exe2dist

CLI utility that packs a binary executable into a redistributable archive.

outs/1/compiled.kexe ⮕ myapp_linux_arm64.tgz with myapp inside

outs/2/compiled.kexe ⮕ myapp_windows_amd64.zip with myapp.exe inside

outs/3/compiled.kexe ⮕ myapp_macos_arm64.tgz with myapp inside

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• It detects the architecture for which the executable is compiled
• It sets executable bits for *nix binaries (chmod 755)
• It adds .exe extension to Windows executables
• It packs the binary to an archive appropriate for the platform

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Let's imagine that our automated system compiles executables using Kotlin Native. Regardless of the platform, the script builds a compiled.kexe.

Before the release, we can collect all the built files in one directory.

• outs/1/compiled.kexe
• outs/2/compiled.kexe
• outs/3/compiled.kexe

But how to distinguish and name them? exe2dist automatically solves this problem.

exe2dist myapp outs/*/*.kexe targetdir

This command will create three archives with friendly names.

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exe2dist runs on Linux and macOS. It may process binaries that target other platforms.

Install manually

Download and extract a binary executable release:

• for macOS
• for Linux
• for Windows

Install via command line

Download and unpack the Linux version to the current directory.

wget -c https://github.com/rtmigo/exe2dist/releases/download/0.3.3/exe2dist_linux_amd64.tgz -O - | tar -xz

Run immediately:

./exe2dist

Same for the newest version instead of the fixed one.

wget -c https://github.com/rtmigo/exe2dist/releases/latest/download/exe2dist_linux_amd64.tgz -O - | tar -xz

Use

Archive file ./native_exe to a distributable like distros/theapp_macos_arm64.tgz:

exe2dist theapp native_exe distros/

Archive all files in ./binaries creating appropriate distributable files in distros:

exe2dist theapp binaries/* distros/

Platforms

The safe systems are Linux, macOS (Darwin) and Windows.

The safe platforms are x86-64 (AMD64) and ARM64.

If you are building executables for *BSD or more rare *nix systems, this utility should be used with caution. It will rely on guesswork, and may wrongly assume, that the executable is for Linux.

License

Copyright © 2022 Artsiom iG. Released under the MIT License.