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Building oa-tools: Requirements & Toolchain

To generate native packages for oa-tools (Debian .deb, Arch/Manjaro .pkg.tar.zst, Fedora .rpm), your build environment must have the following tools installed. This setup follows the "Eggs & Bananas" philosophy of using essential, high-quality tools for maximum efficiency.

1. Universal Core (The Artisan's Workshop)​

Regardless of the distribution, these are mandatory to compile the "Mind" (Go) and the "Arm" (C):

  • Go Compiler (1.20+): Required to compile the coa orchestrator.
  • GCC & Make: Required to compile the oa C engine.
  • Git: Required for versioning and managing the wardrobe.

2. Distribution-Specific Requirements​

Arch Linux / Manjaro / BigLinux​

To use the Arch/Manjaro build logic and generate packages:

  • base-devel: Essential build utilities (includes makepkg and fakeroot).
  • pacman-contrib: Provides helpful tools for package maintenance.

Debian / Ubuntu​

To generate standard .deb packages:

  • build-essential: The core compiler and toolchain.
  • devscripts & debhelper: Required for standard Debian packaging workflows.

Fedora / Red Hat / Nobara​

To generate .rpm packages using the Fedora-agnostic logic:

  • fedora-packager: Provides the essential infrastructure for RPM creation.
  • rpm-build: The core engine for building RPM packages.
  • dnf-plugins-core: Necessary for managing build dependencies and toolchains.

The Build Logic​

Since version 0.7.1, the build process has been simplified and purified:

  1. Agnostic Detection: The builder automatically identifies the host distribution using the system's ID_LIKE metadata.
  2. Dynamic Generation: coa tools build generates a tailored PKGBUILD, spec file, or debian/ directory on the fly based on the detected environment.
  3. Zero-Footprint: By removing derivatives.yaml, the system no longer requires external mapping files to recognize derivative distributions (like Nobara being recognized as Fedora).

Note: This "Artisan" approach ensures that as long as your system reports a supported lineage in /etc/os-release, the builder will know exactly how to "cut the cloth" for your specific distribution.