As this software is concepted as a plugin for linuxdeploy, it is recommended to use it as such.
### Usage with linuxdeploy
When calling linuxdeploy, just add `--output appimage` to enable the plugin. After completing the bundling process and running e.g., input plugins, linuxdeploy will then call the AppImage plugin to create an AppImage from the AppDir.
*For more information, see the [official AppImage packaging guide](https://docs.appimage.org/packaging-guide/native-binaries.html).*
### Standalone usage
Like all linuxdeploy plugins, linuxdeploy-plugin-appimage is a standalone tool and can be used without linuxdeploy.
Please see the `--help` test for more information.
### Updating the AppImage plugin
The official linuxdeploy AppImage ships with a fairly recent version of the plugin. You can at any time still download the AppImage from the [release page](https://github.com/linuxdeploy/linuxdeploy-plugin-appimage/releases/), and put it into the same directory as linuxdeploy. Then, linuxdeploy will use the AppImage instead of the bundled version.
*For more information on how linuxdeploy's plugin system works, please refer to [the documentation](https://docs.appimage.org/packaging-guide/linuxdeploy-user-guide.html#plugin-system).*
linuxdeploy-plugin-appimage can be configured using environment variables.
-`UPDATE_INFORMATION="..."`: embed [update information](https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageSpec/blob/master/draft.md#update-information) in the AppImage, and generate corresponding `.zsync` file
-`SIGN=1`: set this variable to any value to enable signing of the AppImage
