Multiplatform deployment using Cerbero
Cerbero is the build and packaging system used to construct GStreamer. It uses “recipe” files that indicate how to build particular projects, and on what other projects they depend. Moreover, the built projects can be combined into packages for distribution. These packages are, depending on the target platform, Windows or OS X installers or Linux packages.
To use Cerbero to build and package your application, you just need to add a recipe explaining how to build you application and make it depend on the needed recipes. Then Cerbero can take care of building your application and its dependencies and package them all together.
Read Building from source using Cerbero to learn how to install and use Cerbero.
At this point, after reading the Build from source section in Building from source using Cerbero, you should be able to build GStreamer from source and are ready to create recipe and package files for your application.
In the Cerbero installation directory you will find the
cerbero-uninstalled script. Execute it without parameters to see the
list of commands it accepts:
./cerbero-uninstalled
Adding a recipe for your application
The first step is to create an empty recipe that you can then tailor to your needs:
./cerbero-uninstalled add-recipe my-app 1.0
This will create an initial recipe file in recipes/my-app.recipe,
which contains the smallest necessary recipe. This file is a Python
script; set the following attributes to describe your application:
+-------------------+-----------------------+----------+----------------------+
| Attribute Name | Description | Required | Example |
|-------------------|-----------------------|----------|----------------------|
| name | The recipe name | Yes | name = 'my-app' |
| | | | |
| version | The software version | Yes | version = '1.0' |
| | | | |
| licenses | A list of licenses of | Yes | licenses = |
| | the software [1] | | [License.LGPLv2Plus] |
| | | | |
| deps | A list of build | No | deps = ['other', |
| | dependencies of the | | 'recipe', 'names'] |
| | software as recipe | | |
| | names. | | |
| | | | |
| platform_deps | Platform specific | No | platform_deps = |
| | build dependencies | | {Platform.LINUX: |
| | | | ['some-recipe'], |
| | | | Platform.WINDOWS: |
| | | | ['another-recipe']} |
| | | | |
| remotes | Dictionary specifying | No | remotes = {'origin': |
| | the git remote URLs | | '<git://somewhere>'} |
| | where sources are | | |
| | pulled from | | |
| | | | |
| commit | The git commit, tag or| No | commit = |
| | branch to use, | | 'my-app-branch' |
| | defaulting to | | |
| | "sdk-*`version`*" | | |
| | | | |
| config_sh | Used to select the | No | config_sh = |
| | configuration script | | 'autoreconf -fiv && |
| | | | sh ./configure' |
| | | | |
| configure_options | Additional options | No | configure_options = |
| | that should be passed | | '--enable-something' |
| | to the `configure` | | |
| | script | | |
| | | | |
| use_system_libs | Whether to use system | No | use_system_libs = |
| | provided libs | | True |
| | | | |
| btype | The build type | No | btype = |
| | | | BuildType.CUSTOM |
| | | | |
| stype | The source type | No | stype = |
| | | | SourceType.CUSTOM |
| | | | |
| files_category | A list of files that | Yes | files_bins = |
| | should be shipped with| | ['some-binary'] |
| | packages including | | files_libs = |
| | this recipe *category*| | ['libsomelib'] |
| | [5] | | files_devel = |
| | | | ['include/something']|
| | | | files_python = |
| | | | ['site-packages/ |
| | | | some/pythonfile%(pext|
| | | | )s'] |
| | | | files_lang = ['foo'] |
| | | | |
| platform_files_ | Same as files_category| No | platform_files_some_ |
| category | but for platform | | category = |
| | specific files | | {Platform.LINUX: |
| | | | ['/some/file']} |
+-------------------+-----------------------+----------+----------------------+
[1] See cerbero/enums.py:License for allowed licenses
[2] See cerbero/enums.py:Platform for allowed platforms
[3] See cerbero/build/build.py:BuildType for allowed build types
[4] See cerbero/build/source.py:SourceType for allowed source types
[5] Cerbero comes with some predefined categories that should be used if the
files being installed match a category criteria. The predefined categories are: `libs` (for libraries), `bins` (for binaries), `devel` (for development files:
header, pkgconfig files, etc), `python` (for python files) and `lang` (for
language files). Note that for the `bins` and `libs` categories there is no need
to specify the files extensions as Cerbero will do it for you.
