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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Testing packaging which targets multiple distributions? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I am working on creating deb/rpm packages for an OSS tool I use. So far, I have been manually testing each deb/rpm in a virtualbox live cd version of that OS but it's tedious to do that for every release. This is a GUI tool, I basically just need to confirm that the apt install goes correctly and the program can actually launch. There is a systemd service associated with it I'd also like to check the existence/status of. In the future, we may make a flatpak as well.

Are there any tools to automate this process? Or maybe if it can't test the GUI functionality it can at least install and take a screenshot and I can review the screenshot?

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago

This kind of integration testing is best left up to the individual distros. Same as the integration (as in: packaging) itself.

Distros don't want your binary package, they want your source code, build instructions and a build system that won't make them cry. Some distros even explicitly disallow re-packaging external binary distributions.

As a distro maintainer, I appreciate your wish to do QA on all the distros but that's just too much work. You focus on making your software better, we focus on making it work with the rest of the software ecosystem.

Providing a package for one or two distros (i.e. your favourite one) is good practice to ensure your software can be reasonably packaged but it's not the primary way your users should receive your package in the traditional Linux distro model.
Additionally, you might want to package your software for one of the cross-distro package managers such as Flatpak, AppImage, Snap, Nix, Guix, distri or homebrew. This can serve distro maintainers as a point of reference; showing how it is intended to work so they can compare their packaging effort. If there's some bug present in the distro package but not the cross-distro package, that's a good sign the issue lies in the distro packaging for example.
Again, don't put much time in this. Focus on your app.