Support for Arch Linux-based distros

[Amine-Kadi]

Firezone would be very useful for Arch Linux based distribution as they are widely used for both desktop and server cases.

A package in the AUR could be accessible for :

• Arch Linux
• Manjaro
• EndeavourOS
• Garuda

Links are distrowatch pages and ranks.

[jamilbk]

Hi @Amine-Kadi! Thanks for the request.

This is going to require some effort. We bundle all our dependencies into the final distributable .deb or .rpm using Chef Omnibus. All our dependencies (even down to openssl and wireguard-tools) are essentially version-locked, built, and packaged into the final product. On top of that, we rely on Chef-solo for configuration management.

This is a tradeoff -- it saves us time having to maintain separate package build scripts for each distro/version of Linux we support, and it helps ensure that Firezone is running in a consistent environment. The downsides are obviously that some distros aren't easily supported, and our package size is fairly large.

We're hoping to make this more flexible in the future! If you wanted to start investigating what would be required to build an Arch-native package, you could start checking the top-level dependencies that Firezone relies on here: https://github.com/firezone/firezone/blob/master/omnibus/config/projects/firezone.rb#L36

[Amine-Kadi]

I'm not familiar with Chef Omnibus but I understand the pros and the cons!
I'll try to figure out how it works and see what's required to build an arch-native package. I'll keep you informed.

[adRn-s]

I have seen examples of AUR packages that bring DEB or RPM to Arch. Also, there is this tool: alien_package_converter in AUR that helps with this task. Last, if you feel up to the task, and firez.one developer(s) agree, omnibus could be replaced with pacur. Good Luck!

[jamilbk]

I expect to Arch Linux fans to throw a few tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but the most feasible way to do this now is with Docker.

We also now have build from source instructions that can be used as a basis for building an AUR package. Closing for now in an effort to clean up the ol' backlog.