At least one “files” category should be set.
Apart from the attributes listed above, it is also possible to override
some Recipe methods. For example the prepare method can be overridden
to do anything before the software is built, or the install and
post_install methods for overriding what should be done during or
after installation. Take a look at the existing recipes in
cerbero/recipes for example.
Alternatively, you can pass some options to cerbero-uninstalled so some
of these attributes are already set for you. For example:
./cerbero-uninstalled add-recipe --licenses "LGPL" --deps "glib" --origin "git://git.my-app.com" --commit "git-commit-to-use" my-app 1.0
See ./cerbero-uninstalled add-recipe -h for help.
As an example, this is the recipe used to build the Pitivi video editor:
class Recipe(recipe.Recipe):
name = 'pitivi'
version = '0.95'
licenses = [License.GPLv2Plus]
remotes = {'origin': 'git://git.gnome.org/pitivi'}
config_sh = 'sh ./autogen.sh --noconfigure && ./configure'
configure_options = "--disable-help"
commit = 'origin/master'
deps = ['gst-editing-services-1.0',
'gst-python-1.0',
'gst-libav-1.0',
'gst-plugins-bad-1.0',
'gst-plugins-ugly-1.0',
'gst-transcoder',
'numpy',
'matplotlib',
'gnome-icon-theme',
'gnome-icon-theme-symbolic',
'shared-mime-info'] # brings in gtk+
files_libs = ['libpitivi-1.0']
files_typelibs = [
'Pitivi-1.0',
]
use_system_libs = True
files_bins = ['pitivi']
files_lang = ['pitivi']
files_pitivi = ['lib/pitivi/python/pitivi',
'share/pitivi/',
'share/applications/pitivi.desktop']
Cerbero gets the software sources to build from a GIT repository, which
is specified via the git_root configuration variable from the Cerbero
configuration file (see the "Build from software" section in Installing
on Linux) and can be overridden by the
remotes attribute inside the recipes (if setting the origin remote).
In this case where no “commit” attribute is specified, Cerbero will use
the commit named “sdk-0.2+git” from the GIT repository when building
Snappy.
Once the recipe is ready, instruct Cerbero to build it:
./cerbero-uninstalled build my-app
Adding a package for you software
To distribute your software with GStreamer it is necessary to put it into
a package or installer, depending on the target platform. This is done
by selecting the files that should be included. To add a package you
have to create a package file in cerbero/packages. The package files
are Python scripts too and there are already many examples of package
files in cerbero/packages.
Now, to create an empty package, do:
./cerbero-uninstalled add-package my-app 1.0
This will create an initial package file in packages/my-app.package.
The following Package attributes are used to describe your package:
+---------------------+--------------------+----------+------------------------+
| Attribute Name | Description | Required | Example |
|---------------------|--------------------|----------|------------------------|
| name | The package name | Yes | name = 'my-app' |
| | | | |
| shortdesc | A short description| No | shortdesc = 'some-short|
| | of the package | | -desc' |
| | | | |
| longdesc | A long description | No | longdesc = 'Some Longer|
| | | | Description' |
| | | | |
| codename | Release codename. | No | codename = |
| | | | 'MyAppReleaseName' |
| | | | |
| vendor | Package Vendor | No | vendor = 'MyCompany' |
| | | | |
| url | Package URL | No | url = |
| | | |'http://www.my-app.com' |
| | | | |
| version | Package version | Yes | version = '1.0' |
| | | | |
| license | Package license [1]| Yes | license = |
| | | | License.LGPLv2Plus |
| | | | |
| uuid | Package unique id | Yes | uuid = |
| | | | '6cd161c2-4535-411f-82'|
| | | | |
| deps | List of package | No | deps = ['other', |
| | dependencies as | | 'package', 'names'] |
| | package names | | |
| | | | |
| sys_deps | System dependencies| No | sys_deps= |
| | for this package | | {Distro.DEBIAN: |
| | | | ['python']} |
| | | | |
| files | A list of files | Yes | files = ['my-app'] |
| | included in the | | files = ['my-app: |
| | runtime package in | | category1'] |
| | the form | | |
| | "recipe_name: | | |
| | category1:category2| | |
| | :..." [2] | | |
| | | | |
| files_devel | A list of files | Yes | files_devel = |
| | included in the | | ['my-app:category_devel|
| | devel package. Same| | '] |
| | format as above | | |
| | | | |
| platform_files | Same as *files* but| Yes | platform_files = |
| | allowing to specify| | {Platform.WINDOWS: |
| | different files for| | ['my-app: |
| | different platforms| | windows_only_category']|
| | | | } |
| | | | |
| platform_files_devel| As above but for | Yes | platform_files_devel = |
| | files_devel | | {Platform.WINDOWS: |
| | | | ['my-app:windows_only_c|
| | | | ategory_devel']} |
+---------------------+--------------------+----------+------------------------+
[1] See cerbero/enums.py:License for allowed licenses.
