Files

T

JakeBreath 84ec431441 Package the desktop app for Arch, Debian and Windows

electron-builder produces j621-desktop_*_amd64.deb,
j621-desktop-*.pkg.tar.zst (zstd, lean Arch dependencies instead of the
Electron 2 era default set) and a per-user NSIS installer cross-built with
wine. The launcher entry and Electron's desktopName now agree on
io.j621.desktop so window association works, and package metadata points
at the repository homepage and the non-commercial licence.

2026-09-20 17:18:53 -05:00

2.5 KiB

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J621 desktop (Electron)

An Electron shell around the web build. The main process serves the SPA from the privileged app://j621 scheme — a real origin, so localStorage, OPFS, Web Workers and WebCodecs all behave exactly like they do in Chrome — and the SPA keeps its normal first-run flow: on launch it asks where the backend is (or runs in local mode with no backend at all).

The renderer code is not forked: the shell loads frontend/dist as built by npm run build in frontend/.

Licensed under the Jake Labs Non-Commercial Software Licence — see ../LICENSE.

Layout

src/main.ts      window, app:// protocol handler, menu, external links
src/preload.ts   window.j621Desktop bridge
electron-builder.yml   deb + pacman + nsis packaging

Development

# terminal 1: the SPA with its /api proxy (needs the backend for library pages)
cd frontend && npm run dev

# terminal 2
cd desktop && npm run dev

npm run dev builds the main process and points the window at http://localhost:5173 (J621_DEV_SERVER). Without the dev server, npm start builds both halves and serves the bundled SPA over app://j621.

Builds

npm run dist:linux   # release/j621-desktop_0.1.0_amd64.deb + j621-desktop-0.1.0.pkg.tar.zst
npm run dist:win     # release/J621 Setup 0.1.0.exe (cross-built with wine; untested)
npm run dist:all

The Arch package can be installed and removed with pacman:

sudo pacman -U release/j621-desktop-*.pkg.tar.zst
sudo pacman -R j621-desktop

It installs to /opt/J621 with a /usr/bin/j621-desktop symlink and a io.j621.desktop launcher entry (StartupWMClass matches the shell's desktopName). The Windows installer is a per-user NSIS build, so no admin rights are needed to install or update it — but it is unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn, and it has not been smoke-tested on real Windows.

Smoke test

npm run smoke builds everything, runs Electron headless through xvfb-run and checks that the bundled SPA loads over app://j621: the SPA fallback, an asset fetch, localStorage, OPFS, WebCodecs and the preload bridge. It exits non-zero on failure.

Backend CORS

A desktop app is cross-origin to the backend, exactly like the frontend-only Docker deployment. Add the shell's origin to the backend:

CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=app://j621

The setup screen shows this hint (with the actual origin) when the connection test fails. Without a backend, choose "Continue without a backend" — the e621-facing pages work the same as in the browser.

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