles and is a replacement of former MANIFEST file in Sugar activity bundles. 

exec = SHELL_COMMAND

Optional. Execute an external program to create sources tarball. Option might be used, e.g., to run make dist command. 

include = GLOB [; ...]
exclude = GLOB [; ...]

Optional. If the exec option was not used, all files will be bundled and these glob patterns might be used to reify the selection. 

requires = DEPENDENCY [; ...]

Optional. The dependencies that should be present before creating sources tarball. For example, if the exec command generates .c files from .vala, the vala dependency should be mentioned in the requires option.

Predefined constants

Constants defined within the [Build] section:

  • BUILDDIR where the build happens, directory contains un-tarred sources bundle. This variable can be used in binding options as well. During the local build, it will point environment variables to the root of sources directory.
  • DESTDIR temporary path to place installed files before bundling them
  • PREFIX should be used as installation prefix path, e.g., for ./configure --prefix
  • CFLAGS default gcc CFLAGS
  • CXXFLAGS default gcc CXXFLAGS

In sections that contain a langs option:

  • LANG current language while building per language implementation

Version numbers

A version number string has the following form: 

Version := DottedList ("-" Modifier? DottedList?)*
DottedList := (Integer ("." Integer)*)
Modifier := "pre" | "rc" | "post"

Numerically, the modifiers come in the order "-pre" (pre-release), "-rc" (release candidate), "-" (no modifier name), "-post" (post-release or patch level). Versions are ordered like this: 

0.1
1
1.0
1.2-pre
1.2-pre1
1.2-rc1
1.2
1.2-0
1.2-post
1.2-post1-pre
1.2-post1
1.2.1-pre
1.2.1.4
1.2.2
1.2.10
3

Software stability levels

The spec file also gives a stability rating for each implementation. The following levels are allowed (must be lowercase in the feed files):

  • stable,
  • testing,
  • developer,
  • buggy,
  • insecure.

Stability ratings are expected to change over time. When any new release is made, its stability should be set to testing. Users who have selected Help test new versions will then start using it. Other users will continue with the previous stable release. After a while (days, weeks or months, depending on the project) with no serious problems found, the implementation's stability can be changed to stable so that everyone will use it.

If problems are found, it can instead be marked as buggy, or insecure to avoid selecting these versions while launching on users side. developer is like a more extreme version of testing, where the program is expected to have bugs.

When to use buggy? Don't mark old releases as buggy every time you do a new release, just because a few bugs have been fixed. People who have selected network connectivity automatically pickup the new version anyway, so marking an older version as buggy only affects people who have explicitly stated that they don't want to use the latest version, but would prefer to use an older release to save network use.

Dependencies

Dependencies might be used to declare software that the current release depends on.

The format of a dependency string is: 

DEPENDENCY [(<|<=|=|>=|>) VERSION]

The DEPENDENCY value is a GUID associated with dependency project, i.e., context value from dependency spec file. In general, it might be any software Sugar Network Context, but current implementation assumes only GNU/Linux packages.

Glob patterns

The include and exclude options contain file patterns. A pattern could be of two types:

  • doesn't contain / or ** substrings, will be applied only to file names
  • contains / or ** substring, will be applied to the full file path (relative to the root), thus could affect several directory levels

Only these pattern symbols are allowed:

  • * matches everything, except directory separator
  • ? matches any single character, except directory separator
  • ** matches everything, including directory separator
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