IFM Distribution

Goal: Make IFM trivial to install, run, and embed — everywhere.

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Product Matrix

Product	Type	Target	Primary Channel
ifm-cli	Binary	Node operators, developers	Homebrew, winget, apt, cargo, GitHub Releases
ifm-node	Binary / Container	Server operators, infra	Docker Hub, GHCR, GitHub Releases, Linux packages
@ifm/sdk	npm package	JS/TS app developers	npm (public), JSR
@ifm/sdk-wasm	npm + WASM	Browser apps, edge workers	npm, jsDelivr CDN
ifm-react	npm package	React developers	npm
ifm-vue	npm package	Vue developers	npm
ifm-python	PyPI package	Python developers	PyPI
ifm-go	Go module	Go developers	pkg.go.dev
libifm	C shared library	FFI, embedding, mobile	GitHub Releases, system packages
ifm-android	AAR	Android apps	Maven Central
ifm-ios	XCFramework	iOS/macOS apps	GitHub Releases, CocoaPods, SPM
ifm-flutter	Pub package	Flutter/Dart apps	pub.dev
ifm-pwa	PWA (WASM + Service Worker)	Mobile listeners, audience	HTTPS (ifm.sh/pwa), GitHub Pages, CDN
IFM Station	Desktop App (Tauri)	Broadcasters, content creators	GitHub Releases, Homebrew, winget, apt, scoop
IFM Relay Station	Desktop App (Tauri)	Mesh operators, infrastructure	GitHub Releases, Homebrew, winget, apt, scoop
IFM Radio Listener	Desktop App (Tauri)	End users, audience	GitHub Releases, Homebrew, winget, apt, scoop

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Distribution Philosophy

1. Zero-friction install — One command, no config, works immediately
2. Platform-native — .deb/.rpm/.apk, .msi, .dmg, .pkg, Homebrew, winget, Scoop, Chocolatey
3. Language-native — npm, PyPI, Cargo, Go, Maven, CocoaPods, SPM, pub.dev
4. Container-first — Docker/OCI images for every service binary
5. Verifiable — SLSA Level 3, cosign signatures, SBOMs, reproducible builds
6. Auto-updatable — Built-in update checks, background updates for daemons

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Release Cadence

Channel	Frequency	Use Case
Nightly	Every commit to main	Early testing, CI integration
Beta	Every 2 weeks	Pre-release validation
Stable	Every 6 weeks (or as needed)	Production use
LTS	Annual, 2-year support	Enterprise, embedded

Versioning: SemVer (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH)

• MAJOR — Breaking protocol/API changes
• MINOR — New features, backward compatible
• PATCH — Bug fixes, security patches

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Target Platforms

Tier 1 (Full Support, CI Tested)

Platform	Arch	ifm-cli	ifm-node	@ifm/sdk	libifm	ifm-pwa	Desktop Apps
Linux	x86_64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Linux	aarch64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Linux	armv7	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
macOS	x86_64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
macOS	arm64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Windows	x86_64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Windows	arm64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
FreeBSD	x86_64	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
Web (WASM)	wasm32	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌

Tier 2 (Community Maintained)

Platform	Arch	Notes
OpenBSD	x86_64, arm64	Ports tree
NetBSD	x86_64, arm64	pkgsrc
Illumos	x86_64	Tribblix, OmniOS
Android	arm64, x86_64	NDK build
iOS	arm64	Xcode build
WASI	wasm32	wasmtime, wasmer

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Installation Methods by Audience

End Users (CLI)

# Universal installer (detects OS/arch, verifies checksum, installs to ~/.local/bin)
curl -fsSL https://ifm.sh/install.sh | bash

# Package managers
brew install ifm                    # macOS/Linux
winget install IFM.IFM              # Windows
scoop install ifm                   # Windows
choco install ifm                   # Windows
apt install ifm                     # Debian/Ubuntu (official repo)
pacman -S ifm                       # Arch Linux
dnf install ifm                     # Fedora
zypper install ifm                  # openSUSE
apk add ifm                         # Alpine
emerge ifm                          # Gentoo
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.ifm             # NixOS

Server Operators (Node)

# Docker
docker run -d --name ifm-node \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081/udp \
  -v ifm-data:/data \
  ghcr.io/ifm/ifm-node:stable

