feat(release): publish a Linux .deb alongside the AppImage

[NaveDanan]

Problem

Linux is the only platform where T3 Code ships a single artifact. The AppImage works, but installing it leaves users without a desktop entry, an icon, dependency resolution, or any package manager integration unless they wire all of it up by hand. .deb covers the large majority of Linux desktop users and costs one extra packaging pass over an app we have already compiled.

What changed

Made --target deb actually work. scripts/build-desktop-artifact.ts already forwarded --target straight through to electron-builder, so deb looked supported. It was not: fpm aborts unless it can resolve a project homepage and a Name <email> maintainer, and the generated config set neither, because AppImage never needed them.

⨯ Please specify project homepage, see https://www.electron.build/configuration#metadata
  Please specify author 'email' in the application package.json
  It is required to set Linux .deb package maintainer.

Two fields fix it — homepage on the staged package.json and linux.maintainer, which becomes both the deb Maintainer and Vendor.

Release workflow builds and publishes it. A platform-gated step reruns packaging with --skip-build, reusing the app the AppImage step already compiled, then .deb is added to the collect and publish globs. This deliberately avoids a second Linux matrix leg, which would have duplicated a ~25 minute compile and collided on the desktop-linux-x64 and resource-monitor-linux-x64 artifact names.

Guarded the updater manifest. FpmTarget sets isWriteUpdateInfo: true, exactly like AppImageTarget, so the deb build overwrites latest-linux.yml. DesktopUpdates.ts refuses to install any Linux update unless the app is running from an AppImage, so an unguarded version of this change would publish a manifest pointing at a .deb the app rejects and silently break auto-update for every existing AppImage user. The workflow stashes the manifest and restores it after packaging.

Also adds vp run dist:desktop:linux:deb for local parity with dist:desktop:linux, and documents the artifact plus the update caveat.

Verification

Built end-to-end on Ubuntu 24.04 at v0.0.31:

Package: t3code          Architecture: amd64
Version: 0.0.31          Maintainer: pingdotgg <support@t3.codes>
Homepage: https://t3.codes
Depends: libgtk-3-0, libnotify4, libnss3, libxss1, libxtst6,
         xdg-utils, libatspi2.0-0, libuuid1, libsecret-1-0

• All 9 hicolor icon sizes present; packaged icon is pixel-identical to assets/prod/black-universal-1024.png.
• Valid desktop entry with StartupWMClass=t3code; postinst registers /usr/bin/t3code and handles chrome-sandbox permissions.
• Every declared dependency resolves on 24.04 (libgtk-3-0 and libatspi2.0-0 via the t64 packages that Provide them).
• New regression test fails if linux.maintainer is removed, so the build break cannot silently return.
• vp test run scripts/build-desktop-artifact.test.ts (31 passed), scripts typecheck, lint, and fmt:check all clean.
• Workflow shell logic simulated in isolation under set -euo pipefail, including the case where no manifest exists.

Notes for reviewers

The maintainer address needs your call. The repo has no packaging contact anywhere, so support@t3.codes is a placeholder derived from the site. It gets baked permanently into every published package — please replace it if there is a real address.

In-app updates are intentionally not enabled for deb. The .deb ships both app-update.yml and electron-builder's package-type marker, so electron-updater would select DebUpdater, but T3's own Linux gate blocks it first and deb users will see "Automatic updates on Linux require running the AppImage build." Turning that on means accepting a pkexec dpkg -i prompt per update and pointing the feed at the deb, which is a separate decision I did not make here. Most distro-packaged apps leave updates to the package manager.

Scope. .snap was built and verified alongside this but is deliberately excluded: it needs a Snap Store account, credentials, and manual review for classic confinement, which is a product decision rather than a packaging one. Happy to open it separately if wanted.

Per CONTRIBUTING.md I recognise this may not be something you want right now — close it freely if so.

Generated with claude-opus-5 running in opencode.

---

Note

Medium Risk
Release workflow changes affect Linux updater metadata and published assets; incorrect manifest handling could break AppImage auto-update, though the backup/restore step mitigates that. Maintainer email is baked into every deb package.

Overview
Adds a Linux .deb to release artifacts so Debian/Ubuntu users can install via the package manager, while in-app auto-update stays AppImage-only.

The desktop packager now supplies homepage and linux.maintainer (fpm requirements for deb) on the staged package.json and Linux build config, plus a dist:desktop:linux:deb script and a regression test so deb builds cannot break silently.

The release workflow runs a second Linux packaging pass with --skip-build after the AppImage step, backs up and restores *-linux*.yml updater manifests (deb packaging would overwrite them with .deb metadata the app refuses to install), and includes .deb in collect/publish globs. Docs note the deb vs AppImage update behavior.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit a37813e. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Publish a Linux .deb package alongside the AppImage in release builds

• Adds a new build step in release.yml that runs dist:desktop:artifact with --target deb after the AppImage is built, stashing and restoring the AppImage update manifest so it isn't overwritten by the .deb build.
• Adds maintainer and homepage metadata to the Linux build config in build-desktop-artifact.ts, which are required by electron-builder's fpm-backed targets like .deb.
• Adds a dist:desktop:linux:deb npm script in package.json for local builds.
• Behavioral Change: in-app updates are disabled when running from the .deb package; only the AppImage supports update delivery.

^{Macroscope summarized a37813e.}

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved a37813e

This PR adds .deb packaging to the Linux release workflow without modifying runtime behavior. Changes are additive CI/CD configuration with proper manifest handling to preserve AppImage updates, appropriate constants for fpm requirements, and test coverage.

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[masterflitzer]

you can just use gear lever to manage appimages, it has desktop integration & supports auto update: https://github.com/mijorus/gearlever