MetaPkg is a framework that allows building native packages and installers for a variety of OSes and distributions in a way that ensures maximum compatibility and integration with the target platform.

MetaPkg works by taking a package specification, generating a build script that is most appropriate for the target platform, and then running the build script directly on the target platform to produce the package artifacts. For example, on RHEL targets MetaPkg generates an RPM .spec file and the associated files and runs rpmbuild to produce a well-behaved RPM package. On Debian targets dpkg-buildpackage is used and so on.

MetaPkg contains a builtin dependency resolver, based on Poetry that uses the native platform's package manager to find the necessary dependencies. This makes it possible to use the libraries provided by the system and to avoid bundling them.

MetaPkg requires Python 3.7+.

To install, run pip install https://github.com/edgedb/metapkg or clone the repository and install an editable copy with pip install -e <checkout>.

MetaPkg currently implements a single command, metapkg build, that runs the entire build process and produces package artifacts. For options and usage details use metapkg build --help.

Apache 2.0.