msixbundle

Rust library for building and signing Windows MSIX packages and bundles using the Windows SDK toolchain.

Installation

[dependencies]

msixbundle = "1.0"

Features

• SDK auto-discovery: Automatically locate Windows SDK tools via registry
• Manifest parsing: Extract version and display name from AppxManifest.xml
• Package creation: Create .msix files for each architecture
• Resource indexing: Generate resources.pri with MakePri.exe
• Bundle creation: Combine multiple .msix files into a .msixbundle
• Code signing: Sign packages and bundles with PFX certificates or certificate store thumbprints
• Timestamping: Support for RFC3161 and Authenticode protocols
• Validation: Validate packages using WACK and verify signatures

API

Usage

use msixbundle::*;
use std::path::Path;

fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    // Locate Windows SDK tools
    let tools = locate_sdk_tools()?;

    // Read manifest information
    let x64_dir = Path::new("./build/x64/AppxContent");
    let manifest = read_manifest_info(x64_dir)?;
    println!("Building {} v{}", manifest.display_name, manifest.version);

    // Optional: generate resources.pri for scale-qualified assets
    compile_resources_pri(&tools, &PriOptions {
        appx_content_dir: x64_dir,
        default_language: "en-us",
        target_os_version: "10.0.0",
        keep_priconfig: false,
        overwrite: true,
        makepri_override: None,
    })?;

    // Pack architectures (last param: overwrite existing files)
    let out_dir = Path::new("./output");
    let x64_msix = pack_arch(&tools, x64_dir, out_dir, &manifest, "x64", true)?;

    let arm64_dir = Path::new("./build/arm64/AppxContent");
    let arm64_msix = pack_arch(&tools, arm64_dir, out_dir, &manifest, "arm64", true)?;

    // Build bundle
    let packages = vec![
        ("x64".to_string(), x64_msix),
        ("arm64".to_string(), arm64_msix),
    ];
    let bundle = build_bundle(&tools, out_dir, &packages, &manifest, true)?;

    // Sign the bundle with PFX
    let pfx = Path::new("./signing.pfx");
    sign_artifact(&tools, &SignOptions {
        artifact: &bundle,
        certificate: CertificateSource::Pfx {
            path: pfx,
            password: Some("password"),
        },
        sip_dll: None,
        timestamp_url: Some("http://timestamp.digicert.com"),
        rfc3161: true,
        signtool_override: None,
    })?;

    // Or sign with a certificate thumbprint from the Windows store
    // sign_artifact(&tools, &SignOptions {
    //     artifact: &bundle,
    //     certificate: CertificateSource::Thumbprint {
    //         sha1: "1a2b3c4d5e6f...",
    //         store: Some("My"),
    //         machine_store: false,
    //     },
    //     sip_dll: None,
    //     timestamp_url: Some("http://timestamp.digicert.com"),
    //     rfc3161: true,
    //     signtool_override: None,
    // })?;

    // Verify the signature
    verify_signature(&tools, &bundle)?;

    println!("Bundle created: {}", bundle.display());
    Ok(())
}

Cargo Features

sdk-discovery (default)

Automatically locates Windows SDK tools via the Windows registry.

[dependencies]

msixbundle = { version = "1.0", default-features = true }

To disable auto-discovery and provide paths manually:

[dependencies]

msixbundle = { version = "1.0", default-features = false }

Error Handling

The library uses anyhow::Result for error handling and provides custom error types via MsixError:

• ToolMissing: Windows SDK tool not found
• MakeAppx: MakeAppx.exe operation failed
• SignTool: signtool.exe operation failed
• Manifest: Manifest parsing error
• Validation: WACK validation failed

Requirements

• Windows OS with Windows SDK 10 installed
• MakeAppx.exe and signtool.exe
• makepri.exe (optional, required for compile_resources_pri())
• appcert.exe (optional, required for validation)

License

MIT License