Linux

Tauri applications for Linux are distributed either as Debian Packages (.deb) or AppImages (.AppImage). This guides provides information about format specific quirks and customization opportunities.

AppImage

AppImage is a distribution format that does not rely on the system installed packages and instead bundles all dependencies and files needed by the application. For this reason, the output file is larger but easier to distribute since it is supported on many Linux distributions and can be executed without installation, just making the file executable (chmod a+x MyProject.AppImage) and running it (./MyProject.AppImage).

AppImages are convenient, simplifying the distribution process if you cannot make a package targeting the distribution's package manager. Still, you should carefully use it as the file size grows from the 2-6MBs range to 70+MBs.

Debian Package

Debian packages are a compressed collection of files installed on various Linux distributions. Unlike AppImages they don't bundle required libraries, relying instead on the correct dependency versions installed on the system. This makes them less portable and reliable since missing libraries or incompatible versions will cause problems. Debian packages are recommended only for distributions that have no support for AppImages.

Bootstrapper

Instead of launching the app directly, you can configure the bundled app to run a script that tries to expose the environment variables to the app; without that, you'll have trouble using system programs because the PATH environment variable isn't correct. You can enable it with the tauri.bundle.deb.useBootstrapper config.

Additional Files

The Debian package allows you to specify additional files that copied to the the user's filesystem upon installation. The configuration object maps

{
  "tauri": {
    "bundle": {
      "deb": {
        "files": {
          // copies the README.md file to /usr/lib/README.md
          "/usr/lib/README.md": "../README.md",
          // copies the entire public directory to /usr/lib/assets
          "usr/lib/assets": "../public/"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}