yap

YAP — Yet Another Packager

YAP builds native packages for multiple GNU/Linux distributions from a single PKGBUILD specification. Write your package once; get .deb, .rpm, .apk, and .pkg.tar.zst out. All builds run in isolated OCI containers (Docker or Podman).

Features

• Multi-format output: DEB (Debian/Ubuntu), RPM (Fedora/RHEL/Rocky/openSUSE), APK (Alpine), TAR.ZST (Arch)
• Container isolation: reproducible builds, no host contamination, Docker and Podman supported
• PKGBUILD-based: familiar Arch Linux syntax extended with distribution and architecture overrides
• Cross-compilation: build for a different architecture than your host
• Dependency-aware builds: sequential by default; opt-in parallel topo-sort via --parallel
• Package signing: APK RSA + DEB/RPM/Pacman GPG (no gpg binary required)
• SBOM generation: CycloneDX 1.5 and SPDX 2.3 sidecars
• Per-format compression: zstd/gzip/xz for DEB and RPM
• Changelog support: changelog PKGBUILD field renders to native format per distro
• Pacman scriptlets: full 6-hook lifecycle (pre/post install/upgrade/remove)
• Structured logging: slog-based, tree rendering for long lines, zero external UI deps

Installation

One-liner (Linux/macOS, amd64/arm64):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/yap/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Pin a version or install only one tool:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/yap/main/scripts/install.sh \
  | sh -s -- --version v2.1.3 --tool yap

Manual download:

wget https://github.com/M0Rf30/yap/releases/latest/download/yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xzf yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
sudo mv yap /usr/local/bin/
yap version

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/M0Rf30/yap.git
cd yap
make build
sudo mv yap /usr/local/bin/

Requires Docker or Podman:

# Docker
sudo systemctl enable --now docker && sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Podman
sudo systemctl enable --now podman

Quick start

1. Project structure

Create yap.json:

{
  "name": "My Package",
  "description": "A sample package built with YAP",
  "buildDir": "/tmp/yap-build",
  "output": "artifacts",
  "projects": [
    { "name": "my-package" }
  ]
}

2. PKGBUILD

Create my-package/PKGBUILD:

pkgname=my-package
pkgver=1.0.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="My awesome application"
arch=('x86_64')
license=('GPL-3.0')
url="https://github.com/user/my-package"
makedepends=('gcc' 'make')
source=("https://github.com/user/my-package/archive/v${pkgver}.tar.gz")
sha256sums=('SKIP')

build() {
    cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}-${pkgver}"
    make
}

package() {
    cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}-${pkgver}"
    install -Dm755 my-package "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/my-package"
    install -Dm644 README.md "${pkgdir}/usr/share/doc/${pkgname}/README.md"
}

3. Build

# Auto-detect host distro from /etc/os-release
yap build .

# Specific distribution
yap build ubuntu-jammy .
yap build fedora-38 /path/to/project
yap build --cleanbuild --no-makedeps ubuntu-jammy .

4. Output

artifacts/
├── my-package_1.0.0-1_amd64.deb
├── my-package-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
├── my-package-1.0.0-r1.apk
└── my-package-1.0.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Project configuration (yap.json)

{
  "name": "My Multi-Package Project",
  "description": "Project description",
  "buildDir": "/tmp/yap-builds",
  "output": "dist",
  "projects": [
    { "name": "package-one", "install": true },
    { "name": "package-two" }
  ]
}

Build ordering between packages comes from the install flag and each PKGBUILD's depends/makedepends — there is no yap.json-level depends field. See yap.schema.json for the complete spec.

Editor validation (JSON Schema)

A JSON Schema for yap.json ships at the repo root: yap.schema.json. It documents every supported field (compression, signing, repos, SBOM, cross-compilation, etc.). Reference it from your yap.json for autocomplete and inline validation in editors that support JSON Schema:

{
  "$schema": "https://www.schemastore.org/yap.json",
  "name": "My Multi-Package Project",
  "...": "..."
}

The schema is published on SchemaStore, so editors (VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, …) validate any yap.json by filename automatically — no $schema line required.

