7 ms·

Open Build Service by openSUSE

62 points by albertzeyer 12y ago

Game_Ender 12y ago
Is this openSUSE only, or can you build packages for other distributions with this service? It's hard to tell from their documentation or website. EDIT: The openSUSE instance [0] says: The openSUSE Build Service is the public instance of the Open Build Service (OBS) used for development of the openSUSE distribution and to offer packages from same source for Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions.. [0] - https://build.opensuse.org/ https://build.opensuse.org/ So it appears they do support different distributions, although I can't seem to find download links or examples.
- milliams 12y ago
  I've used it in the past to build software for openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, Arch and more. For example, the owncloud package is built for a whole load (list on the right of [1]) and can provide a download page like [2]. [1] https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/isv:ownCloud:community/owncloud https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/isv:ownCloud:communi... [2] http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=isv%3AownCloud%3Acommunity&package=owncloud http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=isv%3Aown...
  - mijoharas 12y ago
    Can you actually build for Arch with this? I can't see an option for this, (thinking it might be a typo of yours). In addition, I'm trying to figure out how it works, what form do you need to upload the package as?
    - hennevogel 12y ago
      Yes you can. And for debian, ubuntu, fedora, RHEL, SLES, CentOS, UCS. Of course all of them in multiple versions and in X86, X86_64, ARM, s390, PPC. Have a look here https://build.opensuse.org/project/add_repository_from_default_list/home:hennevogel https://build.opensuse.org/project/add_repository_from_defau... for a (shortened) list of popular distros the OBS supports.
      - mijoharas 12y ago
        Thanks, I was trying to find a list like that, I guess my searching let me down.
    - milliams 12y ago
      Yes you can. You just need a tarball and a PKGBUILD file. There's one downside in that in the official Arch repos, the sourcecode is just defined as a download link to the tarball but since the OBS builder can't access the internet (for security I guess) you have to provide a tarball yourself. The Build Service does however provide hooks for automatically downloading tarballs or grabbing code from version control systems.
- m_rcin 12y ago
  most complete example is osc, which is command-line tool for working with OBS: http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=openSUSE:Tools&package=osc http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=openSUSE:... or direct file access: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Tools/ http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Tools/
cyberiad 12y ago
You can download packages from http://software.opensuse.org/search http://software.opensuse.org/search Click on the button far right to go to the detailed search, which allows to select a distribution.
m_rcin 12y ago
I use OBS to provide Linux packages of the latest version of my project for multiple Linux distros. Because of the release cycle Linux distros usually come with older versions of the program, so when the user reports a problem it's handy to have an easy way for her to update and try the latest version. (Compilation from sources is not an easy way) I spent many hours to write a spec file portable enough to build on OpenSuse/Fedora/RHEL/Mandriva (there was Mandriva Linux at that time), and to prepare debian/ directory, but after this initial work updating spec/debian and triggering builds for a new release takes only a few minutes. I really appreciate that SUSE is providing resources to build packages for other distros. This is in contrast with Canonical refusing to build packages for Debian in PPA[1]: "PPA builds consume a great deal of resources and it's difficult justify spending that amount of money as a gift, especially if the net effect would be to encourage people to build packages which don't necessarily work with Ubuntu." [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564
- zimbatm 12y ago
  OBS looks great but somehow I always get hung at the learning phase. Is there some pointers that you recommend for new users to build their own packages ?
  - rmk2 12y ago
    The first thing to look at is probably the tutorial[1], followed by the wiki page about OSC[2], which is the command-line tool that interfaces with OBS itself. The Packaging Guidelines[3] provide additional information for specific use cases, corner cases and packages and is also quite helpful! [1]: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Build_Service_Tutorial http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Build_Service_Tutorial [2]: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:OSC http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:OSC [3]: https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Packaging_guidelines https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Packaging_guidelines
  - hennevogel 12y ago
    Have you tried to follow the simple video tutorial? http://vimeo.com/30550722 http://vimeo.com/30550722
rmk2 12y ago
OBS is a fantastic service. As other comments have pointed out, you can build for other distributions as well, but as an openSUSE user, I use it for quite a bit. Some of the packages I would otherwise compile locally but that don't need to be in the distribution itself, I simply compile on there, add my personal repository to my repository list and they will stay in sync with other build requirements etc. On top of that, this allows me to have them in the package manager proper, and I can easily build my packages for multiple openSUSE versions, usually current (13.1), Tumbleweed and Factory. OBS also makes it really easy to fork packages to fix something and/or apply patches, and depending on what kind of changes one made, it also includes pull requests. That way you can fix or extend a piece of software via forking, and if it works and might be useful for everybody, you can send your changes to the maintainer, who can integrate it if they find them adequate. This makes it quite a bit easier and lowers the barriers of helping "upstream" with improving the whole distribution.
TallGuyShort 12y ago
The SUSE engineers and community really make some fantastic tools. I was a long-time openSUSE user but I found the package repositories were not so well maintained and eventually I switched away, but tools like Zypper (the only mainstream Linux package manager that gives you fine-grained control on what to do if a package dependency cannot be fulfilled - a pet peeve of mine on Debian systems), SUSEStudio (web service for interactively building Linux appliances, Live CDs, etc) and it's back-end Kiwi, etc. - really very cool stuff.
- mijoharas 12y ago
  Out of interest, what did you switch to? Debian?
  - TallGuyShort 12y ago
    Fedora
    - joepie91_ 12y ago
      That surprises me. I've used Fedora for a while (it was preinstalled on a laptop that was gifted to me), and found that the repositories were both much smaller and much less well-maintained than the equivalents on openSUSE.
      - TallGuyShort 12y ago
        I have found a few handy tools that openSUSE had packaged long before Fedora. I think the credit for that goes to openSUSE's much more accessible build service :) Haven't had any issues with the repositories, myself, though - been using Fedora on and off since F11.
        joepie91_ 12y ago
        It mostly does. There are a few things that are in openSUSEs main repositories and not in those of Fedora, but in many cases the openSUSE packages were indeed in user repositories. Fedora repositories were so bad for me that I ended up searching for Fedora packages on the openSUSE Build Service, and using those instead.
ihnorton 12y ago
Quite remarkably, it supports Windows too (via cross-compilation). The Julia WinRPM tool [1] automatically downloads dependencies for various Julia packages from OBS - including some very interdependent, complex libraries like Glib and Gtk. [1] https://github.com/JuliaLang/WinRPM.jl https://github.com/JuliaLang/WinRPM.jl
jilted 12y ago
Open Build Service has always been one of the more attractive features of OpenSuSe, along with Suse Studio. Unfortunately, after spending some time with the newest release of OpenSuSe, I found it had become very bloated and I feel I will never return to the distribution. The straw on the camel's back was finding out about the 'tmpfiles.d' or similar. Seems very messy and got me thinking about the direction some of the Linux distributions are going.
- jilted 12y ago
  Of course, this is only an opinion, and in general the Suse engineers have always done some great work.

