RuDS/BUILD.md

RuDS — Build Prerequisites

Native desktop packages

Install the pinned Cargo Packager CLI once:

cargo install cargo-packager --locked --version 0.11.8

Build packages on their native operating system from the repository root:

cargo bundle-macos    # Blogging Desktop Server.app and .dmg
cargo bundle-windows  # NSIS .exe installer
cargo bundle-linux    # .deb and .AppImage

Packages are written below target/release. The macOS bundle uses the ICNS icon, Windows embeds the ICO in the application executable and installer, and Linux packages install the 1024×1024 PNG with their desktop entry.

Windows packaging requires the MSVC Rust toolchain, Visual Studio Build Tools with C++ support, and the Windows SDK. Build each package on its target operating system; these commands do not cross-package installers.

macOS system requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac with Metal or Vulkan support (required by Iced's wgpu backend)

Linux system requirements (optional, for CI or cross-platform development)

• A Vulkan-capable GPU and driver, or software rendering via WGPU_BACKEND=gl
• System packages for GTK and related libraries (for muda and rfd):

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config libgtk-3-dev libxdo-dev libdbus-1-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

Install Homebrew packages (macOS)

brew install rust cmake pkg-config

Package	Why
rust	Rust toolchain (alternatively install via rustup, see below)
cmake	Required by some native dependencies during cargo build
pkg-config	Locates system libraries during cargo build

Install Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS)

xcode-select --install

Required for the macOS SDK, Metal framework headers, and the Apple linker. A full Xcode install also works but is not required.

Recommended: install Rust via rustup

If you prefer managing Rust versions explicitly (recommended for pinning toolchain versions across the team):

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Then set the stable toolchain:

rustup default stable

Additional dependencies by milestone

M0–M4 (core through rendering)

No additional system packages beyond the above. Key crates use bundled/vendored native code:

• diesel provides the typed SQLite query layer
• diesel_migrations embeds migrations; libsqlite3-sys bundles SQLite
• iced uses wgpu which links to Metal (macOS) or Vulkan (Linux/Windows) at runtime
• muda uses native platform menu APIs (NSMenu on macOS, GTK on Linux, Win32 on Windows)
• rfd uses native platform dialog APIs (NSOpenPanel on macOS, GTK on Linux, Win32 on Windows)
• cosmic-text bundles its own font shaping; uses system font discovery via fontdb
• syntect bundles syntax definitions; no system dependency
• ropey is pure Rust; no system dependency
• image crate is pure Rust for most codecs; no system dependency for JPEG/PNG/WEBP
• pulldown-cmark, liquid, quick-xml, rayon are pure Rust; no system dependencies
• axum + tokio are pure Rust; no system dependencies
• ssh2 links to libssh2 (bundled via ssh2 crate's default features)
• objc2 / objc2-app-kit (macOS only, cfg-gated) links to system AppKit frameworks already available via Xcode CLI tools

M5–M6 (Lua scripting)

When Lua support is added via the mlua crate:

brew install lua@5.4

Alternatively, use the vendored feature flag on mlua to compile Lua 5.4 from source and skip the system install entirely. The choice should be made when Wave 6 starts.

Publishing (SSH/rsync)

The publish engine uses SSH and rsync. Both ship with macOS by default. No Homebrew install needed unless you want a newer rsync:

brew install rsync   # optional, for a newer version than the macOS default

Verify the setup

After installing prerequisites:

# check Rust toolchain
rustc --version
cargo --version

# check native tooling
cmake --version
pkg-config --version
xcode-select -p          # macOS only

# clone and build
cargo build

Environment notes

• The project is a Cargo workspace. Always run cargo commands from the repository root.
• Iced requires a GPU context (Metal, Vulkan, or OpenGL fallback). CI runners must support one of these or use headless test targets that do not create windows.
• The bds-core and bds-cli crates do not depend on Iced, muda, or rfd and can be built and tested without a display server.
• The bds-editor crate depends on Iced (for the custom widget trait) but its buffer, highlighting, and layout logic can be unit tested without a display server.