Add standalone CLI lifecycle and release packaging

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Build and Release Desktop
+name: Build and Release Latch
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -15,8 +15,43 @@ permissions:
   actions: write
 
 jobs:
+  prepare:
+    name: Validate release version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      version: ${{ steps.release.outputs.version }}
+      tag: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Match the tag to the project version
+        id: release
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          version="$(sed -n 's/^latchVersion=//p' gradle.properties)"
+          if [[ -z "$version" ]]; then
+            echo "latchVersion is missing from gradle.properties" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [[ "${GITHUB_REF_TYPE}" == "tag" ]]; then
+            tag="${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
+          else
+            tag="v${version}"
+          fi
+
+          if [[ "$tag" != "v${version}" ]]; then
+            echo "Release tag $tag does not match latchVersion=$version" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "version=$version" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "tag=$tag" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
   build-linux:
-    name: Build Linux Package (.tar.gz)
+    name: Build Linux artifacts
+    needs: prepare
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repo
@@ -29,20 +64,43 @@ jobs:
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: gradle
 
-      - name: Grant execute permission for gradlew
-        run: chmod +x gradlew
-
-      - name: Build Linux .tar.gz
-        run: ./gradlew :desktop:packageReleaseTarGz
-
-      - name: Upload Linux Artifact
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+      - name: Install native packaging tools
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install --yes fakeroot rpm
+
+      - name: Verify shared runtime and CLI
+        run: |
+          chmod +x gradlew
+          ./gradlew :core:desktopTest :cli:test :desktop:smoke
+
+      - name: Build Desktop and CLI packages
+        run: |
+          ./gradlew \
+            :desktop:packageReleaseTarGz \
+            :cli:packageCliTarGz \
+            :cli:packageCliDeb \
+            :cli:packageCliRpm
+
+      - name: Smoke-test bundled CLI
+        run: |
+          cli/build/cli-package/image/latch-cli/bin/latch-cli --version
+          test "$(cli/build/cli-package/image/latch-cli/bin/latch-cli --version)" = "latch-cli ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}"
+
+      - name: Upload Linux artifacts
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: linux-tarball
-          path: desktop/build/distributions/*.tar.gz
+          name: linux-artifacts
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          path: |
+            desktop/build/distributions/*.tar.gz
+            cli/build/distributions/*.tar.gz
+            cli/build/distributions/*.deb
+            cli/build/distributions/*.rpm
 
   build-windows:
-    name: Build Windows Package (.msi)
+    name: Build Windows artifacts
+    needs: prepare
     runs-on: windows-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repo
@@ -55,48 +113,73 @@ jobs:
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: gradle
 
-      - name: Build Windows MSI
-        run: .\gradlew.bat :desktop:packageReleaseMsi
+      - name: Build Desktop MSI and portable CLI
+        run: .\gradlew.bat :desktop:packageReleaseMsi :cli:packageCliZip
 
-      - name: Upload Windows Artifact
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+      - name: Smoke-test bundled CLI
+        shell: pwsh
+        run: |
+          $launcher = "cli\build\cli-package\image\latch-cli\latch-cli.exe"
+          $actual = & $launcher --version
+          if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0 -or $actual -ne "latch-cli ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}") {
+            throw "Unexpected CLI version output: $actual"
+          }
+
+      - name: Upload Windows artifacts
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: windows-msi
-          path: desktop/build/compose/binaries/main-release/msi/*.msi
+          name: windows-artifacts
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          path: |
+            desktop/build/compose/binaries/main-release/msi/*.msi
+            cli/build/distributions/*.zip
 
   release:
-    name: Create GitHub Release
-    needs: [build-linux, build-windows]
+    name: Create GitHub release
+    needs: [prepare, build-linux, build-windows]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
       - name: Download all artifacts
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
         with:
           path: release-assets
           merge-multiple: true
 
-      - name: Create GitHub Release
+      - name: Generate package-manager manifests
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}
+        run: |
+          packaging/generate-cli-package-metadata.sh \
+            "$VERSION" \
+            "release-assets/latch-cli-$VERSION-linux-x64.tar.gz" \
+            "release-assets/latch-cli-$VERSION-windows-x64.zip" \
+            package-metadata
+          (cd package-metadata && zip -qr "../release-assets/latch-cli-$VERSION-package-metadata.zip" .)
+
+      - name: Generate checksums
+        working-directory: release-assets
+        run: sha256sum * > SHA256SUMS
+
+      - name: Create GitHub release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
         with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+          tag_name: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.tag }}
+          name: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.tag }}
           draft: false
           prerelease: false
           make_latest: true
           body: |
-            Update checker fix.
-
-            What's New
-
-            - Fixed: the app could show "update available" even when you already had the latest version
+            Latch Desktop and the standalone `latch-cli` now share one release version.
 