62 points by albertzeyer 12y ago

Is this openSUSE only, or can you build packages for other distributions with this service? It's hard to tell from their documentation or website. EDIT: The openSUSE instance [0] says: The openSUSE Build Service is the public instance of the Open Build Service (OBS) used for development of the openSUSE distribution and to offer packages from same source for Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions.. [0] - https://build.opensuse.org/ https://build.opensuse.org/ So it appears they do support different distributions, although I can't seem to find download links or examples.

milliams 12y ago
I've used it in the past to build software for openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, Arch and more. For example, the owncloud package is built for a whole load (list on the right of [1]) and can provide a download page like [2]. [1] https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/isv:ownCloud:community/owncloud https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/isv:ownCloud:communi... [2] http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=isv%3AownCloud%3Acommunity&package=owncloud http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=isv%3Aown...
- mijoharas 12y ago
  Can you actually build for Arch with this? I can't see an option for this, (thinking it might be a typo of yours). In addition, I'm trying to figure out how it works, what form do you need to upload the package as?
  - hennevogel 12y ago
    Yes you can. And for debian, ubuntu, fedora, RHEL, SLES, CentOS, UCS. Of course all of them in multiple versions and in X86, X86_64, ARM, s390, PPC. Have a look here https://build.opensuse.org/project/add_repository_from_default_list/home:hennevogel https://build.opensuse.org/project/add_repository_from_defau... for a (shortened) list of popular distros the OBS supports.
    - mijoharas 12y ago
      Thanks, I was trying to find a list like that, I guess my searching let me down.
  - milliams 12y ago
    Yes you can. You just need a tarball and a PKGBUILD file. There's one downside in that in the official Arch repos, the sourcecode is just defined as a download link to the tarball but since the OBS builder can't access the internet (for security I guess) you have to provide a tarball yourself. The Build Service does however provide hooks for automatically downloading tarballs or grabbing code from version control systems.
m_rcin 12y ago
most complete example is osc, which is command-line tool for working with OBS: http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=openSUSE:Tools&package=osc http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=openSUSE:... or direct file access: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Tools/ http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Tools/

cyberiad 12y ago

You can download packages from http://software.opensuse.org/search http://software.opensuse.org/search Click on the button far right to go to the detailed search, which allows to select a distribution.

