Install with apk

apk resolves dependencies, checks signatures, upgrades and removes. Do the base image steps first, including section 5 (the variables and the /usr/local link).

1. A temporary apk, once

apk is a package too. Unpack it by hand once, then let it install itself properly. apk-tools needs zlib, zstd, openssl and ca-certificates. Each is in the half of the release that its name's first letter belongs to.

qnx# mkdir -p /data/boot/root && cd /data/boot
qnx# curl -fsSL -o INDEX     $GH_RELEASES/packages-8.0-$ARCH/INDEX       # names 0-9, a-l
qnx# curl -fsSL -o INDEX-m-z $GH_RELEASES/packages-8.0-$ARCH-m-z/INDEX   # names m-z
qnx# for PKG in zlib zstd openssl ca-certificates apk-tools; do
       case $PKG in [0-9a-l]*) SHARD= ;; *) SHARD=-m-z ;; esac
       PKG_FILE=$(grep -m1 "^$PKG|" INDEX$SHARD | cut -d'|' -f4)
       PKG_SHA256=$(grep -m1 "^$PKG|" INDEX$SHARD | cut -d'|' -f5)
       curl -fsSLO $GH_RELEASES/packages-8.0-$ARCH$SHARD/$PKG_FILE
       [ "$(openssl dgst -sha256 $PKG_FILE | sed 's/.*= *//')" = "$PKG_SHA256" ] && echo "ok  $PKG_FILE" || echo "BAD $PKG_FILE"
       gzip -dc $PKG_FILE | (cd /data/boot/root && tar -xf -)
     done
qnx# ls /data/boot/root/usr/local/bin/apk

Every line must say ok.

2. Repositories, signing key, apk

qnx# mkdir -p /data/oss/etc/apk/keys
qnx# echo "$GH_RELEASES/apk-8.0-$ARCH/APKINDEX.tar.gz"       >  /data/oss/etc/apk/repositories
qnx# echo "$GH_RELEASES/apk-8.0-$ARCH-m-z/APKINDEX.tar.gz"   >> /data/oss/etc/apk/repositories
qnx# echo "$GH_RELEASES/tests-8.0-$ARCH/APKINDEX.tar.gz"     >> /data/oss/etc/apk/repositories
qnx# echo "$GH_RELEASES/tests-8.0-$ARCH-m-z/APKINDEX.tar.gz" >> /data/oss/etc/apk/repositories
qnx# curl -fsSL -o /data/oss/etc/apk/keys/openqnx-oss-20261029.rsa.pub \
       https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openqnx/oss/main/keys/openqnx-oss-20261029.rsa.pub
qnx# BOOT_APK=/data/boot/root/usr/local
qnx# LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$BOOT_APK/lib:/data/oss/qnx-runtime/lib $BOOT_APK/bin/apk --root /data/oss --force-no-chroot --initdb add apk-tools ca-certificates
qnx# cd /; rm -rf /data/boot

3. Using apk (at every login, after the base settings)

qnx# alias apk='/usr/local/bin/apk --root /data/oss --force-no-chroot'
qnx# export SSL_CERT_FILE=/usr/local/ssl/cert.pem    # now the one from the ca-certificates package
qnx# apk update

--force-no-chroot lets package triggers run (for example glib compiling GSettings schemas on install).

4. Particular packages only

qnx# apk search -v curl                     # names and versions
qnx# apk add curl                           # with its dependencies
qnx# apk add curl=<version>                 # one version (apk search -v, or the package site)
qnx# apk add curl-dev                       # headers, pkg-config, static libraries
qnx# apk info -L curl                       # the files it installed
qnx# apk del curl                           # remove (and dependencies nothing else needs)
qnx# curl --version

Older revisions bring matching dependencies. For example, apk add nodejs=24.14.1-r0 comes with ada 3.4.4, and the newest revision comes with ada 4.0.0. A package's page on the package site lists the dependency versions each revision works with.

5. Every package at once

Make the image with the large /data (Base QEMU images, section 2) first.

qnx# mkdir -p /data/oss/dl && cd /data/oss/dl
qnx# curl -fsSL $GH_RELEASES/packages-8.0-$ARCH/INDEX $GH_RELEASES/packages-8.0-$ARCH-m-z/INDEX \
       | grep -v '^#' | cut -d'|' -f1 | sort -u \
       | grep -vxE 'sdl2-compat(-dev)?' > all-names.txt     # sdl2-compat cannot be installed with sdl2
qnx# wc -l all-names.txt
qnx# apk update
qnx# apk add $(cat all-names.txt)                           # takes long, aarch64 especially
qnx# apk info | wc -l

If it is interrupted, run the same apk add again. Remove everything: apk del $(cat all-names.txt).

6. Run a package's test

qnx# apk add qnx-test-curl qnx-port-tests
qnx# QNX_PORT_TESTS_VERBOSE=1 /usr/local/bin/qnx-port-tests/run-on-target.sh test_curl

Every check says ok, and the run ends with PASS test_curl and passed: 1 failed: 0. The package site shows the same test's recorded log for comparison.

7. Graphical programs (image with `--graphics=yes`)

qnx# apk add oss-desktop                    # labwc, swaybg, the Xfce panel, terminal, file manager
qnx# nohup oss-desktop > /tmp/oss-desktop.out 2>&1 &
qnx# export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/xdg-runtime-0 WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
qnx# apk add geany && geany &               # a GTK program on the desktop
qnx# apk add qdirstat && QT_QPA_PLATFORM=qnx qdirstat &   # Qt draws on QNX Screen directly
qnx# apk add mame && mame &                 # SDL2 programs use QNX Screen

Screenshots of what this looks like: docs/screenshots.