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Application metadata ​

The application_metadata library centralizes native and guest application names, seed-install markers and shortcut JSON construction. Host examples, installers and filesystem image generation can share these definitions without duplicating their application inventory.

It is a reusable data/formatting library with no independent runtime manager.

Public contract ​

The library is no_std with alloc, and exposes two compile-time application inventories:

  • GUESTS: calculator, clock, pixel_painter, synth, text_editor and weather.
  • NATIVE: file_manager, terminal and settings, plus debug on Unix builds.

These arrays drive shared knowledge about installation and launch; they do not discover installed binaries dynamically. A runtime may have fewer or different executables than the inventory, so consumers should still check the VFS.

shortcut(name: &str) -> Option<String> emits a JSON string containing a display name, executable command, arguments, terminal flag, short icon text and RGB icon color. Guest shortcuts invoke /binaries/wasm with "/binaries/<guest>" as an argument; native shortcuts invoke their own /binaries/<name> path directly. Unknown names return None.

rust
let guest = application_metadata::shortcut("clock").expect("known app");
assert!(guest.contains("/binaries/wasm"));
assert!(application_metadata::shortcut("unknown").is_none());

Seed image handshake ​

PENDING_PATH is /system/.seed-pending, with exact marker bytes PENDING_CONTENT = b"xila-seed-v1\n". The authentication library uses these to authorize initial account provisioning only for an explicitly marked reference image. Unmarked existing disks should not automatically reset administrator credentials or recreate accounts.

The shortcut JSON is assembled manually, not via a general JSON serializer; names and icon values are drawn from a fixed internal match table. Adding a new application requires updating both the appropriate inventory and shortcut, including its launch mode, label, icon and color. Selected labels are resolved at build time through embedded-i18n.

Ownership, limitations and references ​

There is no singleton or mutable registry; all returned shortcut strings are owned by the caller. The #[cfg(unix)] inventory condition is a compile-target decision, not a runtime OS probe.