Building Linglong Apps with CI/CD

This chapter explains how to automate the build of Linglong apps in two ways: with GitHub Actions and with Docker.

Building with GitHub Actions

linglong-builder-action is a GitHub Action that automatically installs ll-builder and performs the build and export inside a GitHub Actions workflow.

Prerequisites

• The repository contains a linglong.yaml build configuration file
• Use an ubuntu-24.04 runner

Input Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
file	Path to the linglong.yaml file	./linglong.yaml
format	Export format, either layer or uab	layer

Example Usage

name: CI
on:
  push:
    branches: ["main"]
  pull_request:
    branches: ["main"]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ll-builder-build
        uses: myml/linglong-builder-action@main

      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: layers
          path: ./*.layer

Workflow Notes

• actions/checkout@v4: checks out the current repository; use the repository parameter to check out a different repository instead
• myml/linglong-builder-action@main: installs ll-builder, enables the mirror cache and runs ll-builder build, then exports the artifact in layer or uab format according to the format parameter
• actions/upload-artifact@v4: uploads the build artifacts as a GitHub Artifact for easy download

Building with Docker

linglong-builder-docker provides a Docker image with ll-builder preinstalled, supporting the amd64, arm64 and loong64 architectures.

Prerequisites

• Install Docker or Podman

Usage

docker run -ti --privileged \
  -v ll-builder-cache:/home/builder \
  registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.13.8_amd64

Once inside the container, you can use the ll-builder command to build apps.

Parameter Notes

• --privileged: the container needs privileged mode to mount file systems
• -v ll-builder-cache:/home/builder: persists the build cache on the host to avoid repeated downloads

Image List

Image	Architecture	ll-builder Version
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.13.8_amd64	amd64	1.13.8
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.13.8_arm64	arm64	1.13.8
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.13.8_loong64	loong64	1.13.8
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.10.3_amd64	amd64	1.10.3
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.10.3_arm64	arm64	1.10.3
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/linyaps/builder:1.10.3_loong64	loong64	1.10.3

Summary

• GitHub Actions is suitable for automated builds in a CI/CD workflow. It supports the layer and uab export formats and can leverage GitHub Cache to speed up builds.
• Docker is suitable for manual builds on a local machine or server. It supports multiple architectures and persists the cache through volume mounts.

Both approaches use the ll-builder command under the hood, and the build configuration is controlled by the linglong.yaml file in the repository.