I want to share the script that I am now using to create AppImages for my Qt C++ project ‘SER Player’. This script was developed with and original recipe and lots of help from Simon.
This script is now working very well, generating a 64-bit or 32-bit AppImage depending on which version of Linux is running. It should be very simple to modify the script for other Qt C++ projects so it could be used as a starting point for others which is one reason that I am posting this.
Another reason for posting is others might be able to suggest fixes and improvements.
The ‘SER Player’ project is here:
To produce an AppImage from the project,the following should be entered at the command line:
cd ser-player
qmake CONFIG+=release
make
cd linux_appimage
$ ./make_appimage.sh
This will generate an AppImage in the linux_appimage directory.
This is the current make_appimage.sh script:
#!/bin/bash
copy_libs_for_binary()
{
echo "Copying libs for binary $1 to $2"
libs=$(ldd $1)
lib=()
mapfile -t lib <<< "$libs"
for lib in "${lib[@]}"
do
#echo "lib: ${lib}"
a=( $lib )
count=${#a[@]}
if ((count > 3)); then
cp -n ${a[2]} $2
sub_libs=$(ldd ${a[2]})
sub_lib=()
mapfile -t sub_lib <<< "$sub_libs"
for lib2 in "${sub_lib[@]}"
do
#echo " lib2: ${lib2}"
a2=( $lib2 )
count2=${#a2[@]}
if ((count2 > 3)); then
cp -n ${a2[2]} $2
fi
done
fi
done
}
# Run the get_qt_details.sh script to set details of the Qt installation and the architecture
# This script is generated by qmake and sets the $QT_INSTALL_DIR and $SYS_ARCH variables.
this_dir=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )
source $this_dir/get_qt_details.sh
# Create temp directory to work in when creating the AppImage
rm -rf temp
mkdir temp
cd temp
# Checkout and build AppImageKit
git clone https://github.com/probonopd/AppImageKit.git
./AppImageKit/build.sh
# Get the AppImage script functions file
wget -q https://github.com/probonopd/AppImages/raw/master/functions.sh -O ./functions.sh
. ./functions.sh
# Create the AppImage directory structure
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/bin
#mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/libs
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/platforms
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/plugins/imageformats
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/applications
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps
mkdir -p ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/mime/packages
# Copy ser-player executable file into place and strip it
cp ../../bin/ser-player ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/
strip -s ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/ser-player
chmod 0755 ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/ser-player
chrpath -d ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/ser-player
# Copy shell script and wrapper files
cp ../files/ser-player ser-player.AppDir/usr/bin/
cp ../files/ser-player.wrapper ser-player.AppDir/usr/bin/
# Copy files in share directories
cp ../files/share/ser-player.desktop ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/applications/
cp ../files/ser-player.png ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/
cp ../files/share/ser-player.xml ser-player.AppDir/usr/share/mime/packages/
# Copy file into top level of AppDir
cp ./AppImageKit/AppRun ser-player.AppDir/
cp ../files/ser-player.desktop ser-player.AppDir/
cp ../files/ser-player.png ser-player.AppDir/
# Copy Qt platform plugin to AppDir
cp ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/platforms/libqxcb.* ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/platforms/
# Copy other Qt plugins to AppDir
cp ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/imageformats/libqjpeg.* ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/plugins/imageformats/
cp ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/imageformats/libqtiff.* ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/ser-player/plugins/imageformats/
# Copy all required libs to AppDir
copy_libs_for_binary ../../bin/ser-player ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/
copy_libs_for_binary ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/platforms/libqxcb.so ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/
copy_libs_for_binary ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/imageformats/libqjpeg.so ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/
copy_libs_for_binary ${QT_INSTALL_DIR}/plugins/imageformats/libqtiff.so ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/
# Remove excluded libraries
cd ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/
delete_blacklisted
cd ../../..
# Strip all libs and change permissions
strip -s ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/lib*
chmod 0644 ser-player.AppDir/usr/lib/lib*
# Get the glibc version required using the glibc_need() function from the AppImageKit functions.sh
cd ser-player.AppDir
GLIBC_NEEDED=$(glibc_needed)
cd ..
#wget -c "https://github.com/probonopd/AppImageKit/releases/download/5/AppImageAssistant" # (64-bit)
./AppImageKit/AppImageAssistant ./ser-player.AppDir/ ../ser-player-x.x.x-glibc${GLIBC_NEEDED}-${SYS_ARCH}.AppImage
cd ..
Cheers,
Chris
