Building Aesthetic Computer Desktop App #

Quick Start (Unsigned Builds) #

Build for all platforms from this devcontainer:

cd /workspaces/aesthetic-computer/ac-electron
./build-all-platforms.fish

This will create:

• Linux: AppImage, deb, rpm (✅ works in devcontainer)
• Windows: exe (✅ works via Docker wine container)
• macOS: dmg (⚠️ requires macOS host or CI/CD)

Setup for Signed Builds #

1. Add Signing Certificates to Vault #

cd /workspaces/aesthetic-computer/aesthetic-computer-vault/ac-electron

# Add your certificates (see README.md in this directory)
# - mac-developer-id.p12
# - windows-code-signing.pfx
# etc.

# Create .env from template
cp .env.template .env

# Edit .env and add your credentials
emacs .env  # or your preferred editor

2. Run the Build #

cd /workspaces/aesthetic-computer/ac-electron
./build-all-platforms.fish

The script will:

1. Load credentials from vault
2. Build Linux packages natively
3. Build Windows .exe using Docker wine container
4. Skip macOS (requires macOS host)
5. Sign all packages with your certificates

Platform-Specific Builds #

Linux Only (Native) #

npm run build:linux

Creates:

• Aesthetic Computer-{version}-x86_64.AppImage
• Aesthetic Computer-{version}-amd64.deb
• Aesthetic Computer-{version}-x86_64.rpm

Windows Only (via Docker) #

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/project \
  electronuserland/builder:wine \
  bash -c "cd /project && npm run build:win"

Creates:

• Aesthetic Computer-Setup-{version}.exe

macOS Only (requires macOS) #

# On a Mac:
npm run publish:mac

# Or just build without publishing:
npm run build:mac

Creates:

• Aesthetic Computer-{version}-universal.dmg (Apple Silicon + Intel)

Signed macOS Build + Silo Publish from Devcontainer #

Run the host-driven flow (build/sign on your Mac GUI session, then upload/register via silo):

cd /workspaces/aesthetic-computer/ac-electron
# One-time: export Developer ID cert to vault for non-interactive signing
npm run setup:host:mac-signing

# Build + publish
npm run release:host:mac

Useful flags:

# Build/sign only
bash scripts/build-publish-host-mac.sh --skip-publish

# Include release notes
bash scripts/build-publish-host-mac.sh --notes "UI cleanup"

# Validate publish payload without uploading
bash scripts/build-publish-host-mac.sh --dry-run-publish

Publishing to GitHub Releases #

Automatic (via GitHub Actions) #

# Bump version and push tag
node scripts/release-electron.mjs --bump patch

# GitHub Actions will build and publish automatically

Manual #

# Build locally
./build-all-platforms.fish

# Create GitHub release and upload artifacts
VERSION=$(cat package.json | jq -r .version)
gh release create v$VERSION \
  --title "v$VERSION - Release Title" \
  --notes "Release notes here" \
  dist/*.AppImage \
  dist/*.deb \
  dist/*.rpm \
  dist/*.exe

Cross-Platform Build Matrix #

Platform	Build From	Signing	Notes
Linux AppImage	✅ Devcontainer	❌ Not signed	Works out of box
Linux deb/rpm	✅ Devcontainer	❌ Not signed	May fail without libcrypt.so.1
Windows exe	✅ Devcontainer (Docker)	✅ Authenticode	Requires wine Docker container
macOS dmg	❌ Requires macOS	✅ Developer ID	Use GitHub Actions or Mac

Troubleshooting #

"libcrypt.so.1 not found" (deb/rpm build) #

This is a Fedora 43 issue. AppImage still works. To fix:

# Install compat library
sudo dnf install libxcrypt-compat

Or skip deb/rpm and use AppImage:

npm run build -- --linux AppImage

Docker not available #

Install Docker in the devcontainer or on your host system.

macOS build fails on Linux #

macOS builds cannot run on Linux. Options:

1. Use GitHub Actions (automatic on tag push)
2. Run on a Mac locally
3. Use a macOS cloud VM (MacStadium, AWS EC2 Mac, etc.)

Size Optimization #

Current build sizes (~100MB) can be reduced by:

1. Remove unused dependencies

   npm prune --production
   

2. Use asar archive (already enabled in package.json)

3. Enable compression in package.json:

   "compression": "maximum"
   

4. Exclude dev files - add to package.json "files" exclusions

CI/CD Integration #

The .github/workflows/electron-release.yml workflow builds all platforms:

• Trigger: Push git tag v*
• Builds: macOS (universal), Windows (x64), Linux (AppImage/deb/rpm)
• Publishes: Automatically to GitHub Releases

Just push a version tag and wait for builds to complete!