The top level of the manifest file describes global attributes of
the application, how it can be built, and the list of modules that need to
be built.
Toplevel properties¶
These are the properties that are accepted:
id or app-id (string)
A string defining the application id.
Note, "app-id" is deprecated and preserved only for
backwards compatibility.
branch (string)
The branch to use when exporting the application. If this
is unset the defaults come from the default-branch option.
This key overrides both the default-branch key, and the
--default-branch commandline option. Unless you need a very specific
branchname (like for a runtime or an extension) it is recommended to use the
default-branch key instead, because you can then override the default using
--default-branch when building for instance a test build.
default-branch (string)
The default branch to use when exporting the application.
Defaults to master.
This key can be overridden by the --default-branch commandline
option.
collection-id (string)
The collection ID of the repository, defaults to being
unset. Setting a globally unique collection ID allows the apps in the
repository to be shared over peer to peer systems without needing further
configuration. If building in an existing repository, the collection ID must
match the existing configured collection ID for that repository.
extension-tag (string)
If building an extension, the tag for the extension point
to use. Since flatpak 0.11.4 a runtime may define multiple locations for the
same extension point with the intention that different branches for the
extension are mounted at each location. When building an extension it is
necessary to know what extension point to install the extension to. This
option resolves any ambiguity in which extension point to choose. If not
specified, the default choice is to install into either the only location for
the extension point or into the location for the untagged extension point. If
there are multiple locations for the same extension point defined with
different tags then an error will occur.
token-type (integer)
The type of token needed to install this commit. Setting
this to a value greater than 0 implies that authentication will be needed to
install the flatpak.
runtime (string)
The name of the runtime that the application uses.
runtime-version (string)
The version of the runtime that the application uses,
defaults to master.
sdk (string)
The name of the development runtime that the application
builds with.
var (string)
Initialize the (otherwise empty) writable /var in the
build with a copy of this runtime.
metadata (string)
Use this file as the base metadata file when
finishing.
command (string)
The filename or path to the main binary of the
application. Note that this is really just a single file, not a commandline.
If you want to pass arguments, install a shell script wrapper and use that as
the command.
Also note that the command is used when the application is run via
flatpak run, and does not affect what gets executed when the
application is run in other ways, e.g. via the desktop file or D-Bus
activation.
build-runtime (boolean)
Build a new runtime instead of an application.
build-extension (boolean)
Build an extension.
separate-locales (boolean)
Separate out locale files and translations to an
extension runtime. Defaults to true.
id-platform (string)
When building a runtime sdk, also create a platform based
on it with this id.
metadata-platform (string)
The metadata file to use for the platform we
create.
writable-sdk (boolean)
If true, use a writable copy of the sdk for /usr.
Defaults to true if build-runtime is specified.
appstream-compose (boolean)
Run appstreamcli compose during cleanup phase.
Defaults to true.
sdk-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra sdk extensions in /usr.
platform-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra sdk extensions when creating the
platform.
base (string)
Start with the files from the specified application. This
can be used to create applications that extend another application.
base-version (string)
Use this specific version of the application specified in
base. If unspecified, this uses the value specified in branch
base-extensions (array of strings)
Install these extra extensions from the base application
when initializing the application directory.
inherit-extensions (array of strings)
Inherit these extra extension points from the base
application or sdk when finishing the build.
inherit-sdk-extensions (array of strings)
Inherit these extra extension points from the base
application or sdk when finishing the build, but do not inherit them into the
platform.
tags (array of strings)
Add these tags to the metadata file.
build-options (object)
Object specifying the build environment. See below for
details.
modules (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects specifying the modules to be built in
order. String members in the array are interpreted as the name of a separate
json or yaml file that contains a module. See below for details.
add-extensions (objects)
This is a dictionary of extension objects. The key is the
name of the extension. See below for details.
add-build-extensions (objects)
This is a dictionary of extension objects similar to
add-extensions. The main difference is that the extensions are added early and
are available for use during the build.
cleanup (array of strings)
An array of file patterns that should be removed at the
end. Patterns starting with / are taken to be full pathnames (without the /app
prefix), otherwise they just match the basename.
cleanup-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run during the cleanup
phase.
cleanup-platform (array of strings)
Extra files to clean up in the platform.
cleanup-platform-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run during the cleanup
phase of the platform.
prepare-platform-commands (array of strings)
An array of commandlines that are run after importing the
base platform, but before applying the new files from the sdk. This is a good
place to e.g. delete things from the base that may conflict with the files
added in the sdk.
finish-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments passed to the flatpak
build-finish command.