m_rcin 12y ago

I use OBS to provide Linux packages of the latest version of my project for multiple Linux distros. Because of the release cycle Linux distros usually come with older versions of the program, so when the user reports a problem it's handy to have an easy way for her to update and try the latest version. (Compilation from sources is not an easy way) I spent many hours to write a spec file portable enough to build on OpenSuse/Fedora/RHEL/Mandriva (there was Mandriva Linux at that time), and to prepare debian/ directory, but after this initial work updating spec/debian and triggering builds for a new release takes only a few minutes. I really appreciate that SUSE is providing resources to build packages for other distros. This is in contrast with Canonical refusing to build packages for Debian in PPA[1]: "PPA builds consume a great deal of resources and it's difficult justify spending that amount of money as a gift, especially if the net effect would be to encourage people to build packages which don't necessarily work with Ubuntu." [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564

zimbatm 12y ago
OBS looks great but somehow I always get hung at the learning phase. Is there some pointers that you recommend for new users to build their own packages ?
- rmk2 12y ago
  The first thing to look at is probably the tutorial[1], followed by the wiki page about OSC[2], which is the command-line tool that interfaces with OBS itself. The Packaging Guidelines[3] provide additional information for specific use cases, corner cases and packages and is also quite helpful! [1]: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Build_Service_Tutorial http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Build_Service_Tutorial [2]: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:OSC http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:OSC [3]: https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Packaging_guidelines https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Packaging_guidelines
- hennevogel 12y ago
  Have you tried to follow the simple video tutorial? http://vimeo.com/30550722 http://vimeo.com/30550722

rmk2 12y ago

OBS is a fantastic service. As other comments have pointed out, you can build for other distributions as well, but as an openSUSE user, I use it for quite a bit. Some of the packages I would otherwise compile locally but that don't need to be in the distribution itself, I simply compile on there, add my personal repository to my repository list and they will stay in sync with other build requirements etc. On top of that, this allows me to have them in the package manager proper, and I can easily build my packages for multiple openSUSE versions, usually current (13.1), Tumbleweed and Factory. OBS also makes it really easy to fork packages to fix something and/or apply patches, and depending on what kind of changes one made, it also includes pull requests. That way you can fix or extend a piece of software via forking, and if it works and might be useful for everybody, you can send your changes to the maintainer, who can integrate it if they find them adequate. This makes it quite a bit easier and lowers the barriers of helping "upstream" with improving the whole distribution.

TallGuyShort 12y ago

The SUSE engineers and community really make some fantastic tools. I was a long-time openSUSE user but I found the package repositories were not so well maintained and eventually I switched away, but tools like Zypper (the only mainstream Linux package manager that gives you fine-grained control on what to do if a package dependency cannot be fulfilled - a pet peeve of mine on Debian systems), SUSEStudio (web service for interactively building Linux appliances, Live CDs, etc) and it's back-end Kiwi, etc. - really very cool stuff.

mijoharas 12y ago
Out of interest, what did you switch to? Debian?
- TallGuyShort 12y ago
  Fedora
  - joepie91_ 12y ago
    That surprises me. I've used Fedora for a while (it was preinstalled on a laptop that was gifted to me), and found that the repositories were both much smaller and much less well-maintained than the equivalents on openSUSE.
    - TallGuyShort 12y ago
      I have found a few handy tools that openSUSE had packaged long before Fedora. I think the credit for that goes to openSUSE's much more accessible build service :) Haven't had any issues with the repositories, myself, though - been using Fedora on and off since F11.
      - joepie91_ 12y ago
        It mostly does. There are a few things that are in openSUSEs main repositories and not in those of Fedora, but in many cases the openSUSE packages were indeed in user repositories. Fedora repositories were so bad for me that I ended up searching for Fedora packages on the openSUSE Build Service, and using those instead.

ihnorton 12y ago

Quite remarkably, it supports Windows too (via cross-compilation). The Julia WinRPM tool [1] automatically downloads dependencies for various Julia packages from OBS - including some very interdependent, complex libraries like Glib and Gtk. [1] https://github.com/JuliaLang/WinRPM.jl https://github.com/JuliaLang/WinRPM.jl

jilted 12y ago

Open Build Service has always been one of the more attractive features of OpenSuSe, along with Suse Studio. Unfortunately, after spending some time with the newest release of OpenSuSe, I found it had become very bloated and I feel I will never return to the distribution. The straw on the camel's back was finding out about the 'tmpfiles.d' or similar. Seems very messy and got me thinking about the direction some of the Linux distributions are going.

jilted 12y ago
Of course, this is only an opinion, and in general the Suse engineers have always done some great work.