feat(linux): native build path + Linux-specific launcher optimizations

- X-Plane auto-detection now finds Steam (native + Flatpak), /opt and
  external-drive SteamLibrary installs, not just ~/ and macOS/Windows paths.
- Close-to-background minimizes on Linux instead of hiding to tray, so the app
  is never stranded on desktops without a tray (e.g. vanilla GNOME).
- Disable WebKitGTK's DMABUF renderer on Linux to avoid black/blank windows on
  some GPU/driver combos (overridable via the env var).
- Launcher font stack gains Linux UI/mono fallbacks (Cantarell/Ubuntu/Noto).
- scripts/build.sh: Docker-free Linux AppImage build — repack the cockpit into
  the prebuilt bundle for web-only changes; recompile natively for code changes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

desktop/src-tauri/src/lib.rs

@@ -66,30 +66,71 @@ fn suggest_port(start: u16) -> u16 {
     start
 }
 
+// A directory is an X-Plane 12 root iff it holds Resources/default data.
+fn is_xplane_root(p: &std::path::Path) -> bool {
+    p.join("Resources").join("default data").is_dir()
+}
+
 #[tauri::command]
 fn default_xplane_path() -> Option<String> {
     let home = std::env::var("HOME")
         .or_else(|_| std::env::var("USERPROFILE"))
         .unwrap_or_default();
-    let candidates = [
+    let user = std::env::var("USER")
+        .or_else(|_| std::env::var("USERNAME"))
+        .unwrap_or_default();
+
+    let mut candidates = vec![
+        // Generic / cross-platform
         format!("{home}/X-Plane 12"),
         format!("{home}/Desktop/X-Plane 12"),
+        format!("{home}/Games/X-Plane 12"),
+        // Steam on Linux — native, plus the Flatpak Steam sandbox path
+        format!("{home}/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12"),
+        format!("{home}/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12"),
+        format!("{home}/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12"),
+        // System-wide (Linux)
+        "/opt/X-Plane 12".to_string(),
+        // macOS
         "/Applications/X-Plane 12".to_string(),
+        // Windows
         "C:/X-Plane 12".to_string(),
         "D:/X-Plane 12".to_string(),
     ];
+
+    // Secondary/external drives: Steam libraries on extra disks usually mount
+    // under /media/$USER, /run/media/$USER or /mnt. Probe each mounted volume
+    // for the standard SteamLibrary layout (and a bare "X-Plane 12" folder).
+    for base in [
+        format!("/media/{user}"),
+        format!("/run/media/{user}"),
+        "/mnt".to_string(),
+    ] {
+        if let Ok(entries) = std::fs::read_dir(&base) {
+            for vol in entries.flatten().map(|e| e.path()) {
+                candidates.push(
+                    vol.join("SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12")
+                        .to_string_lossy()
+                        .into_owned(),
+                );
+                candidates.push(
+                    vol.join("steamapps/common/X-Plane 12")
+                        .to_string_lossy()
+                        .into_owned(),
+                );
+                candidates.push(vol.join("X-Plane 12").to_string_lossy().into_owned());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     candidates
         .into_iter()
-        .find(|c| PathBuf::from(c).join("Resources").join("default data").is_dir())
+        .find(|c| is_xplane_root(&PathBuf::from(c)))
 }
 
 #[tauri::command]
 fn valid_xplane_path(path: String) -> bool {
-    !path.is_empty()
+    !path.is_empty() && is_xplane_root(&PathBuf::from(&path))
-        && PathBuf::from(&path)
-            .join("Resources")
-            .join("default data")
-            .is_dir()
 }
 
 #[tauri::command]
@@ -225,11 +266,17 @@ pub fn run() {
             build_tray(app.handle())?;
             Ok(())
         })
-        // Closing the window hides it instead of quitting, so the server keeps
+        // Closing the window keeps the app alive so the server keeps serving
-        // serving tablets in the background. Quit from the tray.
+        // tablets in the background. On macOS/Windows the tray icon is always
+        // reachable, so fully hide. On Linux many desktops (notably vanilla
+        // GNOME) show no tray at all, so hiding would strand the app with no way
+        // back — minimize instead, keeping it in the taskbar while it runs.
         .on_window_event(|window, event| {
             if let tauri::WindowEvent::CloseRequested { api, .. } = event {
                 api.prevent_close();
+                #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+                let _ = window.minimize();
+                #[cfg(not(target_os = "linux"))]
                 let _ = window.hide();
             }
         })

