voculinux/packaging/void

Void packaging

Void Linux (glibc, x86_64) templates in void-packages layout, built with the standard Void source tooling. Submission to upstream void-packages is out of scope for spec #16; these templates serve the signed personal xbps repository first.

Layout

packaging/void/
├── README.md                  this file
├── build-release.sh           the release path: gate, sdist, signed repo, install smoke
├── container-release.sh       the container half: build, sign, install (one per phase)
├── render-voculinux.sh        pins version, _tag and checksum in the build tree only
├── smoke.sh                   ticket #28 gate: the release path with a throwaway key
├── xbps-fingerprint.py        the repository key's fingerprint and client plist
├── repository-key.plist       the repository's PUBLIC key (never a private key)
├── tool_checksums.txt         pinned base image and void-packages commit
└── srcpkgs/
    ├── python3-pywhispercpp/  ticket #26: whisper.cpp Python binding
    ├── python3-pynput/        ticket #25: the input library Void does not ship
    ├── python3-PyAudio/       ticket #25: the audio binding, updated past Void's copy
    ├── python3-pysocks/       spec #16 gap: the SOCKS module, updated past Void's copy
    └── voculinux              ticket #27: the application

srcpkgs/ mirrors void-packages so the tree overlays cleanly: cp -r packaging/void/srcpkgs/. /path/to/void-packages/srcpkgs/ (the release path does this inside the container).

Templates

Template	Ticket	Notes
python3-pywhispercpp	#26	Vulkan backend on by default; see below
python3-pynput	#25	A dependency Void does not ship
python3-PyAudio, python3-pysocks	spec #16 gap	Void's copies are below the project floors; see Version floors
voculinux	#27	The app, from the canonical release sdist; see below

Version floors

pyproject.toml declares floors that Void's own packages do not meet. On 2026-11-06 the stock packages on void-packages master were:

Package	Stock Void	Project floor	Carried template	voculinux depends
python3-PyAudio	0.2.12_5	pyaudio>=0.2.13	0.2.14_1	python3-PyAudio>=0.2.14_1
python3-pysocks	1.7.0_8	PySocks>=1.7.1,<2	1.7.1_1	python3-pysocks>=1.7.1_1

The gap is closed in the personal repository, not hidden. The carried templates build the versions uv.lock pins, and voculinux names each one with a >= constraint in the xbps name>=version_revision form (the xbps-src manual lists <, >, <= and >=). A bare name would be satisfied by the stock package a user already has, so xbps would leave it in place and the app would run below its floor. With the constraint, xbps takes the carried template from the signed repository instead. Dependency verification stays on.

The install smoke checks the upgrade, not just a clean install: it installs the stock packages from Void first, then voculinux, and fails unless each package reads back as its carried pkgver. tests/test_void_app_template.py requires every constraint to name its template's current version and revision, so a template bump without a depends bump fails offline. tests/test_void_small_deps.py requires the stock version below the floor and the carried version at or above it.

Known limit: xbps has one comparator per dependency, so PySocks' <2 cannot be written. The carried 1.7.1 satisfies it. A future Void python3-pysocks 2.x would also satisfy >=1.7.1_1, so it is not excluded by the dependency.

When a project floor rises, or Void's stock package moves up to the carried version, change the carried template and its constraint in the same pull request. The live signal is the install smoke: once the stock package reaches the carried version, the constraint is already met, the stock package is kept, and the pkgver check fails. That is the signal to retire the carried template deliberately. The offline stock-version test in tests/test_void_small_deps.py only records the versions verified on 2026-11-06; it does not query Void.

python3-pywhispercpp

Version 1.5.0, pinned to the same version install.sh (PYWHISPERCPP_VERSION) and uv.lock pin — never newest upstream. The sdist checksum in the template must equal the sha256 uv.lock records for the sdist; tests/test_void_pywhispercpp_template.py fails otherwise.

