nexus/docs/build-and-release.md

Build and Release

This project uses Wails for desktop packaging.

Ubuntu 24.04 prerequisites

Install the Linux build toolchain and Wails runtime headers with:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  build-essential \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  pkg-config \
  zip

Notes:

• Ubuntu 24.04 does not ship libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev.
• Wails v2.12.0 supports Ubuntu 24.04 by building with the webkit2_41 tag.
• The local build scripts detect that package layout automatically and add the tag when needed.

You will also need these tools available in PATH:

• go
• node
• npm
• wails

Install the Wails CLI with:

go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"

Build commands

Build the app binary for the current host:

./build.sh

Build packaged releases for every supported 64-bit desktop target:

./release.sh

By default, ./release.sh builds all six OS/architecture combinations:

• macOS (darwin): amd64 and arm64
• Linux: amd64 and arm64
• Windows: amd64 and arm64

Go calls the x86-64 architecture amd64 and the AArch64 architecture arm64.

On macOS, Linux builds run in architecture-matched Podman or Docker containers because Wails does not cross-compile Linux applications directly from macOS. The reusable builder images keep their node_modules separate from the host checkout.

Optional targeted builds

The release scripts disable CGO and use a pure-Go SQLite driver, so Linux and Windows cross-targets do not need C cross-compilers for the application backend. To build a smaller set, override the default targets:

NEXUS_RELEASE_TARGETS=linux/amd64,windows/amd64 ./release.sh

Platform caveats

• To produce all six targets in one run, use macOS with Podman or Docker running.
• macOS targets cannot be cross-built from Linux or Windows with Wails.
• Cross-target support still depends on Wails and frontend packaging support for the requested platform.
• Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 amd64: linux/amd64 and windows/amd64 build successfully.