Split build and package steps

• Version: 20.2.0

• Target: OSX (“dmg”, “zip”), Windows (“squirrel”, “nsis”), Linux (“deb”, “AppImage”)

This is more a question than an issue… We’re using electron-builder to build and package our app. We call electron-builder from a gulp task like this:

  builder.build({
    targets: builder.Platform.MAC.createTarget(["dmg", "zip"]),
    config
  });

We want to split building and packaging into two distinct steps so that we can sign the built files in a separate step that occurs externally. Is this possible in the current API? It might look something like this:

Step 1: Build

  // Output of this step is the unpacked folder (contains unsigned binaries)
  builder.build({
    config
  });

Step 2: Sign

Upload files to Signing Service. We get them back at some point in the future.

Step 3: Package

  // Input to this step is the unpacked folder (or in our case, a copy of it containing the now-signed binaries)
  // Output of this step is the packaged app (dmg, zip, etc.)
  builder.package({
    targets: builder.Platform.MAC.createTarget(["dmg", "zip"]),
    config
  });

I’m perusing the documentation and sources to see how it can be accomplished, but thought I’d ask here too.

Thank you.

[eanders-ms]

This was pretty simple, it turns out. Here’s my solution in case it benefits others.

Step 1: Build

  // Build the 'dir' target for the platform
  builder.build({
    targets: builder.Platform.MAC.createTarget(["dir"]),
    config
  });

Step 3: Package

  // This time, specify the redistributable formats you want built (dmg and zip in this case).
  // Additional argument: 'prepackaged'. Set to the 'dir' target's output folder from Step 1.
  builder.build({
    targets: builder.Platform.MAC.createTarget(["dmg", "zip"]),
    config,
    prepackaged: 'path/to/dir/output'
  });

[develar]

@eanders-MS

Is this possible to do with what’s available today?

Yes. External code signing is supported for Windows — https://www.electron.build/configuration/win

sign String | (configuration: CustomWindowsSignTaskConfiguration) => Promise - The custom function (or path to file or module id) to sign Windows executable.