Packages and pinned repositories

What it is

WolOS installs software with pacman. Every repository, the base distribution's and WolOS's own, reads the same dated package snapshot, so a system stays inside its release. A .wol app is a pacman package plus its icon, permissions and Store record.

Why

A rolling base breaks the promise that an update never surprises you; a frozen base ages. A dated snapshot moved forward only after tests pass gives current drivers without surprises.

How

pacman -S works as usual and lands in a layer of the sealed system without a restart. A new release moves the snapshot date forward in one step. The live list of WolOS packages is on the Packages page and in the JSON API.

If something goes wrong

Related

wopkg · Updates · The Store · Package list

Reference

pacman is the package manager, used directly (pacman -S ... works as on Arch). wol owns only:

• .wol apps: metadata, icon, permissions, App Store. A .wol is a pacman package plus that metadata.
• The pinned /etc/pacman.conf and mirrorlist: every repo (Arch + [wolos]) reads the release's Arch Linux Archive date, so pacman -Syu never leaves the release.
• System releases: snapshot date, A/B root slot, signed manifest (docs/modules/security.md).

Repos: [wolos] (WolOS packages, apps, wolos-base, linux-wolos) next to the Arch repos, all pinned to the release. A release moves the date forward only after its tests pass. No parallel package database: what pacman installed is the source of truth. App records (/usr/share/wolos/packages/<id>/Info.json) ship inside the package, so pacman owns them. Root slots are writable copies; .wol apps live in the root like any pacman package and come along into the next slot on update.

File format

ustar archive, regular files only (typeflag 0), mode 0644, uid/gid 0, names exactly as below, in this order:

Verify (wol_core::package::verify): order and names exact, no duplicates, every hash matches, SHA256 lists nothing else, Info.json valid, package set. Signature verified by a trusted key = signed; absent = unsigned; anything else = refused.

Info.json

{"id":"io.github.adbeveridge.Raider","version":"3.1.0","name":"File Shredder",
 "summary":"Securely delete your files","icon":"io.github.adbeveridge.Raider",
 "categories":["Work"],"capabilities":["files"],"package":"raider",
 "targets":[{"abi":"freebsd-native","arch":"amd64","entry":"bin/raider"}]}

• targets[].abi is freebsd-native for a program built for WolOS itself: the name is a historic wire value of the schema (shared::bundle::Abi), kept so older .wol files stay valid; the resolver treats it as the native target. arch is the machine name (amd64).
• version = the pacman version of payload.pkg (pkgver-pkgrel); package = its pkgname; icon = icon theme name.
• categories: Create Work Play Develop. capabilities: shared::package::CAPABILITIES (declared, shown, not enforced).
• Entries are relative to /usr. The payload installs the same bytes at share/wolos/packages/<id>/Info.json.

Keys

Index

https://wonderlandos.github.io/wol-packages/index.json, signature index.json.sig (raw Ed25519 of the file bytes). Files: Release <package>-<version>, asset <package>-<version>.wol.

{"format":1,"packages":[{"id":"…","name":"…","summary":"…","version":"3.1.0","package":"raider",
 "categories":["Work"],"capabilities":["files"],"abi":"FreeBSD:15:amd64",
 "url":"https://github.com/wonderlandos/wol-packages/releases/download/raider-3.1.0/raider-3.1.0.wol",
 "sha256":"…","size":123456,"signed":true}]}

abi is a label kept from the first index format (FreeBSD:15:amd64 in published files); the client reads it and does not check it. The checks that count are the sha256, the size and the signature.

Commands

Paths: staging /var/cache/wolos/install (root, 0700); downloads and index cache ~/.cache/wolos/packages. Double-click: MIME application/x-wolos-package (*.wol) opens the App Store install sheet.