On this page, you will learn how you can create your first
MatterLinux package for the official repos.

## Pre-requirements
- You should have an up-to-date MatterLinux installation
- You should have general understanding of software packaging
- You should have general understanding of building/compiling software 
- You should know the basics of bash scripting
- You should know the basics of git version control system

## Getting started 
If you want to add your package to the official repos, then please
check the [official repo guidelines](/wiki/repo_guide). Make sure 
that your package follows the guidelines or your pull request maybe
rejected.

Also create an account on Gitea server and configure your editor
as specified in the [contribution guide](/wiki/contribute).

## Selecting a repo
If you want to add a new package to the official repos, you should 
first choose the repo you want to add the package to. If you are 
packaging a software that is fundamental to the OS, such as a kernel,
or a C library, you should add your package to the `base` repo.
If this is not the case then you should add the package to the `desktop`
repo.

## Fork the repo 
After selecting the repo, fork it on Gitea and clone it to MatterLinux 
system:
```
$ git clone <fork repo url>
```

## Install `mp-repo` 
MatterLinux project has few different tools used for building and creating packages,
these tools are part of the `mp-repo` tool. To install it, follow the [instructions on
the README](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/matter/mp-repo).

## Create the package template
Change directory into the `src` folder of the repo you cloned, and use the `mp-temp`
command (a script from `mp-repo`) to create an empty package script:
```
$ cd src 
$ mp-temp <name of the package>
```

Package name should be **full lowercase**, it should not contain any non-English characters,
and it should not contain underscore (`_`). If there is an underscore in the package name, replace 
it with `-`. Package name also **should NOT contain a version number**.

For this example we will be packaging the `LXTerminal` from LXDE:
```
$ cd src 
$ mp-temp lxterminal
```

## Modify the package script 
`mp-temp` will create a directory for the new package, which will contain a `pkg.sh` script.
This script is called the **package script**. Open this script with the configured editor:
```
NAME="lxterminal"
DESC=""
VERSION=""
FILES=()
HASHES=()
DEPENDS=()

build() {
  tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.gz
  cd $NAME-$VERSION

  cd .. && rm -r $NAME-$VERSION
}
```

### Description
First of all you should add a description. Description should be short (less than 200 characters), and 
it should explain details about the package. Ideally, description should not contain words such as "*contains*"
and "*includes*". Here are **bad examples**:
- *LXTerminal package contains a VTE-based terminal emulator*
- *LXTerminal includes the LXDE terminal emulator*

And here are some **good examples**:
- *VTE-based terminal emulator for LXDE*
- *LXDE terminal emulator*

### Version
You should package a stable version of the software, do not package the latest git release or 
something like that. **Package an official release version.**. For this example we will be 
packaging the version `0.4.0`.

### Files 
List of files needed for this package, you can specify `HTTP(S)` or `FTP(s)` URLs. Or you can 
specify simply just filenames to pull the packages from the local source directory. 

If possible, you should replace the version number in the URL with the `VERSION` variable.

### Hashes 
Specify hashes for the files you specified, you can use the `NOHASH` as the hash to disable 
hash verification for a specific file.

### Depends 
Dependencies for the package, **do not** specify the make or the build dependencies that are only used 
for compiling the software. These dependencies should be specified in the `repo.sh` script which is located
at the root of the repo.

With the addition of the details above, here is how our example package script looks like:
```
NAME="lxterminal"
DESC="VTE-based terminal emulator for LXDE"
VERSION="0.4.0"
FILES=("https://downloads.sourceforge.net/lxde/lxterminal-$VERSION.tar.xz")
HASHES=("7938dbd50e3826c11f4735a742b278d3")
DEPENDS=("vte")

build() {
  tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.gz
  cd $NAME-$VERSION

  cd .. && rm -r $NAME-$VERSION
}
```

### Build function
The build function contains the instructions for building the package itself. When building the package, `mp-repo`
will download all the files and remove them after the build, so you do not have to deal with that. 

First, we should do is to extract the downloaded file, and change directory into the newly extracted folder:
```
tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.xz
cd $NAME-$VERSION
```
Then we can change directory into the repo source directory and run the build and install instructions:
```
./configure --enable-man --prefix=/usr
make && make install 
```
With this configuration, `make install` will try to install the package to the actual system, however
we want to install the package to the package build directory, so we will use the `DESTDIR` flag for that:
```
./configure --enable-man --prefix=/usr
make && make DESTDIR="$ROOTDIR" install 
```
`$ROOTDIR` is a custom variable that is set during the package build. During the build it will point to the 
package build directory.

After building and installing the package, we can change directory back up, and remove the extracted folder:
```
cd .. && rm -r $NAME-$VERSION
```

So the final script should look like this:
```
NAME="lxterminal"
DESC="VTE-based terminal emulator for LXDE"
VERSION="0.4.0"
FILES=("https://downloads.sourceforge.net/lxde/lxterminal-$VERSION.tar.xz")
HASHES=("7938dbd50e3826c11f4735a742b278d3")
DEPENDS=("vte")

build() {
  tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.xz
  cd $NAME-$VERSION

  ./configure --enable-man --prefix=/usr 
  make && make DESTDIR="$ROOTDIR" install 

  cd .. && rm -r $NAME-$VERSION
}

```

## Formatting the package script 
When you are done, format the package script following these rules:
- If you have multiple files, put each one of them to a new line, same for the hashes.
- If you have more than 5 depends, split them into new lines, grouping 3 depends together.
- If you have long commands in the build function, split them to new lines using a backslash (`\`)
- If you have really short and related commands, put them into the same line using `&&`
- Split unrelated instructions with a newline


## Building the package 
To build the newly created package, run the following in the `src` directory:
```
$ mp-repo --no-sign .. <package name>
```
This will install all the required dependencies, and only build the specified package. 

## Testing the package 
When the package is built, inspect its contents using the `tar tf` command, and extract it to 
test it:
```
$ tar tf ../dist/<package name>_<version>.mpf
# tar xf ../dist/<package name>_<version>.mpf -C /
```

## Staging and commit your changes
After making sure that the package is working as intended, go back to the root of the repo source directory,
and use `git add .` to stage all the changes. Then use `git commit -m <message>` to commit them. For the 
commit message, follow the guidelines on the [contribution page](/wiki/contribute). For our example, the following 
message should be fine:
```
$ git commit -m "new: Add lxterminal package"
```
Then push your changes:
```
$ git push -u origin main
```

## Creating a pull request 
Back on the Gitea, create a pull request to the official repository. Provide information about 
the package you added, and explain why you think its important to include this package.