• Vulkan is a build option, on by default. Rebuild CPU-only in a void-packages checkout with the overlay applied: ./xbps-src -o ~vulkan pkg python3-pywhispercpp. There is no CUDA build: Void ships no CUDA toolkit package. Rebuilding locally with a hand-installed toolkit (GGML_CUDA=1) is a documented, unsupported escape hatch.
• CPU variants (#44): GGML_BACKEND_DL=ON and GGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS=ON build one CPU library per instruction-set level (libggml-cpu-x64.so for the plain x86-64 baseline, then haswell, skylakex, zen4, ...). ggml loads the best one the host supports, so a host with AVX2 runs AVX2 code, and the baseline variant ships everywhere. GGML_NATIVE stays OFF: ggml refuses it with GGML_BACKEND_DL, and it keeps -march=native out of every variant (#938). patches/load-ggml-backends-beside-module.patch makes the extension load the variants from its own directory: ggml's default search covers the interpreter's directory and the working directory, and neither holds them, so without the patch no CPU backend is registered. The install smoke checks that libggml-cpu-x64.so holds no AVX (ymm/zmm) code, that libggml-cpu-haswell.so does, that no variant carries host-native tuning (.GCC.command.line), and that the CPU and Vulkan backends load from the installed package.
• Version (#43): setup.py passes no version to setup(). The version comes from setuptools-scm, which the sdist declares as a build requirement, so hostmakedepends provides python3-setuptools_scm and SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION pins 1.5.0 without git metadata. Without setuptools-scm, setuptools writes 0.0.0, which the app reads as an unknown binding version and then skips device selection. The install smoke asserts the installed package reports 1.5.0.
• Shared libraries: BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON with an $ORIGIN rpath (as install.sh does), so the extension resolves the whisper.cpp libraries installed beside it with no LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
• Offline build: the sdist vendors whisper.cpp, pybind11, and the ggml sources; the build fetches nothing beyond the declared distfiles. The sdist carries no git metadata, which is why the version is pinned through setuptools-scm (see Version above).

voculinux

The template builds the fork's canonical release source distribution. It is built from the release tag, never attached by hand, and never fetched from upstream. Read Version mapping and Checksum before changing version, _tag or checksum.

• Runtime deps are Void's own interpreter, GTK and desktop bindings, the packaged Python libraries, the carried templates (python3-pynput, python3-PyAudio, python3-pysocks and python3-pywhispercpp; the audio binding and SOCKS module are version-constrained, see Version floors), and the helper tools the app shells out to: PipeWire (capture), wtype (direct typing on niri), wl-clipboard, xdotool and pulseaudio-utils. ibus is not a dependency: it cannot inject on niri. Every name was verified to exist in current void-packages; the container build re-verifies via dependency resolution.
• No payload beyond the app: no speech models (they download on first run), no vendored wheels, no pip at build or install time. The install smoke fails the release if the payload carries model weights or wheels.
• Installed names: the voculinux.desktop entry, the hicolor icons, and a usr/share/voculinux/packaged marker the app reads to present package-manager updates. The fork's sdist already carries the final names, so the template installs them as they are; the payload smoke rejects any pre-rename leftovers in the OS-visible paths.
• INSTALL.msg covers what xbps cannot express: the input group for the evdev hotkey backend, first-run model downloads, optional engines as manual additions (vosk, OpenAI whisper, Parakeet, faster-whisper, onnxruntime), the niri first run, the absent ydotool rung, and updating through xbps.
• Update checker: packaged installs keep background checks as a signal, but every update affordance (tray entry, notification, About page) presents the package-manager path (src/vocalinux/utils/packaging.py).

Version mapping

xbps versions cannot contain -. The xbps spelling of a release is __version__ with the hyphen removed. build-release.sh names TAG prints it.

__version__ (tag v + it)	xbps version	distfile and release asset
0.18.5	0.18.5	voculinux-0.18.5.tar.gz
0.19.0-alpha	0.19.0alpha	voculinux-0.19.0alpha.tar.gz
0.19.0-beta	0.19.0beta	voculinux-0.19.0beta.tar.gz
0.19.0-rc1	0.19.0rc1	voculinux-0.19.0rc1.tar.gz

Only X.Y.Z and X.Y.Z-alpha, -beta or -rcN are release forms; anything else is refused. xbps sorts these spellings below the final release (xbps-uhelper cmpver, checked in tests/test_void_release_build.py), so a pre-release never looks newer than the release it precedes. The sdist keeps its PEP 440 name inside (voculinux-0.19.0b0/), which xbps-src's extract hook renames to the package's wrksrc, so the two spellings need not match.

