|
| 1 | +Snapcraft can be used to package and distribute Go applications in a way that |
| 2 | +enables convenient installation by users. |
| 3 | + |
| 4 | +This is the work I needed to do. |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +more changes§ |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +Even more changes |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +The process of creating a snap for a Go application builds on standard |
| 11 | +Go packaging tools, making it possible to adapt or integrate an |
| 12 | +application's existing packaging into the snap building process. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Getting started |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +Snaps are defined in a single `snapcraft.yaml` file placed in a |
| 17 | +`snap` folder at the root of your project. This YAML file describes |
| 18 | +the application, its dependencies and how it should be built. |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +The following example shows the entire `snapcraft.yaml` file for an existing project, [Woke](https://github.com/degville/woke-snap): |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +```yaml |
| 23 | +name: woke |
| 24 | +summary: Detect non-inclusive language in your source code |
| 25 | +description: | |
| 26 | + Creating an inclusive work environment is imperative to a healthy, |
| 27 | + supportive, and productive culture, and an environment where everyone |
| 28 | + feels welcome and included. woke is a text file analysis tool that finds |
| 29 | + places within your source code that contain non-inclusive language and |
| 30 | + suggests replacing them with more inclusive alternatives. |
| 31 | +version: git |
| 32 | +grade: stable |
| 33 | +base: core20 |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +confinement: devmode |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +apps: |
| 38 | + woke: |
| 39 | + command: bin/woke |
| 40 | + plugs: |
| 41 | + - home |
| 42 | +parts: |
| 43 | + woke: |
| 44 | + plugin: go |
| 45 | + source-type: git |
| 46 | + source: https://github.com/get-woke/woke |
| 47 | +``` |
| 48 | +
|
| 49 | +We'll break this file down into its components in the following sections. |
| 50 | +
|
| 51 | +### Metadata |
| 52 | +
|
| 53 | +The `snapcraft.yaml` file starts with a small amount of |
| 54 | +human-readable metadata, which is often already available in the project's |
| 55 | +own packaging metadata or `README.md` file. This data is used in the |
| 56 | +presentation of the application in the Snap Store. |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +```yaml |
| 59 | +name: woke |
| 60 | +summary: Detect non-inclusive language in your source code |
| 61 | +description: | |
| 62 | + Creating an inclusive work environment is imperative to a healthy, |
| 63 | + supportive, and productive culture, and an environment where everyone |
| 64 | + feels welcome and included. woke is a text file analysis tool that finds |
| 65 | + places within your source code that contain non-inclusive language and |
| 66 | + suggests replacing them with more inclusive alternatives. |
| 67 | +version: git |
| 68 | +``` |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +The `name` must be unique in the Snap Store. Valid snap names consist of lower-case alphanumeric characters and hyphens. They cannot be all numbers and they also cannot start or end with a hyphen. |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | +By specifying `git` for the version, the current git tag or commit will be used as the version string. Versions carry no semantic meaning in snaps. |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | +The `summary` can not exceed 79 characters. You can use a chevron '>' in the `description` key to declare a multi-line description. |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | +### Base |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +The base keyword declares which :term:`base snap` to use with the project. |
| 79 | +A base snap is a special kind of snap that provides a run-time environment |
| 80 | +alongside a minimal set of libraries that are common to most applications. |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +```yaml |
| 83 | +base: core20 |
