Packaging Tauri Applications for Linux
Critical Build Requirement
glibc Compatibility: Build on the oldest base system you intend to support (e.g., Ubuntu 18.04 rather than 22.04). Use Docker or GitHub Actions for reproducible builds.
Format Overview
Format Use Case Auto-Update Installation
AppImage Universal, portable Manual Run directly
Debian Debian/Ubuntu Via repos dpkg -i
RPM Fedora/RHEL/openSUSE Via repos rpm -i
Flatpak Sandboxed, Flathub Built-in flatpak install
Snap Ubuntu Store Built-in snap install
AUR Arch Linux Via helpers makepkg -si
AppImage
Self-contained executable bundles requiring no installation.
{ "bundle": { "linux": { "appimage": { "bundleMediaFramework": true, "files": { "/usr/share/README.md": "../README.md" } } } } }
Option Description
bundleMediaFramework
Include GStreamer (increases size, licensing concerns with ugly plugins)
files
Additional files (paths must start with /usr/ )
npm run tauri build -- --bundles appimage
ARM: No cross-compilation support. Use GitHub ubuntu-22.04-arm runners.
Debian Packages (.deb)
{ "bundle": { "linux": { "deb": { "depends": ["libssl3", "libasound2"], "files": { "/usr/share/doc/myapp/README": "../README.md" }, "section": "utils", "priority": "optional" } } } }
Default dependencies: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 , libgtk-3-0 , libappindicator3-1 (if tray used).
npm run tauri build -- --bundles deb
ARM Cross-Compilation
ARM64
rustup target add aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu sudo apt install gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu
.cargo/config.toml :
[target.aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu] linker = "aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc"
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR=/usr/aarch64-linux-gnu cargo tauri build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
RPM Packages
{ "bundle": { "linux": { "rpm": { "depends": ["openssl"], "conflicts": ["oldapp"], "obsoletes": ["legacyapp < 2.0"], "provides": ["myapp-bin"], "license": "MIT", "preInstallScript": "scripts/pre-install.sh", "postInstallScript": "scripts/post-install.sh" } } } }
Scripts receive: 1 (install), 2 (upgrade), 0 (uninstall).
npm run tauri build -- --bundles rpm
Signing
gpg --gen-key && gpg --export-secret-keys --armor > private.key export TAURI_SIGNING_RPM_KEY=$(cat private.key) export TAURI_SIGNING_RPM_KEY_PASSPHRASE="passphrase"
Debug Commands
rpm -qip pkg.rpm # Info rpm -qlp pkg.rpm # Files rpm -qp --scripts pkg.rpm # Scripts rpm -Kv pkg.rpm # Verify signature
Flatpak
Prerequisites
sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder # Ubuntu/Debian flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Platform//46 org.gnome.Sdk//46
Manifest (flatpak-builder.yaml)
id: com.example.myapp runtime: org.gnome.Platform runtime-version: '46' sdk: org.gnome.Sdk command: myapp
finish-args:
- --socket=wayland
- --socket=fallback-x11
- --device=dri
- --share=ipc
- --share=network
- --talk-name=org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher
- --filesystem=xdg-run/tray-icon:create
modules:
- name: binary
buildsystem: simple
sources:
- type: file path: flatpak.metainfo.xml
- type: file url: https://github.com/user/repo/releases/download/v1.0.0/myapp_1.0.0_amd64.deb sha256: <hash> only-arches: [x86_64] build-commands:
- mkdir deb-extract && ar -x *.deb --output deb-extract
- tar -C deb-extract -xf deb-extract/data.tar.gz
- install -Dm755 deb-extract/usr/bin/myapp /app/bin/myapp
- sed -i 's/^Icon=.*/Icon=com.example.myapp/' deb-extract/usr/share/applications/myapp.desktop
- install -Dm644 deb-extract/usr/share/applications/myapp.desktop /app/share/applications/com.example.myapp.desktop
- install -Dm644 deb-extract/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/myapp.png /app/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/com.example.myapp.png
- install -Dm644 flatpak.metainfo.xml /app/share/metainfo/com.example.myapp.metainfo.xml
MetaInfo (flatpak.metainfo.xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <component type="desktop-application"> <id>com.example.myapp</id> <name>My App</name> <summary>Short description</summary> <metadata_license>CC0-1.0</metadata_license> <project_license>MIT</project_license> <description><p>Longer description.</p></description> <launchable type="desktop-id">com.example.myapp.desktop</launchable> <url type="homepage">https://example.com</url> <releases><release version="1.0.0" date="2025-01-01"/></releases> </component>