PKGBUILD extensions

Distribution-specific variables

Use __ (double underscore) to override any variable per distribution. Priority (highest wins):

pkgdesc="My application"
pkgdesc__debian="My application for Debian/Ubuntu"
pkgdesc__ubuntu_noble="My application optimized for Ubuntu 24.04"

makedepends=('gcc' 'make')
makedepends__apt=('build-essential' 'cmake')
makedepends__yum=('gcc-c++' 'cmake3')
makedepends__ubuntu_noble=('build-essential' 'cmake' 'pkg-config' 'libtool')

Architecture-specific variables

depends=('glibc' 'gcc')
depends_x86_64=('glibc' 'gcc' 'lib32-glibc')
depends_aarch64=('glibc' 'gcc' 'aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc')

source=('https://example.com/generic-source.tar.gz')
source_x86_64=('https://example.com/x86_64-optimized.tar.gz')
source_aarch64=('https://example.com/aarch64-source.tar.gz')

sha256sums=('generic_hash')
sha256sums_x86_64=('x86_64_specific_hash')
sha256sums_aarch64=('aarch64_specific_hash')

Supported architectures: x86_64, i686, aarch64, armv7h, armv6h, armv5, ppc64, ppc64le, s390x, mips, mipsle, riscv64, pentium4, any.

Checksum types

Supported (strongest to fastest): b2sums, sha512sums, sha384sums, sha256sums, sha224sums, cksums.

# BLAKE2b (recommended)
b2sums=('2f240f2a3d2f8d8f...')

# CRC32 (format: checksum filesize)
cksums=('1234567890 2048576')

Changelog

changelog=CHANGELOG.md

• DEB: usr/share/doc/<pkgname>/changelog.Debian.gz (Lintian-compliant)
• RPM: native %changelog entries embedded in package metadata
• Pacman: .CHANGELOG in the archive
• APK: ignored (no Alpine convention)

Pacman scriptlets

pre_install()  { echo "Before install"; }
post_install() { systemctl daemon-reload; }
pre_upgrade()  { systemctl stop myservice; }
post_upgrade() { systemctl start myservice; }
pre_remove()   { systemctl disable myservice; }
post_remove()  { systemctl daemon-reload; }

Emitted to <pkgname>.install only when at least one hook is defined. pre/post_upgrade fall back to pre/post_install when absent.

Package manager-specific fields

# DEB
section=utils
priority=optional

# RPM
group="Applications/System"
requires_pre=('shadow-utils')

# APK
maintainer="John Doe <john@example.com>"

Supported distributions

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

YAP ships a companion yap-mcp binary that exposes the same build pipeline over the Model Context Protocol, so any MCP-compatible LLM client (Claude Desktop, opencode, Cursor, Zed, Continue, Goose, …) can drive yap directly.

Quickstart (release binary):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/yap/main/scripts/install.sh | sh
# then add { "mcpServers": { "yap": { "command": "yap-mcp" } } } to your client config

Or pull the standalone OCI image (also listed on the MCP registry as io.github.M0Rf30/yap):

docker pull ghcr.io/m0rf30/yap-mcp:latest
# client config:
# { "mcpServers": { "yap": { "command": "docker",
#   "args": ["run","-i","--rm","ghcr.io/m0rf30/yap-mcp:latest"] } } }

Claude Code plugin (server + skill in one)

/plugin marketplace add M0Rf30/claude-plugins
/plugin install yap@M0Rf30

Smithery

npx @smithery/cli install io.github.M0Rf30/yap --client claude

The full tool surface, per-client config snippets, security model, and troubleshooting are in MCP.md. The shipped skill card at skills/yap/SKILL.md follows the Anthropic Agent Skills layout and gives agents a workflow cheatsheet for free. Distribution channels and release steps are documented in PUBLISHING.md.

CLI reference

Commands

yap build [distro[-release]] <path>   # Build packages (distro auto-detected if omitted)
yap zap [distro] <path>               # Clean build environment
yap prepare [distro[-release]]        # Prepare host build environment
yap pull <distro>                     # Pull pre-built container images
yap install <artifact-file>           # Install a built artifact
yap graph [path]                      # Show dependency graph
yap list-distros                      # List supported distributions
yap status                            # Show host status and runtime detection
yap version                           # Show version information
yap completion <shell>                # Generate shell completion (bash/zsh/fish/powershell)

Build flags

# Build behavior
--cleanbuild, -c            # Clean srcdir before build
--no-build, -o              # Download sources only
--zap, -z                   # Deep clean staging directory
--skip-hash-check, -H       # Skip source checksum verification
--no-container              # Build natively on the host (skip container dispatch)

# Dependencies
--no-makedeps, -d           # Skip makedeps installation
--skip-sync, -s             # Skip package manager sync
--skip-deps pkg1,pkg2       # Omit specific packages from makedeps
--parallel, -P              # Enable parallel topo-sort (opt-in)

