pkgs.appimageTools

pkgs.appimageTools is a set of functions for extracting and wrapping AppImage files. They are meant to be used if traditional packaging from source is infeasible, or if it would take too long. To quickly run an AppImage file, pkgs.appimage-run can be used as well.

::: {.warning} The appimageTools API is unstable and may be subject to backwards-incompatible changes in the future. :::

Wrapping

Use wrapType2 to wrap any AppImage. This will create a FHS environment with many packages expected to exist for the AppImage to work. wrapType2 expects an argument with the src attribute, and either a name attribute or pname and version attributes.

It will eventually call into buildFHSEnv, and any extra attributes in the argument to wrapType2 will be passed through to it. This means that you can pass the extraInstallCommands attribute, for example, and it will have the same effect as described in buildFHSEnv.

::: {.note} In the past, appimageTools provided both wrapType1 and wrapType2, to be used depending on the type of AppImage that was being wrapped. However, those were unified early 2020, meaning that both wrapType1 and wrapType2 have the same behaviour now. :::

:::{.example #ex-wrapping-appimage-from-github}

Wrapping an AppImage from GitHub

{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
let
  pname = "nuclear";
  version = "0.6.30";

  src = fetchurl {
    url = "https://github.com/nukeop/nuclear/releases/download/v${version}/${pname}-v${version}.AppImage";
    hash = "sha256-he1uGC1M/nFcKpMM9JKY4oeexJcnzV0ZRxhTjtJz6xw=";
  };
in
appimageTools.wrapType2 {
  inherit pname version src;
}

:::

The argument passed to wrapType2 can also contain an extraPkgs attribute, which allows you to include additional packages inside the FHS environment your AppImage is going to run in. extraPkgs must be a function that returns a list of packages. There are a few ways to learn which dependencies an application needs:

Looking through the extracted AppImage files, reading its scripts and running patchelf and ldd on its executables. This can also be done in appimage-run, by setting APPIMAGE_DEBUG_EXEC=bash.
Running strace -vfefile on the wrapped executable, looking for libraries that can't be found.

:::{.example #ex-wrapping-appimage-with-extrapkgs}

Wrapping an AppImage with extra packages

{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
let
  pname = "irccloud";
  version = "0.16.0";

  src = fetchurl {
    url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
    hash = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
  };
in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
  inherit pname version src;
  extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];
}

:::

Extracting

Use extract if you need to extract the contents of an AppImage. This is usually used in Nixpkgs to install extra files in addition to wrapping the AppImage. extract expects an argument with the src attribute, and either a name attribute or pname and version attributes.

::: {.note} In the past, appimageTools provided both extractType1 and extractType2, to be used depending on the type of AppImage that was being extracted. However, those were unified early 2020, meaning that both extractType1 and extractType2 have the same behaviour as extract now. :::

:::{.example #ex-extracting-appimage}

Extracting an AppImage to install extra files

This example was adapted from a real package in Nixpkgs to show how extract is usually used in combination with wrapType2. Note how appimageContents is used in extraInstallCommands to install additional files that were extracted from the AppImage.

{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
let
  pname = "irccloud";
  version = "0.16.0";

  src = fetchurl {
    url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
    hash = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
  };

  appimageContents = appimageTools.extract {
    inherit pname version src;
  };
in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
  inherit pname version src;

  extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];

  extraInstallCommands = ''
    mv $out/bin/${pname}-${version} $out/bin/${pname}
    install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/irccloud.desktop $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop
    install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/usr/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png \
      $out/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png
    substituteInPlace $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop \
      --replace 'Exec=AppRun' 'Exec=${pname}'
  '';
}

:::

The argument passed to extract can also contain a postExtract attribute, which allows you to execute additional commands after the files are extracted from the AppImage. postExtract must be a string with commands to run.

:::{.example #ex-extracting-appimage-with-postextract}

Extracting an AppImage to install extra files, using `postExtract`

This is a rewrite of to use postExtract.

{ appimageTools, fetchurl }:
let
  pname = "irccloud";
  version = "0.16.0";

  src = fetchurl {
    url = "https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/IRCCloud-${version}-linux-x86_64.AppImage";
    hash = "sha256-/hMPvYdnVB1XjKgU2v47HnVvW4+uC3rhRjbucqin4iI=";
  };

  appimageContents = appimageTools.extract {
    inherit pname version src;
    postExtract = ''
      substituteInPlace $out/irccloud.desktop --replace 'Exec=AppRun' 'Exec=${pname}'
    '';
  };
in appimageTools.wrapType2 {
  inherit pname version src;

  extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.at-spi2-core ];

  extraInstallCommands = ''
    mv $out/bin/${pname}-${version} $out/bin/${pname}
    install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/irccloud.desktop $out/share/applications/irccloud.desktop
    install -m 444 -D ${appimageContents}/usr/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png \
      $out/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/irccloud.png
  '';
}

:::

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