Ship OpenClaw as the seed for a self-updating copy under ~/.openclaw (#651)

A copy under /usr/lib/node_modules belongs to pacman, and upstream's updater refuses to write there, so neither `openclaw update` nor the Control UI's Update Gateway worked. The package now carries the release instead: the sha256-pinned npm tarball and the install-cli.sh that came in it, from which Omarchy seeds a copy under ~/.openclaw that updates itself.

pkgbuilds/openclaw/PKGBUILD

@@ -5,20 +5,26 @@
 # Contributor: Wuxxin <wuxxin@gmail.com>
 # Followed here straight from the npm registry (see .omarchy/package.json), since
 # upstream's release cadence outruns the AUR.
+#
+# This is the release Omarchy ships, not the OpenClaw that runs: a copy in /usr
+# belongs to pacman, and `openclaw update` refuses to write there.
+# omarchy-install-openclaw-cli seeds a copy under ~/.openclaw from this tarball
+# with the installer that came in it, and that copy updates itself.
 
 pkgname=openclaw
 pkgver=2026.9.6
-pkgrel=1
+pkgrel=2
 pkgdesc='Multi-channel AI gateway with extensible messaging integrations'
 arch=(x86_64 aarch64)
 url=https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw
 license=(MIT)
 
-depends=('nodejs>=22')
+# The installer brings its own Node, and git is the one thing it would
-makedepends=(npm)
+# otherwise try to install with sudo.
+depends=(bash curl git)
 optdepends=(
+    'omarchy: sets up the self-updating OpenClaw under ~/.openclaw'
     '1password-cli: 1password skill'
-    'curl: weather, openai-whisper-api skills'
     'ffmpeg: video-frames skill'
     'github-cli: github, gh-issues skills'
     'jq: session-logs, trello skills'
@@ -35,38 +41,11 @@ install=$pkgname.install
 noextract=($pkgname-$pkgver.tgz)
 
 package() {
-    export SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=1
+    install -Dm644 "$srcdir"/$pkgname-$pkgver.tgz "$pkgdir"/usr/share/$pkgname/$pkgname.tgz
-    # npm 12 blocks install-time lifecycle scripts unless the package is
-    # allow-listed, and for a local tarball the allow-list key is the tarball's
-    # own file: spec, not the package name (arborist matches node.resolved).
-    # Upstream's postinstall prunes stale dist files and clears the
-    # .openclaw-lifecycle-pending marker the tarball ships with; without it,
-    # every openclaw invocation tries to finish that lifecycle itself and dies
-    # with EACCES on the root-owned install.
-    # That postinstall also migrates legacy state under whatever home it sees
-    # (pruning plugin-runtime-deps in ~/.openclaw and friends), so it gets a
-    # scratch home: a maintainer's own OpenClaw is not the build's to touch.
-    mkdir -p "$srcdir"/home
-    env -u OPENCLAW_HOME -u OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR -u OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH HOME="$srcdir"/home \
-        npm install --silent --global --cache "$srcdir"/npm-cache \
-        --allow-scripts="file:$srcdir/$pkgname-$pkgver.tgz" \
-        --prefix "$pkgdir"/usr "$srcdir"/$pkgname-$pkgver.tgz
-    if [[ -e "$pkgdir"/usr/lib/node_modules/$pkgname/.openclaw-lifecycle-pending ]]; then
-        error "openclaw's postinstall did not run; the package would fail on first use"
-        return 1
-    fi
 
-    cat > $pkgname <<'EOF'
+    bsdtar -xf "$srcdir"/$pkgname-$pkgver.tgz -C "$srcdir" \
-#!/bin/sh
+        package/scripts/install-cli.sh package/dist/control-ui/apple-touch-icon.png package/LICENSE
-export SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=1
+    install -Dm644 "$srcdir"/package/scripts/install-cli.sh "$pkgdir"/usr/share/$pkgname/install-cli.sh
-exec node /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/openclaw.mjs "$@"
+    install -Dm644 "$srcdir"/package/dist/control-ui/apple-touch-icon.png "$pkgdir"/usr/share/$pkgname/$pkgname.png
-EOF
+    install -Dm644 -t "$pkgdir"/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname "$srcdir"/package/LICENSE
-    install -Dm755 -t "$pkgdir"/usr/bin $pkgname
-
-    cd "$pkgdir"/usr/lib/node_modules/$pkgname
-    install -Dm644 -t "$pkgdir"/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname LICENSE
-    install -Dm644 -t "$pkgdir"/usr/share/doc/$pkgname README.md CHANGELOG.md
-    for f in docs/*
-    do ln -s /usr/lib/node_modules/$pkgname/"$f" "$pkgdir"/usr/share/doc/$pkgname/
-    done
 }

pkgbuilds/openclaw/openclaw.install

@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 post_install() {
     printf "%s\n" \
-        "==> Install gateway service: openclaw gateway install --force" \
+        "==> This is the release a self-updating OpenClaw starts from." \
-        "==> Perform onboarding once: openclaw onboard"
+        "==> Set it up under ~/.openclaw: omarchy-install-openclaw-cli --now"
 }
 
 post_upgrade() {
-    # The gateway runs as a systemd user unit (openclaw-gateway.service in
+    # Earlier releases of this package were OpenClaw itself, under
-    # ~/.config/systemd/user), which a root pacman hook has no session bus
+    # /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw, and which of those a machine is leaving
-    # to reach, so it cannot be restarted from here and keeps running the
+    # cannot be told from the version alone, since the upstream sync moves it.
-    # old code until the user restarts it.
+    # A root pacman hook has no session bus to move a user's OpenClaw, so
+    # Omarchy's migration does, and this says what happens either way.
     printf "%s\n" \
-        "==> Restart the gateway to apply updates:" \
+        "==> OpenClaw runs from ~/.openclaw and updates itself: openclaw update" \
-        "    openclaw gateway restart" \
+        "==> This package only sets the release new installs start from;" \
-        "==> Run doctor to migrate configs, check gateway health, etc.:" \
+        "    omarchy update moves an OpenClaw still running from /usr there."
-        "    openclaw doctor"
 }