rename-desktop-file (string)
Any desktop file with this name will be renamed to a name
based on id during the cleanup phase. The appdata file launchable will be
updated if needed.
rename-appdata-file (string)
Any appdata (metainfo) file with this name will be
renamed to a name based on id during the cleanup phase. The id in the file
will be updated as needed and the subsequent provides. (since 1.4.1)
rename-mime-file (string)
Any mimetypes file with this name will me renamed to a
name based on id during the cleanup phase. (since 1.4.0)
rename-icon (string)
Any icon with this name will be renamed to a name based
on id during the cleanup phase. Note that this is the icon name, not the full
filenames, so it should not include a filename extension.
rename-mime-icons (array of string)
Any mime icons with any of these names will be renamed to
a name prefixed with id during the cleanup phase. Note that this is the icon
name, not the full filenames, so it should not include a filename extension.
(since 1.4.0)
appdata-license (string)
Replace the appdata (metainfo) project_license field with
this string. This is useful as the upstream license is typically only about
the application itself, whereas the bundled app can contain other licenses
too.
copy-icon (boolean)
If rename-icon is set, keep a copy of the old icon
file.
desktop-file-name-prefix (string)
This string will be prefixed to the Name key in the main
application desktop file.
desktop-file-name-suffix (string)
This string will be suffixed to the Name key in the main
application desktop file.
Build Options¶
Build options specify the build environment of a module, and can
be specified globally as well as per-module. Options can also be specified
on a per-architecture basis using the arch property.
These are the properties that are accepted:
cflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CFLAGS during the
build. Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cflags from previous build options
before adding it from these options.
cppflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CPPFLAGS during
the build. Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cppflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cppflags from previous build
options before adding it from these options.
cxxflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable CXXFLAGS during
the build. Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
cxxflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear cxxflags from previous build
options before adding it from these options.
ldflags (string)
This is set in the environment variable LDFLAGS during
the build. Multiple specifications of this (in e.g. per-arch area) are
concatenated, separated by spaces.
ldflags-override (boolean)
If this is true, clear ldflags from previous build
options before adding it from these options.
prefix (string)
The build prefix for the modules (defaults to /app for
applications and /usr for runtimes).
libdir (string)
The build libdir for the modules (defaults to /app/lib
for applications and /usr/lib for runtimes).
append-path (string)
This will get appended to PATH in the build environment
(with an leading colon if needed).
prepend-path (string)
This will get prepended to PATH in the build environment
(with an trailing colon if needed).
append-ld-library-path (string)
This will get appended to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the build
environment (with an leading colon if needed).
prepend-ld-library-path (string)
This will get prepended to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the build
environment (with an trailing colon if needed).
append-pkg-config-path (string)
This will get appended to PKG_CONFIG_PATH in the build
environment (with an leading colon if needed).
prepend-pkg-config-path (string)
This will get prepended to PKG_CONFIG_PATH in the build
environment (with an trailing colon if needed).
env (object)
This is a dictionary defining environment variables to be
set during the build. Elements in this override the properties that set the
environment, like cflags and ldflags. Keys with a null value unset the
corresponding variable.
secret-env (array of strings)
This is a array defining which host environment variables
is transfered to build-commands or post-install environment.
build-args (array of strings)
This is an array containing extra options to pass to
flatpak build.
test-args (array of strings)
Similar to build-args but affects the tests, not the
normal build.
config-opts (array of strings)
This is an array containing extra options passed to the
build system during configuration.
secret-opts (array of strings)
This is an array of options that will be passed to
configure, meant to be used to pass secrets through host environment
variables. Put the option with an environment variables and will be resolved
beforehand. '-DSECRET_ID=$CI_SECRET'
make-args (array of strings)
An array of extra arguments that will be passed to
make
make-install-args (array of strings)
An array of extra arguments that will be passed to make
install
strip (boolean)
If this is true (the default is false) then all ELF files
will be stripped after install.
no-debuginfo (boolean)
By default (if strip is not true) flatpak-builder
extracts all debug info in ELF files to a separate files and puts this in an
extension. If you want to disable this, set no-debuginfo to true.
no-debuginfo-compression (boolean)
By default when extracting debuginfo we compress the
debug sections. If you want to disable this, set no-debuginfo-compression to
true.
arch (object)
This is a dictionary defining for each arch a separate
build options object that override the main one.
Extension¶
Extension define extension points in the app/runtime that can be
implemented by extensions, supplying extra files which are available during
runtime..
These are the properties that are accepted:
directory (string)
The directory where the extension is mounted. If the
extension point is for an application, this path is relative to /app,
otherwise it is relative to /usr.
bundle (boolean)
If this is true, then the data created in the extension
directory is omitted from the result, and instead packaged in a separate
extension.
remove-after-build (boolean)
If this is true, the extension is removed during when
finishing. This is only interesting for extensions in the add-build-extensions
property.
