Feature release

Amiga Imager v0.99.5

The biggest addition since the native engine: your Amiga now has a package manager. Every image ships amipkg - and suddenly a built image is no longer frozen in time. The software Amiga Imager installed at build time stays updatable on the running Amiga, and a signed catalog of 200+ classics and tools is one command away. Think Homebrew or apt, for AmigaOS 3.x - and like those, amipkg is open source: client, tooling and catalog live on GitHub, for every Amiga, not just images built with Amiga Imager.

Download v0.99.5 Handbook PDF Browse all versions
  • NEW: your built image keeps itself up to date
  • Open source - open catalog, 200+ packages to start
  • Manage Amiga Software on the Mac
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Feature release - macOS 14+, Apple Silicon and Intel. Build: 260727.

Your image is no longer frozen in time

Until now, the software you selected in Amiga Imager was as current as the day you built the image. That changes today: every package the build installs is recorded in a receipt database, and amipkg on the image picks it up from there - amipkg check shows what has a newer release, amipkg upgrade brings it up to date, on the running Amiga, months after the build. And the same tool opens the door to much more software than the build screen ever offered.

Meet amipkg - install software on your Amiga

amipkg is a real package manager for AmigaOS 3.x. Type amipkg install visage in a Shell - or click Install in one of its two GUIs - and the app downloads, verifies, resolves its dependencies (with the right CPU build for your machine), and lands neatly in its own drawer. A receipt database records everything, so amipkg remove uninstalls cleanly, including boot-script lines. Apps you already have? amipkg adopt takes over managing them in place. And amipkg keeps itself up to date, too.

Three front-ends

  • A full MUI GUI - toolbar, sidebar with View and Categories filters, sortable columns, live status counters. Failures explain themselves in plain requesters.
  • A GadTools GUI - the same features, running on any stock 3.x system with zero dependencies.
  • The CLI - update, avail, install (with DRYRUN preview), check, upgrade, remove, adopt, doctor. Full AmigaGuide documentation ships on the image.

amipkg appears in the WBDock, gets a proper colour icon on GlowIcons builds, and lives entirely in one drawer - a Settings toggle chooses between boot integration (the AMIPKG: assign and Shell path, default) and a fully self-contained setup that touches nothing else on the system.

Open - and not just for Amiga Imager

amipkg is deliberately not an Amiga Imager exclusive: it runs on any AmigaOS 3.x system, from a stock A500 up - the standalone amipkg.lha is a free download on GitHub and on Aminet, and the client itself is open source (Apache-2.0) at github.com/thomas-luebker/amipkg. The whole toolchain is on GitHub for everyone.

The same goes for the catalog: AmigaPKG is an open, curated index that starts with 200+ of the most popular freely distributable programs - players, commodities, internet apps, dev tools, games, filesystems - and anyone can add to it. A submission is a simple pull request (one JSON file, documented in the repo’s PACKAGING.md) at github.com/thomas-luebker/amiga-pkg; developers can get their own software in front of every amipkg user in minutes.

Trust does not depend on who hosts what: the catalog is signed with an Ed25519 key and verified on the Amiga, and every download must match the SHA-256 recorded in the signed index - so even plain-HTTP downloads are safe on machines without a TLS stack. The catalog re-checks its upstream sources and re-signs itself every night, so new releases reach your Amiga automatically.

Manage Amiga Software - the Mac side

The same package management without booting the Amiga: open a built image in Manage Amiga Software (Shift-Cmd-P), see every installed package with its version and update status, and install, update or remove - dependencies resolved exactly like on the Amiga, receipts shared, so both sides always agree.

Also in this build

  • GlowIcons builds get the colour amipkg icon (with a classic fallback).
  • The package manager chapter is new in the handbook (chapter 11) - and a German manual for v0.99.5 is available on amiga-imager.de.
  • The usual round of polish across the build path.

Feedback

amipkg is young and moving fast - feedback from real machines shapes it directly. The handbook covers it in depth, and the catalog is open for submissions.