CLR package guidelines: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:08, 5 October 2023

Arch package guidelines

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This document defines the standard for packaging Common Language Runtime (.NET) projects under Arch Linux. Currently only Mono is capable of providing a usable, efficient CLR runtime for multiple systems and this standard will reflect its use. Be aware that a lot of CLR programs were developed with Microsoft .NET in mind and, as such, may or may not run under Mono because of .NET-exclusive factors such as P/Invoke calls and Microsoft digital rights management (DRM) APIs and are thus will not yield a usable package for Arch Linux. However, if combined with Wine as of version 1.5.6 (?), your package may have a chance to run under it. Please see the Wine PKGBUILD Guidelines for more information if such is the case.

Packaging gotchas

Always add mono to depends
Always set arch to any. Mono does not yet support compiling (running?) 64-bit assemblies.
Always add !strip to options
If the package is a library (DLL), consider installing it to Mono's global assembly cache (GAC) if it is to be used as a dependency.
If the assembly is precompiled and comes with a program debug database file (Foo.dll.pdb), consider converting it as such: pdb2mdb Foo.dll
If the package is meant to be executed (EXE), be sure to install to /usr/bin a shell script to run it, similar to this one:

#!/bin/sh
exec mono foo.exe "$@"

Signed assemblies

If the package is to be installed into the GAC, be sure it has a signed key file. If not, you can generate one like this: sn -k 1024 Foo.snk. Following that, the easiest way to embed the key file into the assembly is to disassemble it like this: monodis Foo.dll --output=Foo.il. Afterwards, reassemble it like so: ilasm /dll /key:Foo.snk Foo.il

Sample PKGBUILDs

The following examples will try to cover some of the most common conventions and build systems.

xbuild

Unsigned DLL

# Maintainer: yourname <yourmail>
pkgname=foo
pkgver=1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="Fantabulous library for .Net"
arch=('any')
url="http://www.foo.bar"
license=('GPL')
depends=('mono')
options=('!strip')
source=("http://www.foo.bar/foobar.tar.gz")
md5sums=('4736ac4f34fd9a41fa0197eac23bbc24')

build() {
  cd "${srcdir}/foobar"

  xbuild Foo.sln

  # if the package is unsigned, do the following:
  cd "/bin/x86/Debug"
  monodis Foo.dll --output=Foo.il
  sn -k 1024 Foo.snk
  ilasm /dll /key:Foo.snk Foo.il
}

package() {
  cd "${srcdir}/foobar/bin/x86/Debug"

  install -Dm644 Foo.dll "$pkgdir/usr/lib/foobar/Foo.dll"
  install -Dm644 Foo.dll.mdb "$pkgdir/usr/lib/foobar/Foo.dll.mdb"
  
  # Register assembly into Mono's GAC
  gacutil -i Foo.dll -root "$pkgdir/usr/lib"
}

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 * If the assembly is precompiled and comes with a program debug database file (Foo.dll.pdb), consider converting it as such: {{ic|pdb2mdb Foo.dll}}
 * If the package is meant to be executed (EXE), be sure to install to {{ic|/usr/bin}} a shell script to run it, similar to this one:
   #!/bin/sh
-  mono foo.exe "$@"
+  exec mono foo.exe "$@"
 === Signed assemblies ===
@@ Line 25: / Line 26: @@
 == Sample PKGBUILDs ==
 The following examples will try to cover some of the most common conventions and build systems.
 === xbuild ===