Electron Builder/Forge support for Electron-based projects

[lbssousa]

Currently quasar-cli already provides a well known electron-packager integration to bundle Electron-based applications in an executable format. I wonder if this project could get a step further and integrate electron-builder/electron-forge as well, providing so a complete solution for packaging apps in a distributable format (Windows installer, macOS dmg, Linux DEB/RPM/AppImage/Snap/Flatpak, etc.).

Both projects provide an API so they could be integrated into quasar-cli. Note, however, that both support different targets:

• electron-builder supports:
  • all platforms: 7z, zip, tar.xz, tar.7z, tar.lz, tar.gz, tar.bz2)
  • macOS: dmg, pkg, mas (macOS)
  • Linux: AppImage, snap, deb, rpm
  • Windows: nsis (Installer), nsis-web (Web installer), portable (portable app without installation), AppX (Windows Store), MSI, Squirrel.Windows
• electron-forge supports:
  • all platforms: zip
  • macOS: dmg
  • Linux: flatpak, deb, rpm (AppImage and snap available via electron-builder plugin)
  • Windows: AppX, Squirrel.Windows (nsis and nsis-web available via electron-builder plugin)

[rstoenescu]

Hi,

Will take this into consideration. Accepting PRs if anyone wants to take a shot and speed up the process.

[lbssousa]

@develar, @malept, could you help here?

[malept]

I would look at ember-electron to see how they accomplished integrating Electron Forge into the Ember CLI.

[develar]

As far I see, it is very easy, just several lines (

quasar-cli/lib/electron/index.js

Line 114 in 5cf2b99

log(`Packaging app with Electron packager...`)

). You can ever continue to use electron-packager, as electron-builder supports electron-packager (https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder#pack-only-in-a-distributable-format).

[lbssousa]

I've drafted an initial support for electron-builder under quasar-cli, but I didn't test it yet. I'll submit a PR so you can comment the changes there.

I've tried to do it in such a way that it won't break current electron-packager support in quasar-cli, but since electron-builder already handles electron-packager under the hoods, I think it's worth to deprecate "low-level" electron-packager support in quasar-cli once electron-builder support is successfully integrated.

[lbssousa]

@rstoenescu I believe my PR is ready for review. I'm currently unable to test it under Windows/macOS targets, but I've successfully built a test project with electron-builder under Linux.

[lbssousa]

Would it be OK if I replace completely electron-packager interface with new electron-builder one in my PR right now? Or it's better to leave it as is, and schedule an eventual electron-packager interface deprecation?

[rstoenescu]

Eliminating electron-packager would be a huge breaking change.

Currently pondering on a system to allow Quasar CLI plugins, so developers can choose which tools they want to use. This could be a good first plugin.
What I really care about is not adding unnecessary deps into an app. So the starter kit should ask "do you like to use electron-packager or electron-builder?" and save this info somewhere. The plugin system should also allow a switch later down the road if necessary.
I'm thinking of a plugin architecture. Will keep you posted. Feel free to connect with me on Discord to speed things up.

Thanks for your hard work!

[rstoenescu]

Electron-builder option available in next release (CLI v0.16).