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Installers & Executables

This page explains what we ship for desktop users and how installers are produced. If you just want to install eXeLearning on your computer, start with Install: install.md.

In addition to Docker deployment, our GitHub Actions pipeline builds and publishes native desktop installers for all major platforms. Installers are built with electron-builder and embed a static PHP runtime via nativePHP/php-bin.

Automatic Updates

The application includes built-in support for automatic updates via electron-updater. Once a new release is published, users will receive an update notification the next time they launch the app. The download and installation process is handled transparently in the background.

Note: Updates are delivered only for official releases published on GitHub Releases.

Installer Formats

Each production release generates and publishes the following installers:

Linux

  • .deb (Debian/Ubuntu)
  • .rpm (RedHat, Fedora)

macOS

  • .dmg (universal build for Intel + Apple Silicon)
  • .zip (universal portable archive)

Windows

  • .nsis (classic installer)
  • .msi (wrapped NSIS, suitable for enterprise)

All artifacts are uploaded to the GitHub Releases page.

Linux Package Repositories

In addition to downloading .deb and .rpm installers from GitHub Releases,
we publish package repositories so you can install and keep eXeLearning up to date using your system package manager.

Debian/Ubuntu (APT)

Add the official eXeLearning APT repository:

# Import the GPG key
curl -fsSL https://exelearning.github.io/exelearning/deb/public.key \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/exelearning.gpg

# Add the repository
echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://exelearning.github.io/exelearning/deb stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/exelearning.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install exelearning

Future stable releases are delivered automatically via apt upgrade.

Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE (YUM/DNF)

We also provide a YUM/DNF repository. Download the .repo file and enable it:

sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/exelearning.repo \
  https://exelearning.github.io/exelearning/rpm/exelearning.repo

sudo rpm --import https://exelearning.github.io/exelearning/rpm/public.key

# Install the app
sudo dnf install exelearning

This configures your system to receive eXeLearning updates automatically with dnf upgrade (or yum update).

Local Build (for developers)

Prerequisites

npm install --global yarn
yarn install
composer install

Build locally

yarn build

The resulting installers are saved in the dist/ directory.

You can also:

  • Run the app in development mode:
make run-app
  • Enable debug mode:
make run-app DEBUG=1
  • Build a versioned package manually:
make package VERSION=1.2.3

You can also pass Git-style tags such as v1.2.3-beta4; the packaging task will strip the leading v automatically when writing package.json so that Windows upgrades detect the new build correctly, while the UI continues to show the original version string.

See Also