build-release

name	build-release
description	Builds a local Revela release for testing using scripts/build-release.ps1. Mirrors the GitHub release pipeline output — produces Standalone or Full variants. Use when the user wants to build a release locally, test packaging, create a self-contained executable, verify what end users would download, or validate the release before publishing.
argument-hint	[Standalone|Full|All] [--Version 0.0.0-test]
context	fork

Build Release — Revela Project

Build one or both release variants locally to mirror what GitHub Releases publishes. Does NOT create a git tag or GitHub release — for local testing only.

Variants

Variant	Source	Contents	Size
Standalone	Cli.Embedded	Native AOT binary + libvips native dep (loaded via P/Invoke). All plugins/themes statically linked, no plugin command. Requires a platform-native toolchain at publish time (gcc/clang on Linux, MSVC on Windows, Xcode CLT on macOS).	~36 MB (20 MB exe + 17 MB libvips)
Full	Cli + packages/	Single-file EXE + all .nupkg files as local NuGet feed. Modular: revela plugin install <name>. Pure managed (no native toolchain prereq).	~130 MB

The GitHub release pipeline also produces a Core variant (Cli only, expects plugins from NuGet.org). It is omitted here because plugins are not published to NuGet.org yet — a Core build would have no theme and fail at generate.

Script

.\scripts\build-release.ps1                        # Both variants
.\scripts\build-release.ps1 -Variant Standalone    # Just one
.\scripts\build-release.ps1 -Variant Full -Open    # Open output folder afterwards

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
-Variant	All	Standalone, Full, or All
-Version	0.0.0-test	Version baked into binaries and packages
-RuntimeIdentifier	auto-detect	win-x64, linux-x64, linux-arm64, osx-x64, osx-arm64
-SkipBuild	(off)	Reuse existing build output (faster iteration)
-Open	(off)	Open the first output folder after build

Output Layout

artifacts/releases/{variant}-{timestamp}/

standalone-20260501-002132/         (Standalone — Cli.Embedded, Native AOT)
├── revela.exe                       (or `revela` on Linux/macOS)
└── libvips-42.dll                   (or libvips.so.42 / libvips.42.dylib)

full-20260501-002132/               (Full — Cli + packages/)
├── revela.exe
└── packages/
    ├── Spectara.Revela.{version}.nupkg                       (CLI tool)
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Sdk.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Themes.Lumina.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Themes.Lumina.Statistics.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Themes.Lumina.Calendar.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Statistics.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Calendar.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Source.Calendar.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Source.OneDrive.{version}.nupkg
    ├── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Serve.{version}.nupkg
    └── Spectara.Revela.Plugins.Compress.{version}.nupkg

On Linux/macOS each variant also gets a launcher script (start-revela.sh or Start Revela.command).

Implementation Notes

1. Per-project Release builds: The script builds each plugin/theme/feature project explicitly with dotnet build -c Release, NOT via dotnet build Solution.slnx -c Release. Solution-level builds can produce Debug output for plugin projects when test projects are pulled in via dependency graph (MSBuild node reuse quirk). The GitHub workflow does the same.

2. DebugType=embedded (Full only): Both build and pack use -p:DebugType=embedded so symbol info lands inside each DLL instead of separate .pdb files. Avoids NU5026 ("PDB not found") when dotnet pack --no-build runs after dotnet publish (which strips PDBs from the shared artifacts/bin/). Stack traces still show file/line info because the symbols travel with the assembly.

3. DebugType=none + StripSymbols=true (Standalone/AOT only): AOT publish emits a native binary plus a separate debug companion (.dbg on Linux, .dwarf on macOS, .pdb on Windows). The script strips them post-publish to keep the release lean. Managed PDBs and XML docs are also swept.

4. Native toolchain pre-flight (Standalone only): The script aborts with an actionable install hint if gcc/clang/link.exe is missing on PATH — catches the missing-toolchain case before dotnet publish produces a cryptic NETSDK1144.

5. Smoke test: After publishing, the script runs revela --version to verify the binary actually executes (catches AOT/single-file-bundle issues early). Skipped automatically when cross-compiling.

Quick Verification

.\scripts\build-release.ps1 -Variant Standalone
$exe = (Get-Item artifacts\releases\standalone-* | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1).FullName + '\revela.exe'
& $exe -p samples\revela-website generate all

For a full pipeline test (install plugins, generate, verify .NET tool install), use scripts/test-release.ps1 instead.