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GitHub Action

Flatpak Builder

v6.3 Latest version

Flatpak Builder

package

Flatpak Builder

Flatpak Applications Builder

Installation

Copy and paste the following snippet into your .yml file.

              

- name: Flatpak Builder

uses: flatpak/flatpak-github-actions@v6.3

Learn more about this action in flatpak/flatpak-github-actions

Choose a version

Flatpak GitHub Actions

Build and deploy your Flatpak application using GitHub Actions

Flatpak logo

CI

How to use

Building stage

Add a new workflow by creating a .yml file under .github/workflows with this content

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
name: CI
jobs:
  flatpak:
    name: "Flatpak"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-44
      options: --privileged
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: flatpak/flatpak-github-actions/flatpak-builder@v6
      with:
        bundle: palette.flatpak
        manifest-path: org.gnome.zbrown.Palette.yml
        cache-key: flatpak-builder-${{ github.sha }}

Inputs

Name Description Required Default
manifest-path The relative path of the manifest file Required -
stop-at-module Stop at the specified module, ignoring it and all the following ones. Using this option disables generating bundles. Optional Build all modules from the manifest file
bundle The bundle name Optional app.flatpak
build-bundle Whether to build a bundle or not Optional true
repository-name The repository name, used to fetch the runtime when the user download the Flatpak bundle or when building the application Optional flathub
repository-url The repository url, used to fetch the runtime when the user download the Flatpak bundle or when building the application Optional https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
run-tests Enable/Disable running tests. This overrides the flatpak-builder option of the same name, which invokes make check or ninja test. Network and X11 access is enabled, with a display server provided by xvfb-run. Optional false
branch The default flatpak branch Optional master
cache Enable/Disable caching .flatpak-builder directory Optional true
restore-cache Enable/Disable cache restoring. If caching is enabled. Optional true
cache-key Specifies the cache key. CPU arch is automatically added, so there is no need to add it to the cache key. Optional flatpak-builder-${sha256(manifestPath)}
arch Specifies the CPU architecture to build for Optional x86_64
mirror-screenshots-url Specifies the URL to mirror screenshots Optional -
gpg-sign The key to sign the package Optional -
verbose Enable verbosity Optional false
upload-artifact Whether to upload the resulting bundle or not as an artifact Optional true

Building for multiple CPU architectures

To build for CPU architectures other than x86_64, the GitHub Actions workflow has to either natively be running on that architecture (e.g. on an aarch64 self-hosted GitHub Actions runner), or the container used must be configured to emulate the requested architecture (e.g. with QEMU).

For example, to build a Flatpak for both x86_64 and aarch64 using emulation, use the following workflow as a guide:

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
name: CI
jobs:
  flatpak:
    name: "Flatpak"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-44
      options: --privileged
    strategy:
      matrix:
        arch: [x86_64, aarch64]
      # Don't fail the whole workflow if one architecture fails
      fail-fast: false
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    # Docker is required by the docker/setup-qemu-action which enables emulation
    - name: Install deps
      if: ${{ matrix.arch != 'x86_64' }}
      run: |
        dnf -y install docker
    - name: Set up QEMU
      if: ${{ matrix.arch != 'x86_64' }}
      id: qemu
      uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v2
      with:
        platforms: arm64
    - uses: flatpak/flatpak-github-actions/flatpak-builder@v6
      with:
        bundle: palette.flatpak
        manifest-path: org.gnome.zbrown.Palette.yml
        cache-key: flatpak-builder-${{ github.sha }}
        arch: ${{ matrix.arch }}

Building for Automated Tests

As described in the Inputs documentation, specifying run-tests: true will amend the Flatpak manifest to enable Network and X11 access automatically. Any other changes to the manifest must be made manually, such as building the tests (e.g. -Dtests=true) or any other options (e.g. --buildtype=debugoptimized).

