this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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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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There must be a tool that allows you to build packages for multiple systems in multiple formats (deb, rpm, nix, flatpak, snap, etc.). Does that not exist? After 20 years of these systems existing, somebody must've tried...
Also, it's clear that once again, open source needs some kind of funding model, because it's a little crazy that a project like this can get so popular so fast, the dev flooded with praise, thanks, and issues but not money to maintain and develop it.
Anti Commercial-AI license
Long time ago I've tried making a makefile which packages as tarball, deb, rpm and appimage.
It's just a goofy attempt.
https://github.com/Bytezz/ultimate-makefile
Packaging an RPM in a makefile? That's inside-out.
Problem is that distro1 has req-lib2.5.3 while distro2 has req-lib2.7.8, but your project was developed on distro3 with req-lib2.9.5 so you have to deal with every distro having different lib versions and compatibility issues that come with it, not just different packaging formats.
And different names too. Debian and Fedora have different packages names, so req-lib on debian becomes req-devel on Fedora.
And since Arch is rolling release it's python-lib, not python3-lib. :)
Suse's open build system does this. It's just very enterprisy to me, so I haven't really used it myself
Given flatpaks and snaps are toxic, the other ones - deb, rpm, pkg - can be packaged relatively easily. It's all a separate effort with files and meta-info that doesn't often intersect, but it's manageable. It lends itself incredibly well to the trivial 'automation' that gitlab, forgejo and other major git suites provide.
Source: did this for the entirety I built and maintained a software suite for linux and unix, for like 15 years. I built some code, I packaged it. Because anything less isn't really ISO27002.
TL;DR - the 'tool' is a simple script and your brain. the biggest hurdle is the unknown itself and, once you get to it, the work can be pretty straightforward.