Title: Built-in modules
Description: Learn about the built-in modules that come with Vib and how to use them in your recipes.
PublicationDate: 2024-02-13
Listed: true
Authors:
- mirkobrombin
Tags:

- modules

Note
At the time of writing, Vib is in active development and the list of built-in modules may grow over time. This article covers the modules available in Vib v0.8.1.

Vib supports a variety of built-in modules that you can use to build your recipes. These modules are designed to automate common tasks, such as installing packages, building software, and running custom scripts.

Before proceeding, make sure to familiarize yourself with how modules work since this article assumes you have a basic understanding of the module structure and how to use them in your recipes.

To keep this article concise, we’ll cover only the fields that are specific to each module type, so name, type and source will be omitted if they don’t have any specific fields.

Summary

• Package manager
  
• CMake
  
• Dpkg-buildpackage
  
• Dpkg
  
• Go
  
• Make
  
• Meson
  
• Shell
  
• Flatpak
  

Package manager

This module allow to install packages using the package manager using the repositories configured in the image. You can change the package manager by changing the value of the type field. The following are currently supported:

• apt: Debian-based systems.
  
• dnf: Red Hat-based systems.
  

The following specific fields are available:

• source: Defines the source of the packages.
  

Example

- name: install-utils
  type: apt # or any other supported package manager
  sources:
    packages:
      - curl
      - git

In the context of this module, this directive also supports the packages and paths fields. The packages field is a list of package names to install, while the paths field is a list of paths to .inst files containing package names each on a new line:

- name: install-utils
  type: apt # or any other supported package manager
  sources:
    - path:
      - "./utils.inst"
    - path:
	  - "./more-utils.inst"

where utils.inst and more-utils.inst follow the format:

curl
git

Apt

Note
The following options requires Vib v.0.5.0 or later.

The apt module, has some additional fields under the options key:

• noRecommends: If set to true, the recommended packages will not be installed.
  
• installSuggestions: If set to true, the suggested packages will be installed.
  
• fixMissing: If set to true, the package manager will attempt to fix broken dependencies.
  
• fixBroken: If set to true, the package manager will attempt to fix broken packages.
  

- name: install-utils
  type: apt
  sources:
    packages:
      - curl
      - git
  options:
    noRecommends: true
    installSuggests: true
    fixMissing: true
    fixBroken: true

Note
The above options if set to false, might still be overridden by the package manager’s configuration.

CMake

The CMake module builds a project using the CMake build system. It’s suitable for projects that use CMake as their build configuration tool.

The following specific fields are available:

• buildFlags: Additional flags to pass to the cmake command.
  

Example

- name: example-cmake-project
  type: cmake
  buildflags: "-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release"
  source:
    url: "https://example.com/example-project.tar.gz"
    type: tar

Dpkg-buildpackage

This module builds Debian packages from source using dpkg-buildpackage and installs the resulting .deb packages.

The following specific fields are available:

• source: source of the Debian package source code.
  

Example

- name: build-deb-package
  type: dpkg-buildpackage
  source:
    url: "https://example.com/package-source.tar.gz"
    type: tar

Go

The Go module compiles Go projects, allowing for customization through build variables and flags.

The following specific fields are available:

• buildFlags: Flags for the go build command.
  

Example

- name: example-go-app
  type: go
  buildflags: "-v"
  source:
    url: "https://example.com/go-app-source.tar.gz"
    type: tar

Make

The Make module automates the build process for projects that use GNU Make.

The following specific fields are available:

• buildCommand: What command different command for the build, defaults to make build
  
• intermediateSteps: Extra commands to run between the build and install command
  
• installCommand: What command to run for installing, defaults to make install
  

Example

- name: example-make-project
  type: make
  buildCommand: "make PREFIX=/custompath build"
  intermediateSteps:
    - "make docs-all -j4"
  installCommand: "make DESTDIR=/root install"
  sources:
    url: "https://example.com/make-project-source.tar.gz"
    type: tar

Meson

This module is used for building projects configured with the Meson build system.

The following specific fields are available:

• buildFlags: Additional flags to pass to the meson command.
  

Example

- name: example-meson-project
  type: meson
  buildflags:
  - "-Dfoo=bar"
  sources:
    url: "https://example.com/meson-project-source.tar.gz"
    type: tar

Shell

The Shell module executes arbitrary shell commands, offering the most flexibility for custom operations.

The following specific fields are available:

• commands: A list of shell commands to execute.
  

Example

- name: custom-setup
  type: shell
  commands:
    - "echo Hello, World!"
    - "apt update && apt install -y curl"

Flatpak

The Flatpak module installs Flatpak packages using the flatpak command.

The following specific fields are available:

• system: If configured, the module will install the applications system-wide.
  
• user: If configured, the module will install the applications user-wide.
  

Example

- name: install-flatpak-app
  type: flatpak
  system:
    repourl: "https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo"
    reponame: "flathub"
    install:
      - "org.gnome.Epiphany"
    remove:
      - "org.gnome.Epiphany"
  user:
    repourl: "https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo"
    reponame: "flathub"
    install:
      - "org.gnome.Epiphany"
    remove:
      - "org.gnome.Epiphany"