Release AppImage — embedded (compiled) plugin flavor

The release CI (.github/workflows/linux-appimage-release.yml, see README.md) bundles the curated plugin set by downloading the published marketplace zips from pj-plugin-registry (build_appimage.sh --plugins-registry) — the same artifacts the Windows installer ships.

This document covers the local alternative: compiling the same curated set from pj-official-plugins source and embedding it. build_release_appimage.sh orchestrates that full build. Use it when the registry is not an option — offline builds, testing unpublished plugin changes, or building against a not-yet-released SDK.

The full bundled set (17 + ROS 2)

Loaders	Parsers	Streams	Toolboxes
csv, mcap, parquet, ulog, mp4, pointcloud-3d	ros, protobuf, json, data-tamer	dummy-streamer, foxglove-bridge, plotjuggler-bridge, webrtc-client, ros2-topic-subscriber	quaternion, transform-editor, mosaico

(Excluded by request: toolbox-colormap, toolbox-reactive-scripts-editor. The set matches BUNDLE_IDS in build_appimage.sh; keep the two in lockstep.)

Two build flows, tied together

ROS 2 (multi-distro) — data_stream_ros2/docker/run-local.sh --bundle builds a distro-agnostic proxy plus one binary per supported ROS 2 distro (humble, iron, jazzy, rolling), each compiled in its own Docker image. At load time the proxy dispatches to the binary matching the ROS 2 distro installed on the user's machine.
App + non-ROS 2 plugins + package — the default is appimage/build_in_docker.sh --plugins-dir <sdk>/pj_ported_plugins, which compiles both the app and the aggregate plugin set in the Ubuntu 22.04 builder image (glibc 2.35), picks up the ROS 2 bundle from step 1, and packages the AppImage. build_release_appimage.sh then extracts the result, drops any .so outside the curated 17 (the aggregate build produces more), and repacks — so the released AppImage is portable and carries exactly the 17. With --host-build the same 17-plugin filter runs but the app + plugins are built on the host (./build.sh and pj_ported_plugins/build.sh), producing a faster iteration but non-portable AppImage tied to the host's glibc.

bash

appimage/build_release_appimage.sh                       # DEFAULT: docker (portable, glibc 2.35)
appimage/build_release_appimage.sh --host-build          # opt-in: host build (non-portable)
appimage/build_release_appimage.sh --skip-ros2           # reuse a previous ROS 2 bundle
appimage/build_release_appimage.sh --ros2-distros "jazzy"  # restrict the ROS 2 matrix
appimage/build_release_appimage.sh --fresh               # (docker) wipe the Conan+ccache volumes

Runtime requirement for ROS 2

The ros2-topic-subscriber proxy links no ROS libraries; it dlopens the per-distro binary at load time, and that binary links rclcpp & friends. So the ROS 2 topic subscriber only appears (and works) when a supported ROS 2 distribution is installed and its environment is on the process — i.e. source /opt/ros/<distro>/setup.bash before launching PlotJuggler. With no ROS 2 present the plugin stays silent (this is expected, not an error); every other bundled plugin works regardless.

glibc floor / portability

By default build_release_appimage.sh runs the app + non-ROS 2 plugin build inside build_in_docker.sh (Ubuntu 22.04 / glibc 2.35), so the released AppImage runs on any distro with glibc ≥ 2.35 (Ubuntu 22.04 and newer, and equivalents on other families). ROS 2 inner binaries are always built per-distro in Docker; the proxy that PlotJuggler loads is built in Ubuntu 22.04, matching the app's glibc floor. Pass --host-build to compile on the host instead — faster for local iteration, but the resulting AppImage inherits the host's glibc floor (e.g. Ubuntu 24.04 → glibc 2.38).

Status

build_release_appimage.sh is a convenience wrapper over the two flows above, kept for local/offline embedded builds. The release CI does not use it: it compiles only the app (inside ghcr.io/plotjuggler/pj4-appimage-builder, the thin ci-base target of Dockerfile.build, published by .github/workflows/appimage-builder-image.yml) and takes every plugin from the registry.