| 84 | +``` |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | +In this example, [core20](https://snapcraft.io/core20) is used as the base for snap building, and is based |
| 87 | +on [Ubuntu 20.04 LTS](http://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/). See [Base snaps](/t/11198) for more details. |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +### Security model |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +Snaps are containerised to ensure more predictable application behaviour and |
| 92 | +greater security. The general level of access a snap has to the user's system |
| 93 | +depends on its level of confinement. |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +The next section of the `snapcraft.yaml` file describes the level of |
| 96 | +:term:`confinement` applied to the running application: |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +```yaml |
| 99 | +confinement: devmode |
| 100 | +``` |
| 101 | + |
| 102 | +It is best to start creating a snap with a confinement level that provides |
| 103 | +warnings for confinement issues instead of strictly applying confinement. |
| 104 | +This is done by specifying the `devmode` (developer mode) confinement value. |
| 105 | +When a snap is in devmode, runtime confinement violations will be allowed but |
| 106 | +reported. These can be reviewed by running `journalctl -xe`. |
| 107 | + |
| 108 | +Because devmode is only intended for development, snaps must be set to strict |
| 109 | +confinement before they can be published as "stable" in the Snap Store. |
| 110 | +Once an application is working well in devmode, you can review confinement |
| 111 | +violations, add appropriate interfaces, and switch to strict confinement. |
| 112 | + |
| 113 | +The above example will also work if you change the confinement from `devmode` |
| 114 | +to `strict`, as you would before a release. |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +### Parts |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +Parts define what sources are needed to build your application. Parts can be |
| 119 | +anything: programs, libraries, or other needed assets, but for this example, |
| 120 | +we only need to use one part for the *woke* source code: |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +```yaml |
| 123 | +parts: |
| 124 | + woke: |
| 125 | + plugin: go |
| 126 | + source-type: git |
| 127 | + source: https://github.com/get-woke/woke |
| 128 | +``` |
| 129 | + |
| 130 | +The `plugin` keyword is used to select a language or technology-specific |
| 131 | +plugin that knows how to perform the build steps for the project. |
| 132 | +In this example, the [go plugin](/t/7818) is used to |
| 133 | +automate the build of this project using the version of Go on the host system. |
| 134 | + |
| 135 | +The `source` keyword points to the source code of the project, which |
| 136 | +can be a local directory or remote Git repository. In this case, it refers to |
| 137 | +the main project repository. |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | +### Apps |
| 140 | + |
| 141 | +Apps are the commands and services that the snap provides to users. Each key |
| 142 | +under `apps` is the name of a command or service that should be made |
| 143 | +available on users' systems. |
| 144 | + |
| 145 | +```yaml |
| 146 | +apps: |
| 147 | + woke: |
| 148 | + command: bin/woke |
| 149 | + plugs: |
| 150 | + - home |
| 151 | +``` |
| 152 | + |
| 153 | +The `command` specifies the path to the binary to be run. This is resolved |
| 154 | +relative to the root of the snap contents. |
| 155 | + |
| 156 | +If the command name matches the name of the snap specified in the top-level |
| 157 | +`name` keyword (see **Metadata** above), the binary file will be given the |
| 158 | +same name as the snap, as in this example. |
| 159 | +If the names differ, the binary file name will be prefixed with the snap name |
| 160 | +to avoid naming conflicts between installed snaps. An example of this would be |
| 161 | +`woke.some-command`. |
| 162 | + |
| 163 | +The confinement of the snap, which was defined in the **Security model** section |
| 164 | +above, can be changed through a set of :term:`interfaces`. In this example, |
| 165 | +the `plugs` keyword is used to specify the interfaces that the snap needs |
