What is a scratch build?

A scratch build is a special type of build that is manually created by a developer. It is built in the online build service and serves multiple purposes:

  • Test if a build runs through
  • Test if the package builds on other architectures as well, because they are built on all of the target architectures
  • Make them searchable for testers
  • Allow testers and developers to comment on them

How to create a scratch build?

In order to upload scratch builds it is required to have an account on the Pakfire Build Service that is enabled to upload scratch builds. Unfortunately, we cannot open this up for everyone because we fear attacks on the build infrastructure.

You'll need to install the pakfire-client package (on IPFire) and set it up by editing the configuration file /etc/pakfire/client.conf and provide your credentials.

The command line to upload a build is basically the same to when building a package locally, but instead of pakfire-builder, you type pakfire-client:

pakfire-client build beep/beep.nm

To build the package only for a particular architecture, you can provide this as well:

pakfire-client build beep/beep.nm -a i686

You will find the build on the Pakfire Build Service and you will be notified by email when it has been finished or failed.