Notarization and Signing in Electron.NET Core Mac Builds

[KristinaPlusPlus]

So in pre-existing releases, a custom package.json was allowed which provided the freedom to add additional NPM libraries at the time of electron-build step for custom scripts. Based on documentation: https://github.com/ElectronNET/Electron.NET/blob/main/docs/Using/Configuration.md#relation-to-packagejson , this customization is now gone. I would log an Issue against but maybe I am missing something in the newer version of electron-builder and electron dot net.

Note I had set up my notarization process following guidance from https://www.electron.build/code-signing-mac , specifically https://kilianvalkhof.com/2019/electron/notarizing-your-electron-application/ . I added the package https://www.npmjs.com/package/@electron/notarize otherwise my package file matched one to one in the Electron NET library ones.

(FYI, I have also reached out to electron-builder in the past and that was resolved: electron-userland/electron-builder#7424 , although at that time I was distributing a .DMG and since changed to .PKG due to requirements)

This library was then called in the electron.manifest.json as an "afterAllArtifactBuild" step since electron signs the .APP file but then I needed to sign and notarize the .PKG file at the end. Note - I guess one alternative is I could do this outside of electron-builder but...

/TLDR: How do you build and notarize Mac .PKG with the modern Electron.NET Core? Has electron-builder simplified this in recent years?

[FlorianRappl]

I think this is a useful discussion to have. I know that @softworkz wanted to make pretty much everything feel .NET / C# (e.g., use csproj properties instead of some JSON merging), but there certainly are limits to this approach.

[softworkz]

Builder Hooks

First of all - all build hooks from electron-builder are supported. I'm using this myself:

Files in Project

Properties/electron-builder.json

@electron/notarize

A package.json is not the only way to install @electron/notarize. I haven't done this myself yet (I actually assumed that electron-builder would do that already), but the first two ways that come to my mind are:

• Install @electron/notarize as a global library with npm install -g ...
  or
• Install it within the build context. It obviously cannot work inside the same hook script which is using that package, but you could do it in an earlier hook , e.g. using spawn()

That's what I would try first.

[KristinaPlusPlus]

I try not to install globally as that makes build machines harder to maintain although yes - containerization would resolve.

Agreed that the build scripts could run the "npm install" if needed to there is a technical workaround to add additional packages

[softworkz]

Some additional notes

Let's disambiguate package.json use cases for future readers - because there are at least three different ones:

Installation of packages for build customization

This is what this question was about. I think the suggestions I gave should work for this.

In order to create Linux packages with electron-builder, it's also required to install certain prerequisites - which even requires privileged execution (e.g. sudo apt install rpmtools) - otherwise, you cannot build rpm packages, so installation of such prerequisites as a global lib isn't really unusual.

Packages required on the Electron Side

If somebody needs npm packages on the Electron side (like for using in a preload.js or a custom_main.js script), these packages can be specified in a package.json inside the ElectronHostHook folder (you'll need to add/copy the standard implementation) and then add the packagees you need.

NPM Web Client Packages (ASP.NET)

For this, a package.json in the root folder can be used.

IMPORTANT: Don't put any electron or build-related stuff into this package.json. It won't have any effect.