CPack AppImage generator¶

Added in version 4.2.

CPack AppImage generator allows to bundle an application into AppImage format. It uses appimagetool to pack the application, and patchelf to set the application RPATH to a relative path based on where the AppImage will be mounted.

The appimagetool does not scan for libraries dependencies it only packs the installed content and check if the provided .desktop file was properly created. For best compatibility it's recommended to choose some old LTS distro and built it there, as well as including most dependencies on the generated file.

The snipped below can be added to your CMakeLists.txt file replacing my_application_target with your application target, it will do a best effort to scan and copy the libraries your application links to and copy to install location.

install(CODE [[
    file(GET_RUNTIME_DEPENDENCIES
        EXECUTABLES $<TARGET_FILE:my_application_target>
        RESOLVED_DEPENDENCIES_VAR resolved_deps
    )

    foreach(dep ${resolved_deps})
        # copy the symlink
        file(COPY ${dep} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib)

        # Resolve the real path of the dependency (follows symlinks)
        file(REAL_PATH ${dep} resolved_dep_path)

        # Copy the resolved file to the destination
        file(COPY ${resolved_dep_path} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib)
    endforeach()
]])

For Qt based projects it's recommended to call qt_generate_deploy_app_script() or qt_generate_deploy_qml_app_script() and install the files generated by the script, this will install Qt module's plugins.

You must also set CPACK_PACKAGE_ICON with the same value listed in the Desktop file.