Recipe format — Keru OS

A recipe is a plain POSIX shell script describing how to compile and install one piece of software. The syntax splits into two tiers:

Easy — declare a few variables, fill in build and install, done. Covers ~90% of packages (autotools/cmake/meson).
Advanced — full control when you need it: custom fetch/extract, staging layout, packaging hooks, multi-arch, verification. Everything the easy tier does is sugar over this.

In both tiers, Kama sources the recipe and runs the functions you define.

Easy tier — most packages only need this

name=busybox
version=1.36.1
url=https://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.36.1.tar.bz2
deps=()        # build-time deps, purged after (AUR-style)

build() {      # configure + compile
    make defconfig
    make
}

install() {    # install into $pkgdir (staging), not $ROOT
    make install CONFIG_PREFIX="$pkgdir"
}

That's it. Kama supplies the conventional pkg_fetch (download + extract — auto-detects .tar.xz/.gz/.bz2/.zip, strips the top directory) and pkg_clean.

Advanced tier — override any step

name=busybox
version=1.36.1
url=https://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.36.1.tar.bz2
deps=(gcc musl-headers)          # temp build deps (AUR-style)
runtime_deps=(musl)              # stays installed
license=(GPL-2.0)
provides=(sh)                    # capability this package provides
conflicts=(dash)                 # mutual exclusion
arch=(x86_64)                    # if non-empty, restrict to archs
noextract=()                     # URLs to download but NOT auto-extract

# override auto extract (e.g. patching before configure)
pkg_fetch() {
    default_fetch                # run the easy-tier default
    cd "$src"
    patch -p1 < ../my.patch
}

build()   { ./configure --prefix=/usr "$@" && make; }
install() { make install DESTDIR="$pkgdir"; }

Fields

Field	Purpose
`name`	Package name. Required.
`version`	Release version. Required for fetch.
`url`	Upstream source (or list).
`deps`	Build-time dependencies — compiled, installed, then purged (AUR-style).
`runtime_deps`	Dependencies that stay installed.
`license`	SPDX license identifiers.
`provides`	Capabilities this package provides (virtuals).
`conflicts`	Mutual exclusions.
`arch`	Architecture allow-list; empty means any.
`noextract`	URLs downloaded but not auto-extracted.

Hooks and functions

Function	Role
`build()`	Configure + compile, run in the extracted source dir.
`install()`	Install into the staging dir (`$pkgdir`/`DESTDIR`), not the live root.
`pkg_fetch()`	Override download/extract (can call `default_fetch`).
`pkg_clean()`	Override source cleanup.
`pkg_post()`	Post-install hook, called after staging.
`pkg_split()`	Optional splitting of staged output into subpackages.

The full spec lives in the repo at docs/recipe-format.md. The web version mirrors it; the canonical source is the repository.

The recipe concept · ← Kama