# Version
--pkgver 1.2.3, -w          # Override package version
--pkgrel 2, -r              # Override release number

# Range / filter
--from package1             # Start from specific package
--to package5               # Stop at specific package
--only pkg1,pkg2            # Build only listed packages
--skip pkg1,pkg2            # Skip listed packages

# Source access
--ssh-password pass, -p     # Password for SSH source access

# Cross-compilation
--target-arch arm64, -t     # Cross-compile for target architecture
--skip-toolchain-validation, -T

# Repositories / trust
--repo "<spec>"             # Add an extra package repository (repeatable)
--allow-unverified-repos, -U  # Allow apt sources without a verifiable Signed-By key

# Signing
--sign, -K                  # Enable artifact signing
--sign-key /path/to/key     # Private key path
--sign-passphrase pass      # Passphrase (prefer env: YAP_SIGN_PASSPHRASE)
--sign-key-name mykey       # APK key name

# SBOM
--sbom, -S                  # Generate SBOM sidecars
--sbom-format cyclonedx     # CycloneDX 1.5 only
--sbom-format spdx          # SPDX 2.3 only
--sbom-format both          # Both (default)

# Compression
--compression-deb gzip      # DEB: zstd|gzip|xz (default: zstd)
--compression-rpm xz        # RPM: zstd|gzip|xz (default: zstd)

# Debug / output
--debug-dir /path, -D       # Emit split debug info
--verbose                   # Verbose logging
--no-color                  # Disable colored output

Shell completion

yap completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/yap
yap completion zsh > /usr/share/zsh/site-functions/_yap
yap completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/yap.fish
yap completion powershell > yap.ps1

Package signing

Signing uses github.com/ProtonMail/go-crypto/openpgp — no gpg binary required.

Key resolution (highest to lowest)

1. --sign-key <path> CLI flag
2. Format env: YAP_APK_KEY, YAP_DEB_KEY, YAP_RPM_KEY, YAP_PACMAN_KEY
3. Global env: YAP_SIGN_KEY
4. yap.json field signing.keyPath
5. ~/.config/yap/keys/<format>.{rsa,gpg} then ~/.config/yap/keys/default.{rsa,gpg}

Passphrase resolution mirrors key resolution with _PASSPHRASE suffix.

yap.json signing config

{
  "signing": {
    "enabled": true,
    "keyPath": "~/.config/yap/keys/release.gpg",
    "keyName": "release"
  }
}

Verifying signed packages

# APK (after distributing the public key to /etc/apk/keys/)
apk add my-package.apk

# DEB
gpg --verify my-package_1.0.0_amd64.deb.asc my-package_1.0.0_amd64.deb

# RPM
rpm -K my-package-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# Pacman
pacman-key --verify my-package-1.0.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst.sig

SBOM generation

yap build --sbom .                        # Both formats (default)
yap build --sbom --sbom-format cyclonedx .
yap build --sbom --sbom-format spdx .

Output alongside each artifact:

artifacts/
└── my-package_1.0.0-1_amd64.deb
    my-package_1.0.0-1_amd64.deb.cdx.json   ← CycloneDX 1.5
    my-package_1.0.0-1_amd64.deb.spdx.json  ← SPDX 2.3

Captured: name, version, license, runtime/build deps, source URLs and checksums, file hashes, DESCRIBES/DEPENDS_ON relationships.

Advanced usage

Cross-compilation

yap build --target-arch=aarch64 ubuntu-jammy .
yap build --target-arch=armv7 fedora-38 .
yap build --target-arch=i686 alpine .
yap build --target-arch=ppc64le arch .

YAP installs the required cross-compilation toolchains and configures the build environment automatically.

Multi-package projects

{
  "name": "My Suite",
  "projects": [
    { "name": "core-library", "install": true },
    { "name": "main-application", "install": true },
    { "name": "plugins", "install": false }
  ]
}

Packages with "install": true are installed immediately after building so subsequent packages can use them as build-time dependencies.