Most developers will want to run tests on pull requests, before merging into the main branch of a repository. To ensure your manifest is building the correct code, you should set the sources entry for your project to "type": "dir" with the path key relative to the manifest's location in the repository.

In the example below, the manifest is located at /build-aux/flatpak/org.gnome.zbrown.Palette.json, so the path key is set to ../../. If the manifest were in the project root instead, the correct usage would be "path": "./".

{
    "app-id" : "org.gnome.zbrown.Palette",
    "runtime" : "org.gnome.Platform",
    "runtime-version" : "master",
    "sdk" : "org.gnome.Sdk",
    "command" : "org.gnome.zbrown.Palette",
    "finish-args" : [
        "--share=ipc",
        "--device=dri",
        "--socket=fallback-x11",
        "--socket=wayland"
    ],
    "modules" : [
        {
            "name" : "palette",
            "buildsystem" : "meson",
            "config-opts" : [
                "--prefix=/app",
                "--buildtype=debugoptimized",
                "-Dtests=true"
            ],
            "sources" : [
                {
                    "name" : "palette",
                    "buildsystem" : "meson",
                    "type" : "dir",
                    "path" : "../../"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Deployment stage

If you want to deploy the successfully built Flatpak application to a remote repository

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
name: Deploy
jobs:
  flatpak:
    name: "Flatpak"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-44
      options: --privileged
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: flatpak/flatpak-github-actions/flatpak-builder@v6
      name: "Build"
      with:
        bundle: palette.flatpak
        manifest-path: org.gnome.zbrown.Palette.yml
        cache-key: flatpak-builder-${{ github.sha }}
    - uses: flatpak/flatpak-github-actions/flat-manager@v6
      name: "Deploy"
      with:
        repository: elementary
        flat-manager-url: https://flatpak-api.elementary.io
        token: some_very_hidden_token
        end-of-life: "The application has been renamed to..."
        end-of-life-rebase: "org.zbrown.Palette"

Inputs

Name Description Required Default
repository The repository to push the build into Required -
flat-manager-url The flat-manager remote URL Required -
token A flat-manager token Required -
end-of-life Reason for end of life Optional -
end-of-life-rebase The new app-id Optional -
build-log-url URL to Flatpak build log Optional -
verbose Enable verbosity Optional false

Docker Image

The Docker image used for the action consists of 2 parts: The base image, based on Fedora and which can be found here, and the specific image of the runtime you choose, which is generated through this GitHub Actions workflow.

You can specify the specific runtime you need to use through the image tags:

Runtime Version Tag Example
Freedesktop SDK 20.08 freedesktop-20.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:freedesktop-20.08
Freedesktop SDK 21.08 freedesktop-21.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:freedesktop-21.08
Freedesktop SDK 22.08 freedesktop-22.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:freedesktop-22.08
Freedesktop SDK 23.08 freedesktop-23.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:freedesktop-23.08
GNOME 3.38 gnome-3.38 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-3.38
GNOME 40 gnome-40 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-40
GNOME 41 gnome-41 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-41
GNOME 42 gnome-42 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-42
GNOME 43 gnome-43 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-43
GNOME 44 gnome-44 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-44
GNOME 45 gnome-45 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-45
GNOME 46 gnome-46 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-46
GNOME master gnome-nightly image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:gnome-nightly
KDE 5.15 kde-5.15 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-5.15
KDE 5.15-21.08 kde-5.15-21.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-5.15-21.08
KDE 5.15-22.08 kde-5.15-22.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-5.15-22.08
KDE 5.15-23.08 kde-5.15-23.08 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-5.15-23.08
KDE 6.2 kde-6.2 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.2
KDE 6.3 kde-6.3 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.3
KDE 6.4 kde-6.4 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.4
KDE 6.5 kde-6.5 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.5
KDE 6.6 kde-6.6 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.6
KDE 6.7 kde-6.7 image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:kde-6.7
elementary BaseApp juno juno image: bilelmoussaoui/flatpak-github-actions:elementary-juno