Additionally the standard flatpak extension properties are
supported, and put directly into the metadata file: autodelete,
no-autodownload, subdirectories, add-ld-path, download-if, enable-if,
autoprune-unless, merge-dirs, subdirectory-suffix, locale-subset, version,
versions. See the flatpak metadata documentation for more information on
these.
Module¶
Each module specifies a source that has to be separately built and
installed. It contains the build options and a list of sources to download
and extract before building.
Modules can be nested, in order to turn related modules on and off
with a single key.
These are the properties that are accepted:
name (string)
The name of the module, used in e.g. build logs. The name
is also used for constructing filenames and commandline arguments, therefore
using spaces or '/' in this string is a bad idea.
disabled (boolean)
If true, skip this module
sources (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects defining sources that will be
downloaded and extracted in order. String members in the array are interpreted
as the name of a separate json or yaml file that contains sources. See below
for details.
secret-env (array of strings)
An array defining which host environment variables is
transfered to build-commands or post-install environment.
config-opts (array of strings)
An array of options that will be passed to
configure
secret-opts (array of strings)
An array of options that will be passed to configure,
meant to be used to pass secrets through host environment variables. Put the
option with an environment variables and will be resolved beforehand.
'-DSECRET_ID=$CI_SECRET'
make-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments that will be passed to make
make-install-args (array of strings)
An array of arguments that will be passed to make
install
rm-configure (boolean)
If true, remove the configure script before starting
build
no-autogen (boolean)
Ignore the existence of an autogen script
no-parallel-make (boolean)
Don't call make with arguments to build in parallel
install-rule (string)
Name of the rule passed to make for the install phase,
default is install
no-make-install (boolean)
Don't run the make install (or equivalent) stage
no-python-timestamp-fix (boolean)
Don't fix up the *.py[oc] header timestamps for ostree
use.
cmake (boolean)
Use cmake instead of configure (deprecated: use
buildsystem instead)
buildsystem (string)
Build system to use: autotools, cmake, cmake-ninja,
meson, simple, qmake
builddir (boolean)
Use a build directory that is separate from the source
directory
subdir (string)
Build inside this subdirectory of the extracted
sources
build-options (object)
A build options object that can override global
options
build-commands (array of strings)
An array of commands to run during build (between make
and make install if those are used). This is primarily useful when using the
"simple" buildsystem. Each command is run in /bin/sh -c, so it can
use standard POSIX shell syntax such as piping output.
post-install (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that are run after the install
phase. Can for example clean up the install dir, or install extra files.
cleanup (array of strings)
An array of file patterns that should be removed at the
end. Patterns starting with / are taken to be full pathnames (without the /app
prefix), otherwise they just match the basename. Note that any patterns will
only match files installed by this module.
ensure-writable (array of strings)
The way the builder works is that files in the install
directory are hard-links to the cached files, so you're not allowed to modify
them in-place. If you list a file in this then the hardlink will be broken and
you can modify it. This is a workaround, ideally installing files should
replace files, not modify existing ones.
only-arches (array of strings)
If non-empty, only build the module on the arches
listed.
skip-arches (array of strings)
Don't build on any of the arches listed.
cleanup-platform (array of strings)
Extra files to clean up in the platform.
run-tests (boolean)
If true this will run the tests after installing.
test-rule (string)
The target to build when running the tests. Defaults to
"check" for make and "test" for ninja. Set to empty to
disable.
test-commands (array of strings)
Array of commands to run during the tests.
modules (array of objects or strings)
An array of objects specifying nested modules to be built
before this one. String members in the array are interpreted as names of a
separate json or yaml file that contains a module.
Sources¶
These contain a pointer to the source that will be extracted into
the source directory before the build starts. They can be of several types,
distinguished by the type property.
Additionally, the sources list can contain a plain string, which
is interpreted as the name of a separate json or yaml file that is read and
inserted at this point. The file can contain a single source, or an array of
sources.
All sources
only-arches (array of strings)
If non-empty, only build the module on the arches
listed.
skip-arches (array of strings)
Don't build on any of the arches listed.
dest (string)
Directory inside the source dir where this source will be
extracted.