[2] If the recipe category is omitted, all categories are included.
Alternatively you can also pass some options to cerbero-uninstalled,
for example:
./cerbero-uninstalled add-package my-app 1.0 --license "LGPL" --codename MyApp --vendor MyAppVendor --url "http://www.my-app.com" --files=my-app:bins:libs --files-devel=my-app:devel --platform-files=linux:my-app:linux_specific --platform-files-devel=linux:my-app:linux_specific_devel,windows:my-app:windows_specific_devel --deps base-system --includes gstreamer-core
See ./cerbero-uninstalled add-package -h for help.
As an example, this is the package file that is used for packaging the
gstreamer-core package:
class Package(package.Package):
name = 'gstreamer-1.0-codecs'
shortdesc = 'GStreamer 1.0 codecs'
longdesc = 'GStreamer 1.0 codecs'
version = '1.9.0.1'
url = "http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org"
license = License.LGPL
vendor = 'GStreamer Project'
org = 'org.freedesktop.gstreamer'
uuid = 'a2e545d5-7819-4636-9e86-3660542f08e5'
deps = ['gstreamer-1.0-core', 'base-crypto']
files = ['flac:libs', 'libkate:libs', 'libdv:libs',
'libogg:libs', 'schroedinger:libs', 'speex:libs',
'libtheora:libs', 'wavpack:libs', 'libvpx:libs',
'taglib:libs', 'opus:libs', 'libvorbis:libs',
'openjpeg:libs', 'openh264:libs', 'spandsp:libs',
'gst-plugins-base-1.0:plugins_codecs',
'gst-plugins-good-1.0:plugins_codecs',
'gst-plugins-bad-1.0:plugins_codecs',
'gst-plugins-ugly-1.0:plugins_codecs']
files_devel = ['gst-plugins-base-1.0-static:plugins_codecs_devel',
'gst-plugins-good-1.0-static:plugins_codecs_devel',
'gst-plugins-bad-1.0-static:plugins_codecs_devel',
'gst-plugins-ugly-1.0-static:plugins_codecs_devel',
'gst-plugins-bad-1.0-static:codecs_devel']
platform_files = {
Platform.ANDROID: ['tremor:libs'],
Platform.IOS: ['tremor:libs']
}
At this point you have two main options: you could either have a single package that contains everything your software needs, or depend on a shared version of GStreamer.
Having a private version of GStreamer
To have a private version of GStreamer included in a single package you
don't have to add the deps variable to the package file but instead
list all files you need in the files variables. If you decide to go
this road you must make sure that you use a different prefix than
GStreamer in the Cerbero configuration file, otherwise your package
will have file conflicts with GStreamer.
Having a shared version of GStreamer
If you decide to use a shared version of GStreamer you can create a
package file like the other package files in GStreamer. Just
list all packages you need in the deps variable and put the files your
software needs inside the files variables. When building a package
this way you must make sure that you use the same prefix and
packages_prefix as the ones in your Cerbero configuration file.
Finally, build your package by using:
./cerbero-uninstalled package your-package
Where your-package is the name of the .package file that you created
in the packages directory. This command will build your software and
all its dependencies, and then make individual packages for them (both
the dependencies and your software). The resulting files will be in the
current working directory.
The results of the search are