| 166 | +to access. |
| 167 | + |
| 168 | +### Building the snap |
| 169 | + |
| 170 | +You can download the example repository with the following command: |
| 171 | + |
| 172 | +```bash |
| 173 | +$ git clone https://github.com/degville/woke-snap |
| 174 | +``` |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | +After you have created the `snapcraft.yaml` file (which already exists |
| 177 | +in the above repository), you can build the snap by simply executing the |
| 178 | +`snapcraft` command in the project directory: |
| 179 | + |
| 180 | +```bash |
| 181 | +$ snapcraft |
| 182 | +Launching a container. |
| 183 | +Waiting for container to be ready |
| 184 | +[...] |
| 185 | +Pulling woke |
| 186 | ++ snapcraftctl pull |
| 187 | +Cloning into '/root/parts/woke/src'... |
| 188 | +remote: Enumerating objects: 2723, done. |
| 189 | +remote: Counting objects: 100% (939/939), done. |
| 190 | +remote: Compressing objects: 100% (401/401), done. |
| 191 | +remote: Total 2723 (delta 697), reused 635 (delta 522), pack-reused 1784 |
| 192 | +Receiving objects: 100% (2723/2723), 22.33 MiB | 2.88 MiB/s, done. |
| 193 | +Resolving deltas: 100% (1574/1574), done. |
| 194 | +Building woke |
| 195 | ++ snapcraftctl build |
| 196 | ++ go mod download |
| 197 | ++ go install -p 8 -ldflags -linkmode=external ./... |
| 198 | +Staging woke |
| 199 | ++ snapcraftctl stage |
| 200 | +Priming woke |
| 201 | ++ snapcraftctl prime |
| 202 | +Determining the version from the project repo (version: git). |
| 203 | +The version has been set to '0+git.f23bb0a-dirty' |
| 204 | +Snapping | |
| 205 | +Snapped woke_0+git.f23bb0a-dirty_multi.snap |
| 206 | +``` |
| 207 | + |
| 208 | +The resulting snap can be installed locally. This requires the `--dangerous` flag because the snap is not signed by the Snap Store. The `--devmode` flag acknowledges that you are installing an unconfined application: |
| 209 | + |
| 210 | +```bash |
| 211 | +$ sudo snap install woke_*.snap --devmode --dangerous |
| 212 | +``` |
| 213 | + |
| 214 | +You can then try it out: |
| 215 | + |
| 216 | +```bash |
| 217 | +$ woke -h |
| 218 | +``` |
| 219 | + |
| 220 | +Removing the snap is simple too: |
| 221 | + |
| 222 | +```bash |
| 223 | +$ sudo snap remove woke |
| 224 | +``` |
| 225 | + |
| 226 | +## Publishing your snap |
| 227 | + |
| 228 | +To share your snaps you need to publish them in the Snap Store. First, create an account on [the dashboard](https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/dev/account/). Here you can customise how your snaps are presented, review your uploads and control publishing. |
| 229 | + |
| 230 | +You’ll need to choose a unique “developer namespace” as part of the account creation process. This name will be visible by users and associated with your published snaps. |
| 231 | + |
| 232 | +Make sure the `snapcraft` command is authenticated using the email address attached to your Snap Store account: |
| 233 | + |
| 234 | +``` |
| 235 | +$ snapcraft login |
| 236 | +``` |
| 237 | + |
| 238 | +### Reserve a name for your snap |
| 239 | + |
| 240 | +You can publish your own version of a snap, provided you do so under a name you have rights to. You can register a name on [dashboard.snapcraft.io](https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/register-snap/), or by running the following command: |
| 241 | + |
| 242 | +``` |
| 243 | +$ snapcraft register mygosnap |
| 244 | +``` |
| 245 | + |
| 246 | +Be sure to update the `name:` in your `snapcraft.yaml` to match this registered name, then run `snapcraft` again. |
| 247 | + |
| 248 | +### Upload your snap |
| 249 | + |
| 250 | +Use snapcraft to push the snap to the Snap Store. |
| 251 | + |
| 252 | +``` |
| 253 | +$ snapcraft upload --release=edge mygosnap_*.snap |
| 254 | +``` |
| 255 | +
|
| 256 | +If you’re happy with the result, you can commit the snapcraft.yaml to your GitHub repo and [turn on automatic builds](https://build.snapcraft.io) so any further commits automatically get released to edge, without requiring you to manually build locally. |
| 257 | +
|
| 258 | +Congratulations! You've just built and published your first Go snap. For a more in-depth overview of the snap building process, see [Creating a snap](/t/creating-a-snap/6799). |
0 commit comments