Archive sources (tar, zip)
type
"archive"
path (string)
The path of the archive
url (string)
The URL of a remote archive that will be downloaded. This
overrides path if both are specified.
mirror-urls (array of strings)
A list of alternative urls that are used if the main url
fails.
referer (string)
Sets the HTTP "Referer" header when downloading
the archive.
disable-http-decompression (boolean)
Disables decompression of downloads over HTTP for
misconfigured servers.
git-init (boolean)
Whether to initialise the repository as a git
repository.
archive-type (string)
The type of archive if it cannot be guessed from the
path. Possible values are "rpm", "tar",
"tar-gzip", "tar-compress", "tar-bzip2",
"tar-lzip", "tar-lzma", "tar-lzop",
"tar-xz", "tar-zst", "zip" and
"7z".
md5 (string)
The md5 checksum of the file, verified after download
Note that md5 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha1 (string)
The sha1 checksum of the file, verified after download
Note that sha1 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 checksum of the file, verified after
download
sha512 (string)
The sha512 checksum of the file, verified after
download
strip-components (integer)
The number of initial pathname components to strip during
extraction. Defaults to 1.
dest-filename (string)
Filename to for the downloaded file, defaults to the
basename of url.
Git sources
type
"git"
path (string)
The path to a local checkout of the git repository. Due
to how git-clone works, this will be much faster than specifying a URL of
file:///...
url (string)
branch (string)
The branch to use from the git repository. As of 1.2.3
this will try to auto-detect the upstream default branch. Previously this
defaulted to master.
tag (string)
The tag to use from the git repository
commit (string)
The commit to use from the git repository. If branch is
also specified, then it is verified that the branch/tag is at this specific
commit. This is a readable way to document that you're using a particular tag,
but verify that it does not change.
disable-fsckobjects (boolean)
Don't use transfer.fsckObjects=1 to mirror git
repository. This may be needed for some (broken) repositories.
disable-shallow-clone (boolean)
Don't optimize by making a shallow clone when downloading
the git repo.
disable-submodules (boolean)
Don't checkout the git submodules when cloning the
repository.
Bzr sources
type
"bzr"
url (string)
URL of the bzr repository
revision (string)
A specific revision to use in the branch
Svn sources
type
"svn"
url (string)
URL of the svn repository, including branch/tag
part
revision (string)
A specific revision number to use
Directory sources
type
"dir"
path (string)
The path of a local directory whose content will be
copied into the source dir. Note that directory sources don't currently
support caching, so they will be rebuilt each time.
skip (array of strings)
Source files to ignore in the directory.
File sources
type
"file"
path (string)
The path of a local file that will be copied into the
source dir
url (string)
The URL of a remote file that will be downloaded and
copied into the source dir. This overrides path if both are specified.
mirror-urls (array of strings)
A list of alternative urls that are used if the main url
fails.
referer (string)
Sets the HTTP "Referer" header when downloading
the file.
disable-http-decompression (boolean)
Disables decompression of downloads over HTTP for
misconfigured servers.
md5 (string)
The md5 checksum of the file, verified after download.
This is optional for local files.
Note that md5 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha1 (string)
The sha1 checksum of the file, verified after download.
This is optional for local files.
Note that sha1 is no longer considered a safe checksum, we
recommend you use at least sha256.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 checksum of the file, verified after download.
This is optional for local files.
sha512 (string)
The sha512 checksum of the file, verified after download.
This is optional for local files.
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir, default to the
basename of path.
Script sources
This is a way to create a shell (/bin/sh) script from an inline
set of commands.
type
"script"
commands (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that will be put in a
shellscript file
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir, default to
autogen.sh.
Inline data sources
This is a way to create a file with given contents.
type
"inline"
dest-filename (string)
Filename to use inside the source dir.
contents (string)
Text data that will be put in the file.
base64 (boolean)
Whether content is base64-encoded.
Shell sources
This is a way to create/modify the sources by running shell
commands.
type
"shell"
commands (array of strings)
An array of shell commands that will be run during source
extraction
Patch sources
type
"patch"
path (string)
The path of a patch file that will be applied in the
source dir
paths (array of strings)
An list of paths to a patch files that will be applied in
the source dir, in order
strip-components (integer)
The value of the -p argument to patch, defaults to
1.
use-git (boolean)
Whether to use "git apply" rather than
"patch" to apply the patch, required when the patch file contains
binary diffs.
use-git-am (boolean)
Whether to use "git am" rather than
"patch" to apply the patch, required when the patch file contains
binary diffs. You cannot use this at the same time as use-git.
options (array of strings)
Extra options to pass to the patch command.
Extra data sources
type
"extra-data"
filename (string)
The name to use for the downloaded extra data
url (string)
The url to the extra data.
sha256 (string)
The sha256 of the extra data.
size (number)
The size of the extra data in bytes.
installed-size (string)
The extra installed size this adds to the app
(optional).