RClone Mount Applete

System tray applet and configuration manager for rclone cloud storage mounts on Linux desktop

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Debian Package Building Guide

This guide explains how to build and distribute .deb packages for rclone-mount-tray on Ubuntu and Debian platforms.

Overview

The rclone-mount-tray package is a Rust-based system tray application for managing on-demand rclone mounts. The Debian packaging supports:

  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)
  • Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (future)
  • Debian 12+ (Bookworm and later)

Architectures

The package supports the following architectures:

  • amd64 (Intel/AMD 64-bit)
  • arm64 (ARM 64-bit)
  • armhf (ARM 32-bit)
  • i386 (Intel/AMD 32-bit)

Building Locally

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the required tools installed:

# Debian/Ubuntu build tools
sudo apt-get install build-essential debhelper cargo rustc

# For the build script
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Using the Build Script

The easiest way to build the package is using the provided build script:

cd rclone-mount-tray
./scripts/build-deb.sh

The script will:

  1. Verify Rust is installed via rustup
  2. Create the source tarball (rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz)
  3. Build the Debian package using debuild
  4. Display the built packages

Output:

  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb - Binary package for amd64 architecture
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1.dsc - Debian source package description
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1.tar.xz - Debian source tarball

Manual Build

If you prefer to build manually:

# Create the source tarball
cd ..
tar --exclude=.git --exclude=target --exclude=.cargo \
    -czf rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz rclone-mount-tray/
cd rclone-mount-tray

# Build the package
debuild -d -us -uc

Note: The -d flag skips build-dependency checks (necessary for rustup-installed Rust)

Debian Packaging Structure

Key Files

debian/
├── control           # Package metadata and dependencies
├── changelog         # Version history for Debian
├── rules             # Build rules (dh-based makefile)
├── copyright         # License information
├── compat            # Debhelper compatibility version
├── postinst          # Post-installation script
├── postrm            # Post-removal script
├── install           # File placement rules
├── source/
│   └── format        # Source package format (3.0 quilt)
└── tests/
    ├── control       # Autopkgtest configuration
    └── basic-functionality  # Test script

debian/rules

The build rules file handles:

  • Building: cargo build --release --locked
  • Testing: cargo test --release --locked
  • Installation: Uses debian/install file for file placement
  • Cleanup: Removes build artifacts and .cargo directory

Key environment variables:

  • CARGO_HOME: Cache directory for Cargo
  • RUSTFLAGS: Compiler flags (currently uses lld linker)
  • PATH: Must include rustup’s bin directory

debian/install

File placement configuration:

target/release/rclone-mount-tray usr/bin
data/rclone-mount-tray.service usr/lib/systemd/user
data/rclone-mount-tray.desktop usr/share/applications
README.md usr/share/doc/rclone-mount-tray
QUICK_START.md usr/share/doc/rclone-mount-tray

debian/postinst

Post-installation script that:

  1. Reloads systemd user daemon
  2. Displays setup instructions
  3. Guides users through systemd service setup

debian/postrm

Post-removal script that:

  1. Disables the systemd user service
  2. Reloads systemd user daemon

Installation

From Built Package

Install the built .deb package:

sudo apt install ./rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

First-Time Setup

After installation, enable the systemd service:

# Enable the service for automatic startup
systemctl --user enable rclone-mount-tray

# Start the service
systemctl --user start rclone-mount-tray

# Check status
systemctl --user status rclone-mount-tray

Verification

After installation, verify the package:

# Check if files are installed
dpkg -L rclone-mount-tray

# Verify binary is executable
which rclone-mount-tray
rclone-mount-tray --help

# Check systemd service
systemctl --user status rclone-mount-tray

Cross-Compilation

To build for different architectures, use debuild with target architecture:

# Build for arm64
debuild -d -us -uc -a arm64

# Build for armhf
debuild -d -us -uc -a armhf

# Build for i386
debuild -d -us -uc -a i386

Note: This requires appropriate Rust targets and cross-compilation tools installed.

Testing the Package

Run Autopkgtests

After building, test the package:

autopkgtest ./rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb -- lxd ubuntu:24.04

Manual Installation Testing

In a clean environment:

# Extract package contents
dpkg-deb -x rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb /tmp/test-install

# Check files
ls -la /tmp/test-install/usr/bin/
ls -la /tmp/test-install/usr/lib/systemd/user/
ls -la /tmp/test-install/usr/share/applications/

# Verify binary
/tmp/test-install/usr/bin/rclone-mount-tray --help

Version Management

Updating Version

To bump the version for a new release:

  1. Update Cargo.toml: 
    [package]
version = "0.2.0"
  2. Update debian/changelog: 
    dch -v 0.2.0-1 "New release features"
  3. Rebuild: 
    ./scripts/build-deb.sh

Common Issues

Issue: cargo: command not found

Solution: Ensure Rust is installed via rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

Issue: dpkg-buildpackage: error: Unmet build dependencies

Solution: Use the -d flag with debuild to skip dependency checks:

debuild -d -us -uc

Issue: Build files in unexpected upstream changes

Solution: Recreate the source tarball:

cd ..
rm -f rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz
tar --exclude=.git --exclude=target --exclude=.cargo \
    -czf rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz rclone-mount-tray/
cd rclone-mount-tray
debuild -d -us -uc

Distribution

Publishing to PPA (Personal Package Archive)

To distribute via Ubuntu’s PPA:

# Sign the .dsc file (requires GPG key)
debsign rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1.dsc

# Upload to PPA
dput ppa:your-username/your-ppa rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_source.changes

Creating a Release

Create a GitHub release with the following files:

  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_arm64.deb
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_armhf.deb
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1.dsc
  • rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz

File Locations

After installation, files are placed in:

File Location
Binary /usr/bin/rclone-mount-tray
Systemd service /usr/lib/systemd/user/rclone-mount-tray.service
Desktop entry /usr/share/applications/rclone-mount-tray.desktop
Documentation /usr/share/doc/rclone-mount-tray/
Config file ~/.config/rclone-mount-tray/mounts.toml (created by application)
Logs Via systemd journal (journalctl --user -u rclone-mount-tray)

Maintenance

Build Dependencies

The package specifies build dependencies in debian/control:

Build-Depends: cargo (>= 1.70), rustc (>= 1.70)

When using rustup, the build script bypasses these checks with the -d flag. For system-wide Rust installation, install the dependencies:

sudo apt-get install cargo rustc

Runtime Dependencies

The package specifies runtime dependencies:

  • systemd - For systemd service integration
  • rclone (>= 1.60) - For mount operations

Optional:

  • libappindicator3-1 - For system tray support (recommended)

Debugging

Enable verbose build output

VERBOSE=1 debuild -d -us -uc

Check build logs

debuild -d -us -uc 2>&1 | tee build.log

Inspect built package

dpkg-deb -x rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb extracted/
dpkg-deb -W rclone-mount-tray_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

References