-            Download the compatible version for your machine from the assets below.
-          files: |
-            release-assets/*
+            CLI downloads include portable Linux and Windows bundles, Debian and RPM packages, checksums, and submission-ready AUR/winget metadata.
+          files: release-assets/*
 
       - name: Clear build artifacts storage
         uses: geekyeggo/delete-artifact@v6
         with:
           name: |
-            linux-tarball
-            windows-msi
+            linux-artifacts
+            windows-artifacts

README.md

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Latch is a Kotlin application developed by VinnovateIT that automates the login
 - Automatic detection of VIT hostel WiFi networks
 - Auto-login with securely stored credentials
 - Logging and display of network usage statistics
+- Standalone CLI for Linux terminals and Windows PowerShell
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
@@ -55,6 +56,50 @@ Before you start, make sure you have:
 
    To install manually instead, download `latch-1.3.8-linux-x64.tar.gz` from the [latest release](https://github.com/vinnovateit/latch/releases/latest) and extract it.
 
+### Command-line app
+
+`latch-cli` is a standalone application with its own trimmed Java runtime; Java does not need to be installed separately.
+
+On Debian or Ubuntu, download the `.deb` from the [latest release](https://github.com/vinnovateit/latch/releases/latest), then run:
+
+```sh
+sudo apt install ./latch-cli_1.3.8_amd64.deb
+```
+
+RPM-based distributions can install the release package with `sudo dnf install ./latch-cli-*.rpm`. Arch users can install the `latch-cli-bin` AUR package after its release metadata is submitted. The portable `latch-cli-1.3.8-linux-x64.tar.gz` works without package-manager installation.
+
+A hosted APT repository can be added later; the initial `.deb` is installed directly with `apt`. Flatpak is intentionally outside the CLI release scope because its sandbox and desktop-first distribution model do not fit a host-network command-line daemon.
+
+On Windows, install `VinnovateIT.LatchCLI` with winget after its manifest is accepted, or download and extract `latch-cli-1.3.8-windows-x64.zip`. The executable works directly from PowerShell:
+
+```powershell
+.\latch-cli.exe --status
+```
+
+Run `latch-cli` with no arguments the first time. It prompts for your VIT credentials, starts the auto-login daemon in the background, and enables per-user startup at login. On later runs, `latch-cli` prints its help menu.
+
+Use `activate` and `deactivate` to control the background daemon on Linux or from PowerShell on Windows:
+
+```text
+latch-cli activate
+latch-cli deactivate
+```
+
+`activate` is idempotent and enables startup at login. `deactivate` stops a CLI-owned daemon and disables its login startup entry; it does not terminate a running desktop app. Common one-shot commands are:
+
+```text
+latch-cli --set-credentials
+latch-cli --status
+latch-cli --login
+latch-cli --logout
+latch-cli --history
+latch-cli --settings
+latch-cli --settings set auto-login on
+latch-cli --settings set allowed-ssids "VIT2.4G,VIT5G"
+```
+
+Desktop and CLI installations can coexist. They coordinate through an authenticated local connection so only one networking engine is active, and opening Desktop takes ownership from a running CLI daemon.
+
 ### Android
 
 No pre-built APK is currently published for the Android app. To use it today, build it from source. See [Dev setup](#dev-setup) below.
@@ -126,7 +171,7 @@ Optionally, it records network statistics for monitoring purposes.
 
 - Add support for multiple VIT campuses
 - Improve UI responsiveness
-- CLI client ;)
+- Publish the generated CLI manifests to additional package repositories
 
 See the [open issues](https://github.com/vinnovateit/latch/issues) for a full list of proposed features and known issues.