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Package Management

To streamline cross-distro package management, Helios uses a centralized packages/system.yaml system. This allows each logical package to be mapped to its appropriate name for each Linux distribution, while also enabling distros to inherit shared definitions from one or more package groups.

Migrate from packages.yaml

Previously, Helios used a singular packages.yaml file which had all packages defined. With new system builds required, it became clear that the packaging system can be used to also track build dependencies. The following changes have been made:

  • The old packages.yaml file has been renamed to packages/system.yaml.
  • The inherit section has now been pulled out into its own file packages/inherit.yaml.
  • Support for custom lists is now supported. i.e. packages/my-list.yaml. You then can add this to the packages/inherit.yaml.

Structure of packages/system.yaml

packages Section

Each item in the packages array defines a single logical package, and includes distro-specific keys for the corresponding package names:

packages:
  - debian: mesa-va-drivers        # VA-API support for Debian
    rhel: mesa-va-drivers          # Same package name for RHEL

  - debian: libx11-6
    rhel: libX11

  - debian: extra-debian-only-pkg

This format enables clean mapping between distros for the same logical dependency, and avoids repeating similar entries in multiple places.

packages/inherit.yaml Section

This section defines which groups of package mappings each distro should inherit from.

inherit:
  ubuntu:
    - common
    - debian
  debian:
    - common
  rhel:
    - common

In this example:

  • Ubuntu inherits all packages defined under the common and debian groups.
  • RHEL, Debian, and Alpine all inherit from the common group.
  • Each distro may also have its own explicitly defined packages.

Package List Generation

A preprocessing step flattens the data into a list of packages, combining:

  1. All package mappings from the inherited groups
  2. Any mappings explicitly defined for that distro

Each distro’s final list is saved as:

/lists/<name>.list

For example, /lists/ubuntu.list will include packages from: - The common group - The debian group - Any Ubuntu-specific entries (if present)

Build Integration

These generated lists are used directly in the image build process. Example from alma-9/build/system.sh:

dnf install -y --allowerasing --setopt=install_weak_deps=False --best \
  $(cat /lists/rhel.list) \
  fastfetch

This example installs the complete set of packages for a RHEL-based image (including inherited packages from common).