For direct access to the current specification in writing please go to current.md.
This repository holds the specification for the AppImage format. The objectives of this specification are to:
- Be a single, definitive source of information about the AppImage format
- Ensure AppImages behave in a consistent manner, thereby enabling third-party developers to write AppImage management applications and distributions to offer built-in support for AppImages
- Serve as a guide for appimagetool development
- Provide developers with a checklist for creating AppImages
- Enable a lintian-style application to be written to check AppImages for compliance with the standard (start here)
- Indicate the direction of the project and warn developers of future changes to the AppImage format
- Document the open nature of the AppImage format
appimagetool is becoming a reference implementation of building standards-compliant AppImages, and the some AppImages from pkg2appimage repository provides examples.
- Proposals are discussed via GitHub Issues
- Pull request can be sent for final approval by the maintainer, currently @probonopd
- The specification is to be kept as concise as possible and will not include any kind of explanation, justification or help with implementation (although it may link to that information)
- The specification itself will only include the "what", and not the "why" or "how"
- Detailed justifications and explanation can be preserved by linking to the discussion in the actual pull request
- General help on creating AppImages is not part of this specification but can be found in the AppImageKit wiki
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| README.md | Instructions for contributing |
| LICENSE | Copyright and license |
| current.md | Working document with proposed changes for the next specification release |