desktop/src-tauri/src/main.rs

@@ -2,5 +2,14 @@
 #![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]
 
 fn main() {
+    // WebKitGTK's DMABUF renderer shows a black/blank window on a number of Linux
+    // GPU/driver combinations (notably Nvidia and older Mesa). This launcher is a
+    // simple control panel, so favour reliability over GPU compositing: disable
+    // the DMABUF renderer unless the user has already set the variable themselves.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    if std::env::var_os("WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER").is_none() {
+        std::env::set_var("WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER", "1");
+    }
+
     xplane_cockpit_lib::run()
 }

desktop/ui/styles.css

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ html, body { margin: 0; height: 100%; }
 body {
   background: var(--bg);
   color: var(--txt);
-  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "SF Pro Text", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif;
+  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "SF Pro Text", "Segoe UI", "Inter", "Cantarell", "Ubuntu", "Noto Sans", Roboto, sans-serif;
   font-size: 13px; user-select: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
 }
 .panel { display: flex; flex-direction: column; height: 100vh; padding: 16px; gap: 14px; }
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ input:focus { outline: none; border-color: var(--green); box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px r
 
 .live.hidden { display: none; }
 .url-row { display: flex; gap: 8px; align-items: center; }
-.url-row code { flex: 1; background: var(--bg); border: 1px solid var(--line); color: var(--green); border-radius: 7px; padding: 10px 12px; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: .3px; user-select: text; font-family: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace; }
+.url-row code { flex: 1; background: var(--bg); border: 1px solid var(--line); color: var(--green); border-radius: 7px; padding: 10px 12px; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: .3px; user-select: text; font-family: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, "JetBrains Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Noto Sans Mono", monospace; }
 .quick { display: flex; gap: 6px; }
 .quick .btn { flex: 1; }
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ input:focus { outline: none; border-color: var(--green); box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px r
 
 .log-wrap { background: var(--bg2); border: 1px solid var(--line-soft); border-radius: 12px; padding: 6px 12px; }
 .log-wrap summary { color: var(--mut); font-size: 12px; cursor: pointer; padding: 4px 0; }
-#log { margin: 6px 0 2px; max-height: 140px; overflow-y: auto; font-family: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 11px; color: var(--mut); white-space: pre-wrap; }
+#log { margin: 6px 0 2px; max-height: 140px; overflow-y: auto; font-family: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, "JetBrains Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Noto Sans Mono", monospace; font-size: 11px; color: var(--mut); white-space: pre-wrap; }
 
 .ft { display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: space-between; color: var(--mut); font-size: 12px; }
 .link { background: none; border: none; color: var(--green); cursor: pointer; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; }