# Kubernetes
helm repo add ifm https://charts.ifm.sh
helm install ifm-node ifm/ifm-node

# systemd (Linux packages)
systemctl enable --now ifm-node

Desktop App Users

# IFM Station — Broadcaster studio
curl -fsSL https://ifm.sh/install-station.sh | bash
brew install ifm-station                    # macOS/Linux
winget install IFM.Station                  # Windows
scoop install ifm-station                   # Windows
apt install ifm-station                     # Debian/Ubuntu

# IFM Relay Station — Mesh relay + dashboard
curl -fsSL https://ifm.sh/install-relay-station.sh | bash
brew install ifm-relay-station              # macOS/Linux
winget install IFM.RelayStation             # Windows
scoop install ifm-relay-station             # Windows
apt install ifm-relay-station               # Debian/Ubuntu

# IFM Radio Listener — Consumer listening app
curl -fsSL https://ifm.sh/install-radio-listener.sh | bash
brew install ifm-radio-listener             # macOS/Linux
winget install IFM.RadioListener            # Windows
scoop install ifm-radio-listener            # Windows
apt install ifm-radio-listener              # Debian/Ubuntu

JavaScript/TypeScript Developers

# Core SDK (Node.js, Bun, Deno, Cloudflare Workers)
npm install @ifm/sdk
# or
bun add @ifm/sdk
# or
deno add @ifm/sdk

# Browser (WASM) — via CDN for quick prototyping
<script type="module">
  import { IFM } from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@ifm/sdk-wasm@latest/dist/index.js";
</script>

# React / Vue integrations
npm install @ifm/react @ifm/vue

Python Developers

pip install ifm
# or
poetry add ifm
# or
uv add ifm

Go Developers

go get github.com/ifmprotocol/ifm-go@v1.2.3

Rust Developers

# Cargo (for embedding in Rust apps)
cargo add ifm-core

# Binary install
cargo install ifm-cli

Mobile Developers

# Android (Gradle)
implementation 'sh.ifm:ifm-android:1.2.3'

# iOS (CocoaPods)
pod 'IFM', '~> 1.2'

# iOS (Swift Package Manager)
.package(url: "https://github.com/ifmprotocol/ifm-swift.git", from: "1.2.0")

# Flutter/Dart
flutter pub add ifm_flutter

Mobile Listeners (PWA) — ifm-pwa

# Zero-install: Open in mobile browser
https://ifm.sh/pwa

# Add to Home Screen (iOS Safari / Android Chrome)
# → Share → "Add to Home Screen"

# Direct station tuning via URL
https://ifm.sh/pwa#91.700
https://ifm.sh/pwa#station/callsign

# QR codes for stations
https://ifm.sh/qr/91.700.png

Features:

• Radio-like interface — Large frequency display, simple knob/tap tuning
• Offline-first — Service Worker caches station metadata & last-played stream
• Background audio — Continues playing when screen locked / app switched
• Push notifications — "Station X is now live" (with user permission)
• Share station — Web Share API / QR code generation
• No app store — Pure HTTPS, updates on refresh, zero-friction

Embedded / C FFI

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt install libifm-dev

# Arch
pacman -S libifm

# Manual (GitHub Releases)
wget https://github.com/ifmprotocol/ifm/releases/download/v1.2.3/libifm-1.2.3-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

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Release Artifacts

Every release publishes:

Artifact	Format	Signed	SBOM
ifm-cli	tar.gz, .zip, .deb, .rpm, .apk, .msi, .pkg, .dmg	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
ifm-node	tar.gz, Docker (multi-arch), .deb, .rpm	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
@ifm/sdk	npm tarball	✅ npm attestation	✅ SPDX
libifm	tar.gz (headers + .so/.dylib/.dll + .a/.lib)	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
Mobile	.aar, .xcframework.zip	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
ifm-pwa	Static site (HTML/JS/WASM + SW + manifest)	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
IFM Station	.dmg, .msi, .AppImage, .deb, .rpm	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
IFM Relay Station	.dmg, .msi, .AppImage, .deb, .rpm	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
IFM Radio Listener	.dmg, .msi, .AppImage, .deb, .rpm	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX
Source	tar.gz, git tag	✅ cosign	✅ SPDX

All artifacts → GitHub Releases + package registries + ifm.sh CDN

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Desktop App Distribution

macOS (Tauri IFM Station / Relay Station / Radio Listener)

No Apple Developer account is required to build or distribute. Tauri apps are built to an .app bundle, then packaged as .dmg or .zip for distribution via your website or GitHub Releases.

Building & distributing unsigned macOS apps:

An unsigned app downloaded from the Internet will trigger macOS Gatekeeper. The user can open it by going to:

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway

Apple explicitly supports manually overriding Gatekeeper for unidentified/unsigned applications. An unsigned build is perfectly reasonable for developers, testers, early adopters, and your own infrastructure.

