flatpaker

Script to mostly automate creating flatpaks from published Ren'Py and Linux builds of RPGMaker MV and MZ. open to additional support

What is it?

It's a script that automatically handles much of the task of generating a flatpak for pre-built projects, including adding patches or mods. You write a small, simple toml file, fetch the sources, and get a ready to publish flatpak.

It currently automatically does the following automatically:

• Generates an appstream xml file
• Generates a .desktop file
• Extracts an icon from the game source, and installs it
• patches the game to honor $XDG_DATA_HOME for storing game data inside the sandbox (instead of needing $HOME access)
• sets up the sandbox to allow audio and display, but nothing else
• recompiles the program when mods are applied
• strips .rpy files to save space (keeping the rpyc files)
• strips windows and macos specific files
• allows local install or publishing to a repo

Why?

I like playing Ren'Py games sometimes. I also don't always trust random pre-compiled binaries from the internet. Flatpak provides a nice, convenient way to sandbox applications. It also makes supporting Steam Deck and Fedora immutable a breeze. But generating flatpaks by hand is a lot of work, especially when most of the process will be exactly the same for every renpy project.

How do I use it?

1. Download the compressed project
2. Download any mods or addons (optional)
3. Write a toml description
4. run the program

Toml Format

[common]
  name = 'Game or VN'  # use properly formatted name like "The Cool Adventures of Bob", or "Bob's Quest 7: Lawnmower Confusion"
  reverse_url = 'com.example.JDoe'  # name will be appended
  # "Game" is added automatically
  # used freedesktop menu categories. see: https://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apas02.html
  categories = ['Simulation']
  engine = ['renpy']  # Or 'rpgmaker'

[appdata]
  summary = "A short summary, one sentence or so."
  description = """
    A longer description.

    probably on multiple \
    lines
    """

  # This is an optional value for the license of the renpy project itself.
  # If unset it defaults to LicenseRef-Proprietary.
  # if you have specific terms which are not an Open Source license, you can use the form:
  # LicenseRef-Proprietary=https://www.example.com/my-license
  # See: https://spdx.org/specifications for more information
  license = "SPDX identifier"

[appdata.content_rating]
  # optional
  # Uses OARS specifications. See: https://hughsie.github.io/oars/
  # keys should be ids, and the values are must be a rating (as a string):
  # none, mild, moderate, or intense
  language-profanity = "mild"

[appdata.releases]
  # optional
  # in the form "date = version"
  "2023-01-01" = "1.0.0"

# Optional, alternatively may be passed on teh command line
[[sources.archives]]
  # path must be set if this is provided
  path = "relative to toml or absolute path"

  # Optional, defaults to 1. How many directory levels to remove from this component
  strip_comonents = 2

# Optional, cannot be set from command line
[[sources.patches]]
  # path must be set if this is provided
  path = "relative to toml or absolute path"

  # Optional, defaults to 1. How many directory levels to remove from this component
  strip_comonents = 2

# Optional, cannot be set from command line
[[sources.files]]
  # path must be set if this is provided
  path = "relative to toml or absolute path"

  # Optional, if set the file will be installed to this name
  # Does not have to be set for .rpy files that go in the game root directory
  dest = "where to install"

Configuration

Some options can be given on the command line or via a configuration file. That file must be written to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/flatpaker/config.toml (if unset $XDG_CONFIG_HOME defaults to ~/.config).

[common]
  # A gpg private key to sign with, overwritten by the --gpg option
  gpg-key = "0x123456789"

  # The absolute path to a repo to write to. overwritten by the --repo option
  repo = "/path/to/a/repo/to/export"

What is required?

• python 3.11 or a modern version of python3 with tomli
• flatpak-builder

Schema

A Json based schema is provided, which can be used with VSCode's EvenBetterToml extension. It may be useful elsewhere.