Proposal: AUR package (openpets-bin) for Arch/CachyOS

[pinoybear]

Hi alvinunreal,

I've loved openpets since I first came across it a few months ago. It's become a must-have on all my Linux machines! I filed #119/PR #120 a while back (merged into v3.4.0), and more recently opened #221-223 with fixes in #224-226 for a few bugs I ran into testing v4.0.0. I've been running OpenPets from source pretty heavily on a couple of CachyOS machines, and was thinking about putting together an AUR package so Arch/CachyOS users could install your app with a simple paru -S openpets-bin instead of manually grabbing the AppImage. Another benefit of an AUR package is the app would be updated when a user updates their system with paru -Syu.

I'm wondering if you are okay with an AUR package existing at all. Some projects would rather stick to AppImage/Flatpak-only distribution, or want to publish under an official name themselves...

If you're ok with me maintaining an AUR package:

• Any preference on naming? openpets-bin is the usual AUR convention for a package that just wraps a binary/AppImage release, but wanted to check you don't already have one planned or a name you'd prefer.
• How would you want version bumps handled — should I just watch your repo for new GitHub releases and update the package myself, or would some other signal work better?
• Would you link it from the README/docs once it's up? That lends the package a lot of credibility if you approve.

Let me know what you think. -Pinoybear

[alvinunreal]

thanks @pinoybear - it's great idea.
Would be more than happy if you maintain, let me know whats needed on repo side to integrate; will do full support

[pinoybear]

Awesome, thank you and I'm psyched you support this! I'll go ahead with openpets-bin as the name unless you'd rather something else.

One thing I want to hold off on before I build the first package: I'm going to wait until the next release comes out. I'd like to confirm the pet-disappearing-while-wandering and Control Center crash fixes (#224/#225) are actually in a tagged release and working before there's a package pointing at it. Once that's confirmed I'll get the AUR package up and let you know — happy to have it linked from the README/docs whenever you'd like.

Other than that, nothing needed from you for now.

[alvinunreal]

@pinoybear I will rerelease v4 linux packages now so this bug is fixed and we can continue

[alvinunreal]

it's re-released

[pinoybear]

Quick update: I installed the rebuilt v4.0.0 and confirmed #224, #225 and #226 are all in it and working. Thanks for turning that around so fast!

While testing, I found a new issue on Linux from #228: the pet now gets a taskbar entry, and closing it from there removes the pet (details in #233). Since that would affect pretty much anyone installing from the AUR, I'd like to hold off on publishing the first package until we see if anything gets changed because of it. I'll check back once that's sorted out.

[alvinunreal]

lets fix all issues to release;
what are left?

[pinoybear]

Nothing else open on my end. #233 is verified (details in the thread) and the Calendar Airmail crash is fixed by #236, which you merged last night. The only thing missing is that the current v4.0.0 Linux packages were built before #236 went in, so they don't have that fix yet.

I'll work on the AUR package today and will post the link here once it's published.

Note: the first version of openpets-bin will be built from the current v4.0.0 release files, so it includes all the fixes up to and including #234, but not #236 (the Airmail fix). #236 is the only PR merged since those packages were built. When you rebuild the Linux packages or tag the next release, I'll update the AUR package to match.

One request for future builds

The AUR package pins the SHA-256 checksum to the release AppImage on your repo. If the files on an existing release get replaced without a version change, I can handle it on my end by bumping the package revision (4.0.0-2), but until I make the manual update on AUR, a new AUR install fails with a checksum mismatch.

A version bump for rebuilt packages (4.0.1 for example) would be preferred. It avoids that gap, and it makes it clear which build someone is running when they report an issue, since two different 4.0.0 builds look identical from the outside. If a re-upload under the same version does happen, a quick comment here would be great and I'll update as soon as I can to close the failed install gap mentioned above.

[alvinunreal]

great tnx for help! 🙏
will re-release today calendar fix

[pinoybear]

The AUR package is up: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/openpets-bin

It's openpets-bin 4.0.0-1, built from the v4.0.0 .deb, and installs with paru -S openpets-bin (or yay -S openpets-bin). I tested it as a fresh install on a second laptop and it runs clean, with no errors in the log. A few notes:

• nodejs is an optional dependency, since the coding-agent integrations run the MCP server and hooks with the system node.
• The package fixes StartupWMClass in the .desktop file. Upstream has OpenPets, but the actual window class is open-pets-desktop, so desktops that rely on StartupWMClass to match the window to its launcher won't. Happy to send a small PR for that so the package doesn't have to patch it.
• The release packages include a stray .git file (a submodule pointer) in resources/plugins/official/openpets.system-resources. The AUR package removes it, but it's probably worth dropping from the build.

While testing I found two more Linux issues: the pet can't be dragged near the top of the screen on KDE since #228 (#237), and the pet's chat/talk buttons get clipped at fractional display scaling (#238).

[alvinunreal]

@pinoybear Thanks for publishing and testing openpets-bin! We’ve added the community-maintained AUR package to the README install instructions and to the website’s Linux install guide and download options: https://openpets.dev/desktop-pets-for-linux . The site changes are deployed now. We’ll keep upstream AppImage/DEB/RPM as the primary Linux downloads and use a new version for the next rebuilt Linux packages so your pinned checksum can be updated cleanly.

[pinoybear]

@alvinunreal Updated the AUR package to 4.0.1. Would you like me to keep posting updates here going forward?

[alvinunreal]

thank @pinoybear - yes I'll be checking and respond in case anything is needed