The distfile URL is releases/download/${_tag}/voculinux-${version}.tar.gz. _tag keeps the hyphen (v0.19.0-beta), so the URL names the tag that exists.

Checksum

The template's checksum= is a placeholder of 64 zeros in the committed template until the first fork release has a recorded digest. That placeholder is never a real digest. Every release build replaces it, in its build tree only, with the sha256 of the sdist it builds (render-voculinux.sh). The release run refuses to continue unless exactly one checksum= line exists and reads back as the computed digest, and it refuses if the committed template changed.

After a release, the digest of the published sdist is recorded in the template by a pull request: the workflow log and the release notes both print checksum=<sha256>, and the pull request copies it into packaging/void/srcpkgs/voculinux/template. Nothing commits to main.

Building

just void-smoke                       # the gate: build, sign with a throwaway key, install, smoke
just void-release v0.18.5             # a dry run of the release, with XBPS_SIGNING_KEY_FILE set
packaging/void/build-release.sh names v0.19.0-beta     # offline: the names a tag maps to
packaging/void/build-release.sh check-tag v0.19.0-beta # offline: the tag gate

Podman only, never Docker. The base image digest and the void-packages commit come from tool_checksums.txt; bump them there, never in a script.

Smoke gate

packaging/void/smoke.sh runs the release path for the current version with a throwaway RSA 4096 key generated in a temporary directory. The gate needs no host Void install and nothing is published. Stages, in order, each fails the run:

1. the tag gate (check-tag) and the committed template's version and _tag;
2. the canonical sdist, built from the working tree;
3. build: every template in PKGS order (smoke.sh owns the list), linted with xlint, built with xbps-src, the sdist resolved by xbps-src show;
4. sign: the packages indexed and signed, with no network;
5. install: in a clean image with no key, an unsigned install is refused, the signed repository is trusted, Void's stock python3-PyAudio and python3-pysocks are installed, then voculinux installs and upgrades both to the carried versions (see Version floors), voculinux --version shows the version, the payload checks pass (desktop entry, icon, marker, no models, no pre-rename names, the Vulkan backend, the CPU variants with an AVX-free x86-64 baseline, no host-native CPU tuning), the installed pywhispercpp reports 1.5.0, and the imports load (pynput through its dummy backend, evdev, gi with Gtk 3, pywhispercpp.model, pyaudio, socks, and the app's own modules, which keep their retained internal name).

tests/test_void_smoke_gate.py asserts offline that the gate stays wired to every srcpkgs template.

Signed repository

packaging/void/build-release.sh release TAG --key-file FILE --out-dir DIR is the whole release, and the only path that signs anything. It is the path the tag workflow runs, and just void-release runs it locally.

Fail-closed, in this order, before any container starts:

• the tag must be exactly v plus __version__, and the committed template must name that version and tag;
• the key must be non-empty, valid, RSA 4096, and its public half must equal repository-key.plist byte for byte (a different key never publishes);
• the canonical sdist must build with Python 3.11 and uv 0.12/0.13. Only its wheel is compared byte for byte: a second build of the same tag has identical contents, but the tar and gzip timestamps differ, so the release records the digest of the sdist it publishes, not of a rebuild.

Then three containers, each with only what it needs:

phase	privileges	what runs
build	root, network on, no key	void-packages at the pinned commit, the build tree rendered from the tag, every template built as the builder user
sign	root, no network, key mounted read-only	xbps-rindex indexes and signs; no build code runs
install	root, network on (dependencies), no key	an unsigned install is refused; the signed repository installs voculinux; the smoke above

The committed templates must be unchanged after the build; the run fails if they are not. DIR must be absent or empty, and the run writes DIR/sdist/, DIR/xbps/repo/ (packages, signatures, x86_64-repodata), DIR/xbps/keys/ (the client .plist named by its fingerprint, and FINGERPRINT) and DIR/SDIST_SHA256. A final check accepts only that set: nothing from musl, no other architecture, every package signed, the key the pinned one.