Build and Test
flatpak-builder --force-clean --user --install flatpak flatpak-builder.yaml flatpak run com.example.myapp
Tray Icon Fix
TrayIconBuilder::new() .icon(app.default_window_icon().unwrap().clone()) .temp_dir_path(app.path().app_cache_dir().unwrap()) .build().unwrap();
Flathub Submission
-
Create branch from new-pr , add manifest
-
Open PR, address feedback, receive repo access
Snap Packages
Prerequisites
sudo apt install snapd sudo snap install core22 sudo snap install snapcraft --classic
Register app at https://snapcraft.io
snapcraft.yaml
name: myapp base: core22 version: '1.0.0' summary: Short description (max 79 chars) description: Longer description. grade: stable confinement: strict
layout: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webkit2gtk-4.1: bind: $SNAP/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webkit2gtk-4.1
apps: myapp: command: usr/bin/myapp desktop: usr/share/applications/myapp.desktop extensions: [gnome] plugs: [home, network, audio-playback, desktop, wayland, x11, opengl]
parts: myapp: plugin: nil source: . build-packages: [nodejs, npm, curl, libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev, libssl-dev, libayatana-appindicator3-dev] stage-packages: [libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, libayatana-appindicator3-1] override-build: | curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y . "$HOME/.cargo/env" npm install && npm run tauri build -- --bundles deb mkdir -p deb-extract && ar -x src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/*.deb --output deb-extract tar -C deb-extract -xf deb-extract/data.tar.gz cp -r deb-extract/usr $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/
Build and Publish
sudo snapcraft snap run myapp snapcraft login && snapcraft upload --release=stable myapp_1.0.0_amd64.snap
AUR (Arch User Repository)
Setup
Create account at https://aur.archlinux.org, configure SSH
git clone ssh://aur@aur.archlinux.org/myapp.git
PKGBUILD (Binary)
pkgname=myapp pkgver=1.0.0 pkgrel=1 pkgdesc="Description" arch=('x86_64' 'aarch64') url="https://github.com/user/myapp" license=('MIT') depends=('cairo' 'desktop-file-utils' 'gdk-pixbuf2' 'glib2' 'gtk3' 'hicolor-icon-theme' 'libsoup' 'pango' 'webkit2gtk-4.1') source_x86_64=("$pkgname-$pkgver.deb::https://github.com/user/myapp/releases/download/v$pkgver/myapp_${pkgver}_amd64.deb") sha256sums_x86_64=('SKIP')
package() { tar -xf data.tar.gz -C "$pkgdir"; }
PKGBUILD (Source)
pkgname=myapp pkgver=1.0.0 pkgrel=1 pkgdesc="Description" arch=('x86_64') url="https://github.com/user/myapp" license=('MIT') makedepends=('cargo' 'nodejs' 'npm' 'webkit2gtk-4.1' 'base-devel' 'openssl' 'libappindicator-gtk3') depends=('cairo' 'desktop-file-utils' 'gdk-pixbuf2' 'glib2' 'gtk3' 'hicolor-icon-theme' 'libsoup' 'pango' 'webkit2gtk-4.1') source=("$pkgname-$pkgver.tar.gz::https://github.com/user/myapp/archive/v$pkgver.tar.gz") sha256sums=('SKIP')
build() { cd "$pkgname-$pkgver" && npm install && npm run tauri build -- --bundles deb; } package() { cd "$pkgname-$pkgver" && tar -xf src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/*.deb && tar -xf data.tar.gz -C "$pkgdir"; }
Install Script (myapp.install)
post_install() { update-desktop-database -q; gtk-update-icon-cache -q -t -f usr/share/icons/hicolor; } post_upgrade() { post_install; } post_remove() { post_install; }
Submit
makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO makepkg -si # Test git add PKGBUILD .SRCINFO myapp.install && git commit -m "myapp 1.0.0" && git push
Environment Variables
GUI apps don't inherit $PATH . Use fix-path-env-rs :
[dependencies] fix-path-env = "0.1"
fn main() { fix_path_env::fix(); tauri::Builder::default().run(tauri::generate_context!()).expect("error"); }
GitHub Actions Example
name: Build Linux on: [push] jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-22.04 steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - run: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev - uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: { node-version: 20 } - uses: dtolnay/rust-action@stable - run: npm install && npm run tauri build -- --bundles deb,rpm,appimage - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4 with: name: linux-bundles path: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/**/*