Electron Forge vs fpm

Electron Forge is a free, open-source tool for packaging and distributing Electron applications on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its build pipeline brings together code signing, installer creation, and artifact publishing. Makers generate platform-specific distributables, including Squirrel.Windows, ZIP, DEB, RPM, DMG, AppX, and Flatpak formats. Publishers can send outputs from the make command to distribution services, update servers, or storage such as an S3 bucket. Developers can initialize projects with create-electron-app and choose first-party Webpack, Webpack with TypeScript, Vite, or Vite with TypeScript templates. The Plugin API supports custom build logic, and custom Makers and Publishers can address additional build or storage targets. The GitHub Publisher supports GitHub Releases and, with host configuration, GitHub Enterprise. Documented auto-update options include a free Electron team service for open-source GitHub apps, static storage publishers, and a hosted update server; macOS auto-updates require a signed app. Getting started requires Node.js 16.4.0 or later, Git, and a JavaScript package manager. Packaging requires node_modules on disk and does not account for symlinked dependencies or Yarn Plug'n'Play.

fpm is a free, open-source command-line tool for creating packages for existing package systems. It accepts sources such as local directories, npm packages, CPAN modules, Python packages, Ruby gems, and existing RPM or Debian packages. Outputs include Debian, RPM, FreeBSD, macOS, Arch Linux, Alpine, Solaris, Snap, tar, zip, shell archive, and other listed formats. fpm can convert an RPM package to Debian, remove files, change metadata or dependencies, and strip pre, post, or maintainer scripts. It is written in Ruby and installed with `gem install fpm`; Ruby must be installed first, and some formats need additional system tools. Docker is documented as a way to run fpm without installing those tools locally. Building an osxpkg package requires macOS. The tool supports Linux, macOS, and self-hosted use. Documentation is described as a work in progress and not extensive. The listed release is version 1.18.0, released August 26, 2026. The license is identified as MIT-like.