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xPack Build Box v6.0.0 released

· 3 min read
Liviu Ionescu (ilg)
Liviu Ionescu (ilg)

Version 6.0.0 is a new release; it updates to GLIBC 2.28 and macOS 11.0.

The xPack Build Box project is a build environment intended for reproducible builds.

Version 6.0.0 is a new release in the XBB self-sustained family, which allows to build new binary xPacks using previous binary xPacks, and does not require any custom Docker images, or other compiled tools.

Tools versions​

Beginning with version 5.0.0, the main tools are no longer included in the core XBB. Instead, they are installed as binary xPacks, allowing each project to select its own tools from the extensive range of available binary xPacks

Supported platforms​

XBB v6.0.0 supports building binaries for the following platforms:

  • x64,arm64 GNU/Linux
  • x64,arm64 macOS
  • x64 Windows

Windows binaries are built on GNU/Linux, using mingw-w64-gcc.

Compatibility​

To ensure the resulting binaries are compatible with as many existing systems as possible, the XBB build environments are intentionally based on older GNU/Linux and macOS releases:

  • x64 & arm64 GNU/Linux: Debian 10 with GLIBC 2.28; this should provide compatibility with:
    • Ubuntu 20 or later
    • RedHat 8 or later
    • Fedora 29 or later
    • Raspberry Pi OS
    • any other distributions using GLIBC 2.28 or higher
  • x64 Windows: Windows 7 with the new Universal C Runtime (UCRT)
  • x64 & arm64 macOS: 11.6; this should provide compatibility with macOS 11.0 or later

GLIBC version​

To find out the GLIBC version on a given GNU/Linux distribution, use:

ldd --version

Linux Docker images​

On GNU/Linux, the production XBB consists of several Docker images.

The images are published on Docker Hub (pulling can be done anonymously, pushing requires login).

Intel GNU/Linux:

  • ilegeul/debian:amd64-10-xbb-v6.0.0
$ docker images
REPOSITORY       TAG                        IMAGE ID       CREATED         SIZE
ilegeul/debian   amd64-10-xbb-v6.0.0        c111c2168dfb   11 days ago     1.84GB

The images were created on a Debian 11 running on an GIGABYTE B550M DS3H with AMD Ryzen 5 5600G.

Arm GNU/Linux:

  • ilegeul/debian:arm64v8-10-xbb-v6.0.0
REPOSITORY       TAG                        IMAGE ID       CREATED         SIZE
ilegeul/debian   arm64v8-10-xbb-v6.0.0      29f3662d95ad   11 days ago     1.77GB

The arm64v8 image was created on an Ubuntu running on an Oracle ampere machine.

macOS​

When running on macOS, the build scripts cannot utilise Docker, as there are no macOS Docker images available. Instead, a standard system and the Command Line Tools are required.

For further details, please refer to the Install page.

tree​

On GNU/Linux, the tree command is available within the Docker images.

macOS does not natively provide the tree command; however, it can be compiled from source. For further details, please refer to the Install page for more details.

Python​

The Python version in use is 3.12.9.

On GNU/Linux, it is compiled from sources on Debian 10. On macOS, it must be installed separately.

TeX​

Due to maintenance difficulties, as of version 5.0.0, support for generating documentation that requires TeX is no longer available.