Summary

Add automated VFS (SQLite loadable extension) builds to Litestream releases for:

• linux/amd64
• linux/arm64
• darwin/amd64
• darwin/arm64

Background

The VFS extension allows read-only access to Litestream replicas directly from SQLite. Currently, users must build it manually. Adding automated release builds will make this feature more accessible.

Why GoReleaser Won't Work

The VFS build requires a two-stage process:

1. Go builds a C archive (-buildmode=c-archive)
2. GCC/clang links the archive into a shared library (.so/.dylib)

GoReleaser cannot orchestrate this multi-step build, and cross-compiling CGO for macOS from Linux requires the macOS SDK which isn't available.

Proposed Approach

Add a new vfs-build job to release.yml using a matrix strategy:

The VFS jobs will:

1. Wait for GoReleaser to complete (needs: goreleaser)
2. Build VFS extensions using Makefile targets
3. Upload artifacts to the existing release via gh release upload

Artifact Naming

litestream-vfs-{version}-{os}-{arch}.tar.gz

Contents:

• Linux: litestream-vfs-linux-{arch}.so
• macOS: litestream-vfs-darwin-{arch}.dylib

Files to Modify

1. Makefile - Add VFS build targets for each platform
2. .github/workflows/release.yml - Add vfs-build-linux and vfs-build-darwin jobs
3. .goreleaser.yml - Update release notes template

Release Result

Single release containing all artifacts:

v0.x.x Release
├── litestream-v0.x.x-linux-amd64.tar.gz      (GoReleaser)
├── litestream-v0.x.x-darwin-arm64.tar.gz     (GoReleaser)
├── litestream_0.x.x_amd64.deb                (GoReleaser)
├── checksums.txt                              (GoReleaser)
├── litestream-vfs-v0.x.x-linux-amd64.tar.gz  (VFS job)
├── litestream-vfs-v0.x.x-linux-arm64.tar.gz  (VFS job)
├── litestream-vfs-v0.x.x-darwin-amd64.tar.gz (VFS job)
└── litestream-vfs-v0.x.x-darwin-arm64.tar.gz (VFS job)

References

• Bytebase: CGO Cross-Compilation
• GitHub Actions ARM Runners