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Matthew Barker edited this page Jul 27, 2026 · 8 revisions

Building

A3SQL has two build steps: the Rust extension (native DLL/SO) and the Arma 3 addon (PBO files via HEMTT).

Prerequisites

  • Rust 1.80+ (stable)
  • HEMTT 1.20+ — Arma addon build tool
  • CBA_A3 — for addon compilation (HEMTT dev dependencies)
  • UV (recommended) — Python tooling runner
  • Wine or Proton (optional) — for code signing on Linux (see Code Signing below)

Quick Build

# 1. Build the Rust extension
cargo build --release -p a3sql

# 2. Copy to Arma 3 directory
cp target/release/liba3sql.so "/path/to/Arma 3/@a3sql/a3sql_x64.so"
# or for Windows cross-compile:
cp target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/a3sql.dll "/path/to/Arma 3/@a3sql/a3sql_x64.dll"

# 3. Build addon PBOs
hemtt build

# 4. Result in .hemttout/build/

Cross-compilation

The extension targets 4 architectures via rust-toolchain.toml:

# Linux x86_64 (native)
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -p a3sql

# Linux 32-bit
cargo build --release --target i686-unknown-linux-gnu -p a3sql

# Windows x86_64 (MinGW cross)
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu -p a3sql

# Windows 32-bit
cargo build --release --target i686-pc-windows-gnu -p a3sql

Testing

cargo test -p a3sql            # 378+ tests
cargo clippy -p a3sql          # lint
cargo fmt --check             # formatting
hemtt check                   # SQF + config validation

Developer Tooling

Python tools (UV)

All development Python scripts are in tools/. Run with UV:

# Environment report
uv run python3 tools/setup.py --report

# SQF validation
uv run python3 tools/sqf_validator.py addons/

# Config style check
uv run python3 tools/config_style_checker.py

# Generate signing keys (requires Arma 3 Tools)
uv run python3 tools/setup.py --keys

Code Signing (BIKey)

A3SQL supports code signing via DSSignFile.exe (from Arma 3 Tools) running under Wine/Proton on Linux:

# Generate signing keys
uv run python3 tools/setup.py --keys
# Creates keys/a3sql.bikey + keys/a3sql.biprivatekey

# HEMTT signs automatically during `hemtt release`
# Config in .hemtt/project.toml → [hemtt.signing]

The signing key is configured in .hemtt/project.toml. On CI, use GitHub Secrets or an encrypted key file.

Steam Library Discovery

tools/proton.py automatically finds Arma 3 via Steam VDF (libraryfolders.vdf), including Wine prefix and workshop paths. Used by tools/setup.py for file patching symlink setup.

CI/CD

GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs on push/PR to main:

  1. validate — SQF syntax validation + config style check + HEMTT check + BOM check
  2. test — cargo test + clippy + rustfmt on ubuntu-latest
  3. build-linux — cross-compile for x86_64 and i686 Linux
  4. build-windows — cross-compile for x86_64 and i686 Windows (MinGW)
  5. build-addon — downloads all artifacts, runs hemtt build, outputs PBOs
  6. workshop — publish to Steam Workshop (on release)

On a release publish, it creates a3sql-release.zip with the full addon.

Standalone Server

The a3sql-server binary is part of the same workspace:

cargo run --bin a3sql-server -- --port 33307
cargo build --release --bin a3sql-server

Arma 3 Installation

Deploy the addon to your Arma 3 directory:

# Linux (native)
cp extension/target/release/a3sql_x64.so ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Arma\ 3/@a3sql/

# Windows (cross-compiled via MinGW)
cp target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/a3sql.dll "/path/to/Arma 3/@a3sql/a3sql_x64.dll"

The HEMTT-built PBOs go in the same @a3sql directory alongside the DLLs.

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