Testing AppImages

This wiki describes several methods you can use to test your AppImages.

More information: https://docs.appimage.org/packaging-guide/testing.html

chroot

This method mounts a LiveCD and chroots into it.

1. Download a LiveCD ISO of the OS you want to test your AppImages in
2. Use the script runInChroot:

• Usage:

runInChroot <OS image> <AppImage|AppDir>

• Example:

runInChroot /mnt/win/dl/os/ubuntu-14.04-desktop-i386.iso "Maldita Castilla 1.0-r2-x86.run"

Virtual machines

1. Download a LiveCD ISO of the OS you want to test your AppImages in
2. Using QEMU you can run the LiveCD inside a Virtual Machine and mount a directory from the host into the guest:

• Usage:

qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2G -enable-kvm \
                   -drive file=<OS image> \
                   -virtfs local,path=<path containing AppImages or AppDirs>,mount_tag=host0,security_model=passthrough,id=h

• Example:

qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2G -enable-kvm \
                   -drive file=/mnt/win/dl/os/ubuntu-14.04-desktop-i386.iso \
                   -virtfs local,path=/mnt/win/dl/Gaems/pg4l/,mount_tag=host0,security_model=passthrough,id=h

3. When the VM boots up, run this to mount the host directory inside the guest:

sudo mount -t 9p host0 /mnt/ -o allow_other -o exec
cd /mnt/

Multiboot

This method requires reboots, but avoids virtualization, so it's reliable and there's no performance loss.

1. Follow https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot#grml-rescueboot to set up grml-rescueboot (or grml-iso in Archlinux)
2. Reboot into the ISO you want to test your AppImages in