The repository key

One RSA 4096 key signs everything. Its fingerprint, which clients pin:

fa:d1:00:32:ce:b1:b9:fd:73:05:05:76:75:54:37:25

• Public half: committed as packaging/void/repository-key.plist (the same file xbps keeps in /var/db/xbps/keys/, named by the fingerprint). Signer identity in the file: Bongbetic <soubarna@live.in>. tests/test_void_signed_repo.py derives the fingerprint from this file and fails if either README shows a different one.
• Private half: never committed, never in the repository, never on a build host's disk beyond the run. It exists as the XBPS_SIGNING_KEY CI secret (PEM text, newlines intact) and in the maintainer's own backup.
• Generating a new key (only if the key is ever replaced; clients then have to re-pin, so this is a release-notes event):

openssl genrsa -out xbps-sign-key.pem 4096
# back the key up somewhere safe, then store it as XBPS_SIGNING_KEY
openssl rsa -in xbps-sign-key.pem -pubout    # the public half, to build the .plist from

• Checking a private key against the committed public key, before it is stored as the secret (both lines must print the same digest):

openssl rsa -in xbps-sign-key.pem -pubout 2>/dev/null | openssl md5
python3 -c "import plistlib,sys; sys.stdout.buffer.write(plistlib.load(open('packaging/void/repository-key.plist','rb'))['public-key'])" | openssl md5

Releasing: the Gitea workflow

A human pushes a version tag; .gitea/workflows/xbps-release.yml does the rest. It never runs on a schedule or a manual dispatch.

1. Tag gate. build-release.sh check-tag (see above). Nothing else runs first.
2. Key gate. The CI secret XBPS_SIGNING_KEY must be non-empty. The key is written with noclobber to a 0600 file on tmpfs (/dev/shm), never to disk.
3. Runner check. The tools in Runner requirements must be present, or the job stops and names what is missing.
4. Release. build-release.sh release, with the key file (above).
5. Publish. The staged set goes to the tag's release and to the rolling latest release, which the client registration URL serves. Assets: sdist/voculinux-<version>.tar.gz, the packages, their .sig2 signatures, x86_64-repodata (last), FINGERPRINT and the .plist. Nothing is built or uploaded by hand.
6. Cleanup. The key file is removed by a step that always runs.

Then the template's checksum is recorded by a pull request (above), and the release notes show the sdist digest to copy from.

Secret setup, once: Gitea repository settings, Actions, Secrets, add XBPS_SIGNING_KEY with the PEM private key. The job token must be allowed to create releases and upload release assets.

Runner requirements

The job runs on the bongbetic-ci label as a host job. It is not a container: job, and it never uses Docker. It needs:

requirement	why	check
podman (rootless with subuid/subgid ranges, or rootful)	the three phases	podman run --rm alpine true
unprivileged user namespaces	xbps-src builds in a user-namespace chroot (uunshare)	the build phase fails with a clear error otherwise
/dev/shm mounted as tmpfs	the key must never touch disk	stat -f -c %T /dev/shm prints tmpfs
python3.11 on PATH	the sdist is built with Python 3.11, as CI does	python3.11 --version
uv 0.12.x or 0.13.x on PATH	the locked release-build tools	uv --version
openssl, git, sha256sum, curl, python3	key checks, checkout, digests, Gitea API	command -v
about 25 GiB free disk	the void-packages bootstrap and the whisper.cpp build	df -h
egress to github.com, repo-default.voidlinux.org, ghcr.io, pypi.org, files.pythonhosted.org, git.bongbetic.com	clone, bootstrap, base image, locked tools, distfiles, Gitea API	the build phase

The job's timeout-minutes is 240. A cold build takes most of that: the whisper.cpp Vulkan build is the long step.

Client setup

# as root on the Void system
curl -fsSL -o '/var/db/xbps/keys/fa:d1:00:32:ce:b1:b9:fd:73:05:05:76:75:54:37:25.plist' \
  https://git.bongbetic.com/xavierk/voculinux/raw/branch/main/packaging/void/repository-key.plist
echo 'repository=https://git.bongbetic.com/xavierk/voculinux/releases/download/latest' > /etc/xbps.d/voculinux.conf
xbps-install -S voculinux

The key file is named by its fingerprint, so xbps finds it on the first sync. If xbps shows a fingerprint prompt anyway, answer N unless it reads exactly the fingerprint above and matches the FINGERPRINT file on the release; do not add -y to the first sync. tests/test_void_signed_repo.py asserts offline that the registration text stays correct, and tests/test_void_release_build.py asserts the release path refuses to publish under any other key.