GitHub Actions CI and build_fpc.sh - cross-platform build script

[zen010101]

Summary

• Add GitHub Actions workflow for automated builds on 6 platforms
• Add build_fpc.sh script for FPC direct builds (no lazbuild dependency)
• All platforms build and test successfully

Supported Platforms

Platform	Runner	Build	Tests
x86_64-linux	ubuntu-latest	pass	pass
aarch64-linux	ubuntu-24.04-arm	pass	pass
x86_64-darwin	macos-15-intel	pass	pass
aarch64-darwin	macos-latest	pass	pass
x86_64-win64	windows-latest	pass	pass
i386-win32	windows-latest	pass	pass

Features

• Native builds on all platforms (no cross-compilation)
• Windows uses FPC OOTB (portable, no installation)
• Automatic releases with SHA256 checksums on version tags
• Combined artifact package for all platforms

Test plan

• All 6 platform builds succeed
• Tests pass on all platforms
• Artifacts uploaded correctly

[zen010101]

Usage Guide

Automatic Builds

The workflow runs automatically on:

• Every push to trunk or main branch
• Every pull request targeting trunk or main

No manual action needed - just push code and CI will build & test.

Creating a Release with Binaries

To create a release with pre-built binaries for all 6 platforms:

# 1. Tag the commit with a version number (must start with 'v')
git tag v1.0.0

# 2. Push the tag
git push origin v1.0.0

That's it! GitHub Actions will automatically:

1. Build pasls for all 6 platforms
2. Run tests on each platform
3. Create a GitHub Release with:
   • pasls-x86_64-linux.tar.gz
   • pasls-aarch64-linux.tar.gz
   • pasls-x86_64-darwin.tar.gz
   • pasls-aarch64-darwin.tar.gz
   • pasls-x86_64-win64.zip
   • pasls-i386-win32.zip
   • checksums.sha256

Manual Trigger (Optional)

You can also trigger builds manually:

1. Go to Actions tab
2. Select Build pasls workflow
3. Click Run workflow

Viewing Build Status

• Green checkmark = all builds passed
• Red X = something failed (click to see logs)
• Build artifacts are available for 90 days under each workflow run

[genericptr]

@mvancanneyt Do you have anything to say about this? I've never used GitHub actions myself and I haven't been keeping up with the tests.

My only concern about this what happens when you commit regressions. I'd think we want to choose proper release versions so we can choose which commit is safe to use.

[mvancanneyt]

I looked at it, it's OK.

If you look at line 173, you'll see that a release build is done only when a tag is created, so it is perfectly safe.
As long as you don't make such a tag, no release is built.

Build artifacts are available when you manually trigger a build, which means that a user can easily download a 'trial' version from such a successful build.

[zen010101]

@genericptr Has this PR been reviewed? Is there still a possibility of merging it?

[genericptr]

Sorry I've been busy with work this week. Michael says this is ok and I have no idea myself so let's just try it and see how it goes. Thanks.