# Sequential (default) — explicit ordering via "install" field
yap build .

# Parallel — topo-sort + worker pool
yap build --parallel .

Build environment preparation

yap prepare                    # Auto-detect host distro
yap prepare ubuntu-jammy
yap prepare fedora-38
yap prepare --golang arch
yap prepare --skip-sync rocky-9

CI/CD integration

GitHub Actions

name: Build Packages
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install YAP
        run: |
          wget https://github.com/M0Rf30/yap/releases/latest/download/yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
          tar -xzf yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
          sudo mv yap /usr/local/bin/

      - name: Build Packages
        run: yap build

      - name: Upload Artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: packages
          path: artifacts/

GitLab CI

build-packages:
  stage: build
  image: ubuntu:22.04
  before_script:
    - apt-get update && apt-get install -y wget docker.io
    - wget https://github.com/M0Rf30/yap/releases/latest/download/yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
    - tar -xzf yap_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz && mv yap /usr/local/bin/
  script:
    - yap build
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - artifacts/
    expire_in: 1 week

Examples

The examples directory contains complete, ready-to-build projects:

PKGBUILD examples

Simple C application

pkgname=hello-world
pkgver=1.0.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="A simple Hello World program"
arch=('x86_64')
license=('MIT')
makedepends=('gcc')
source=("hello.c")
sha256sums=('SKIP')

build() { gcc -o hello hello.c; }

package() { install -Dm755 hello "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/hello"; }

Python application

pkgname=python-myapp
pkgver=2.1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="My Python application"
arch=('any')
license=('Apache-2.0')
depends=('python3')
makedepends__apt=('python3-dev' 'python3-setuptools')
makedepends__yum=('python3-devel' 'python3-setuptools')
source=("https://pypi.io/packages/source/m/myapp/myapp-${pkgver}.tar.gz")
sha256sums=('...')

build() {
    cd "${srcdir}/myapp-${pkgver}"
    python3 setup.py build
}

package() {
    cd "${srcdir}/myapp-${pkgver}"
    python3 setup.py install --root="${pkgdir}" --optimize=1
}

Web service with systemd

pkgname=web-service
pkgver=1.5.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="My web service"
arch=('x86_64')
license=('GPL-3.0')
depends=('systemd')
backup=('etc/web-service/config.yml')
source=("web-service-${pkgver}.tar.gz" "web-service.service")
sha256sums=('...' 'SKIP')

build() {
    cd "${srcdir}/web-service-${pkgver}"
    make build
}

package() {
    cd "${srcdir}/web-service-${pkgver}"
    install -Dm755 web-service "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/web-service"
    install -Dm644 ../web-service.service \
        "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/systemd/system/web-service.service"
    install -Dm644 config.yml "${pkgdir}/etc/web-service/config.yml"
    install -dm755 "${pkgdir}/var/lib/web-service"
    install -dm755 "${pkgdir}/var/log/web-service"
}

Development

Make targets

make all              # clean, deps, fmt, lint, test, doc, build
make build            # build the yap binary
make build-all        # build for linux/darwin/windows, amd64/arm64
make clean            # clean build artifacts
make deps             # download and tidy Go modules
make fmt              # gofmt
make lint             # golangci-lint
make lint-md          # markdownlint
make test             # run all tests (-p 1 -v, sequential required)
make test-coverage    # tests with coverage report (coverage.html)
make release          # create release packages

make doc              # view all package documentation
make doc-serve        # start pkgsite on localhost:8080
make doc-generate     # generate static docs in docs/api/
make doc-package PKG=./pkg/builders/apk

make docker-build DISTRO=ubuntu
make docker-build-all
make docker-list-distros

make i18n-check       # verify localization file integrity
make i18n-stats       # localization statistics

Testing

Tests must run sequentially (-p 1):

make test
go test ./pkg/source -v
go test ./pkg/builders/deb -v
go test ./pkg/graph -v
go test -race ./pkg/builders/...
go test -timeout 30s ./pkg/download/...

Internationalization

Supported languages: English (en), Italian (it).

Language is auto-detected from LANG/LC_ALL/LC_MESSAGES/LANGUAGE. Override with --language / -l:

yap --language=it build .

To add a language: copy pkg/i18n/locales/en.yaml to pkg/i18n/locales/{code}.yaml, translate, add the code to SupportedLanguages in pkg/i18n/i18n.go, submit a PR.

Troubleshooting

Container runtime

systemctl status docker       # or podman
docker run --rm hello-world   # test access
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER # fix permissions (re-login required)

Build failures

yap build --verbose
yap zap ubuntu-jammy /path/to/project
yap status

Permission issues

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER artifacts/
setsebool -P container_manage_cgroup true   # SELinux (Red Hat family)

Performance

yap build --skip-sync     # skip package manager sync
yap build --cleanbuild    # clean source before build

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Make changes and add tests
4. Run make fmt lint test
5. Commit and open a pull request

See CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md for community guidelines.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE.md.

Credits

• Zachary Huff for contributions to Pacur, the project that inspired YAP
• The Arch Linux community for the PKGBUILD format
• All contributors

Built with Go, Cobra, Docker / Podman.

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