Distribution files:

What you don't get without an Apple Developer account:

• ❌ Mac App Store distribution
• ❌ Developer ID signing
• ❌ Apple notarization
• ❌ seamless Gatekeeper trust
• ❌ identified-developer experience

For broad public distribution, Apple recommends getting the Developer Program membership and adding Developer ID + notarization. However, for early development and internal distribution, unsigned builds work fine.

Windows (Tauri IFM Station / Relay Station / Radio Listener)

Tauri apps build to Windows installers (.msi) or portable (.zip). Unsigned Windows apps trigger SmartScreen, but users can override:

1. Click "More info" on the SmartScreen warning
2. Click "Run anyway"

Distribution files:

Linux (Tauri IFM Station / Relay Station / Radio Listener)

Tauri apps build to Linux installers (.deb, .rpm) or portable (.AppImage, .tar.gz). Linux distributions generally allow unsigned apps without restriction.

Distribution files:

dist/pwa/ ├── index.html # Entry point ├── manifest.json # PWA manifest (name, icons, start_url, display: standalone) ├── sw.js # Service Worker (offline, background sync, push) ├── ifm-sdk.js # JS glue (from @ifm/sdk-wasm) ├── ifm-sdk_bg.wasm # WASM binary (~400 KB gzipped) ├── icons/ │ ├── icon-72.png # PWA icons (72, 96, 128, 144, 152, 192, 384, 512) │ ├── icon-192.png │ └── icon-512.png ├── stations.json # Cached station index (updated via SW) └── version.json #

**Deploy targets:**
- `https://ifm.sh/pwa/` (primary, Cloudflare Pages / Netlify / GitHub Pages)
- `https://pwa.ifm.sh/` (alias)
- GitHub Pages: `https://ifm.github.io/ifm-pwa/`
- CDN: `https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/ifm/ifm-pwa@latest/`

### Desktop Apps Build Output

releases/v0.1.0/desktop/ ├── ifm-station-darwin-arm64.dmg ├── ifm-station-darwin-x64.dmg ├── ifm-station-windows-x64.msi ├── ifm-station-windows-arm64.msi ├── ifm-station-linux-x64.AppImage ├── ifm-station-linux-arm64.AppImage ├── ifm-station_0.1.0_amd64.deb ├── ifm-station-0.1.0.x86_64.rpm ├── ifm-relay-station-darwin-arm64.dmg ├── ... (same matrix for relay-station) ├── ifm-radio-listener-darwin-arm64.dmg ├── ... (same matrix for radio-listener) └── checksums-desktop.txt

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## Verification

```bash
# Verify cosign signature (CLI binary)
cosign verify-blob \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com \
  --certificate-identity https://github.com/ifmprotocol/ifm/.github/workflows/release.yml@refs/heads/main \
  ifm-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

# Verify npm attestation
npm attestation verify @ifm/sdk@1.2.3

# Verify Docker image
cosign verify ghcr.io/ifm/ifm-node:v1.2.3 \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com \
  --certificate-identity-regexp "https://github.com/ifmprotocol/ifm/.github/workflows/.*"

# Checksums (published to ifm.sh/checksums.txt)
sha256sum -c ifm.sh/checksums.txt

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Auto-Update

Product	Mechanism
ifm-cli	Built-in ifm update — checks GitHub Releases, verifies signature, replaces binary
ifm-node (daemon)	systemd timer + ifm-node --self-update / Docker watchtower
@ifm/sdk	npm outdated / Dependabot / Renovate
Docker images	Watchtower, Diun, or docker pull ghcr.io/ifm/ifm-node:stable
ifm-pwa	Service Worker skipWaiting + clients.claim — updates on next load; optional navigator.serviceWorker.register().update() prompt
Desktop Apps	Tauri Updater — checks GitHub Releases, verifies cosign signature, downloads & installs

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Support Matrix

Product	Linux	macOS	Windows	Web	Mobile
ifm-cli	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
ifm-node	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
@ifm/sdk	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
@ifm/sdk-wasm	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
ifm-pwa	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
IFM Station	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
IFM Relay Station	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
IFM Radio Listener	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌

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Documentation

• Build Pipeline — CI/CD, cross-compilation, signing
• Packaging — Binary formats, installers, containers
• Channels — Release channels, versioning, promotion
• Desktop Apps — Architecture & individual app docs
• Mobile PWA — Architecture & features