scripts/build.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Build the Linux artifacts (AppImage + .deb) WITHOUT Docker and WITHOUT
+# recompiling the Rust launcher.
+#
+# WHY: this app's launcher (Tauri/Rust) barely ever changes — what changes is the
+# cockpit itself (web/ JSX), which ships as a *resource* the Bun sidecar serves at
+# runtime. So a release is really just: rebuild the web cockpit, drop it into the
+# already-compiled bundle, and repack. That's seconds, not a Docker cross-build.
+#
+# It reuses three things produced by a prior full `tauri build`:
+#   * the compiled launcher + GTK/WebKit libs in the AppDir
+#   * the cached linuxdeploy appimage packer (~/.cache/tauri/...)
+#   * the seed .deb (for its control metadata + file tree)
+# and refreshes the cockpit (usr/lib/X-Plane Cockpit/web) + Lua plugins in both.
+#
+# Seed once (native, no Docker) if the AppDir is missing:
+#   scripts/prep-desktop.sh
+#   npx --prefix desktop tauri build --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --bundles appimage,deb
+# Thereafter just run this script for every web-only change.
+#
+# CAVEAT: the launcher binary is reused as-is, so the *version it reports itself*
+# (used by the auto-updater) is whatever it was last compiled with — not
+# necessarily $VERSION. The cockpit features are unaffected (they come from the
+# refreshed web resources). If you bump the version AND rely on the updater,
+# recompile the launcher once with the tauri build line above.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"; cd "$ROOT"
+die(){ echo "!! $*" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
+BUNDLE="$ROOT/target-linux/$TARGET/release/bundle"
+APPDIR="$BUNDLE/appimage/X-Plane Cockpit.AppDir"
+RESDIR="$APPDIR/usr/lib/X-Plane Cockpit"
+PLUGIN="$HOME/.cache/tauri/linuxdeploy-plugin-appimage.AppImage"
+SIDECAR="$ROOT/desktop/src-tauri/binaries/xpbridge-$TARGET"
+PKGNAME="X-Plane Cockpit"
+VERSION="$(node -p "require('$ROOT/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json').version")"
+
+echo "==> X-Plane Cockpit Linux repack — v$VERSION (no Docker, no Rust recompile)"
+
+# ---- preflight -----------------------------------------------------------
+[[ -d "$APPDIR" ]]  || die "no prebuilt AppDir: $APPDIR — seed one full tauri build first (see header)"
+[[ -x "$PLUGIN" ]]  || die "missing appimage packer: $PLUGIN — run one tauri appimage build to fetch it"
+[[ -f "$SIDECAR" ]] || die "missing sidecar: $SIDECAR — run scripts/prep-desktop.sh"
+command -v ar  >/dev/null || die "'ar' (binutils) required to assemble the .deb"
+command -v tar >/dev/null || die "'tar' required"
+
+SIGN=0
+[[ -f desktop/.tauri-signing.key && -f desktop/.tauri-signing.pw ]] && SIGN=1
+sign(){ # $1 = artifact; writes <artifact>.sig next to it
+  if [[ $SIGN == 1 ]]; then
+    TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat desktop/.tauri-signing.key)" \
+    TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD="$(cat desktop/.tauri-signing.pw)" \
+      npx --prefix desktop tauri signer sign "$1" >/dev/null
+    echo "   signed: $(basename "$1").sig"
+  else
+    rm -f "$1.sig"
+  fi
+}
+
+# ---- 1. build the web cockpit, refresh repo resources --------------------
+echo "==> building web cockpit (vite)"
+( cd web && npm run build >/dev/null )
+echo "==> refreshing desktop/src-tauri/resources"
+rm -rf "desktop/src-tauri/resources/web";     mkdir -p "desktop/src-tauri/resources/web"
+cp -R web/dist/. "desktop/src-tauri/resources/web/"
+rm -rf "desktop/src-tauri/resources/plugins"; mkdir -p "desktop/src-tauri/resources/plugins"
+cp plugins/*.lua "desktop/src-tauri/resources/plugins/"
+
+# ---- 2. refresh the cockpit inside the prebuilt AppDir -------------------
+echo "==> updating bundled cockpit inside AppDir"
+rm -rf "$RESDIR/web";     mkdir -p "$RESDIR/web";     cp -R web/dist/. "$RESDIR/web/"
+rm -rf "$RESDIR/plugins"; mkdir -p "$RESDIR/plugins"; cp plugins/*.lua "$RESDIR/plugins/"
+# the AppDir's sidecar copy may be a patchelf-corrupted one — restore the pristine
+cp -f "$SIDECAR" "$APPDIR/usr/bin/xpbridge"; chmod +x "$APPDIR/usr/bin/xpbridge"
+
+# ---- 3. pack the AppImage (cached linuxdeploy plugin, no patchelf) -------
+OUTIMG="$BUNDLE/appimage/${PKGNAME}_${VERSION}_amd64.AppImage"
+echo "==> packing AppImage -> $(basename "$OUTIMG")"
+rm -f "$OUTIMG"
+APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1 NO_STRIP=1 ARCH=x86_64 LDAI_OUTPUT="$OUTIMG" \
+  "$PLUGIN" --appdir "$APPDIR" >/dev/null
+[[ -f "$OUTIMG" ]] || die "AppImage packing produced nothing"
+chmod +x "$OUTIMG"
+sign "$OUTIMG"
+echo "   AppImage: $(du -h "$OUTIMG" | cut -f1)"
+
+# The .deb is intentionally NOT built: the AppImage is the single self-contained,
+# self-updating artifact (the Tauri Linux updater swaps the AppImage in place; it
+# never uses a .deb). If you ever want a .deb too, run a full native tauri build
+# with --bundles appimage,deb.
+
+echo "==> done. artifact:"
+ls -1 "$OUTIMG"