Using the BigWigs Packager with GitHub Actions

If you maintain multiple addons on CurseForge, WowInterface and Wago while also embedding any libraries it can be bothersome just to update them.

The BigWigs packager has a couple of advantages over the CurseForge packager and supports:

• Uploading to CurseForge, WowInterface, Wago, and GitHub (as a release).
• Packaging for multiple game versions.
• Using GitHub Actions to automate your workflow.

The documentation is available on the project page:

• Preparing the PackageMeta File
• Repository Keyword Substitutions
• Localization Substitution
• GitHub Actions workflow

For this tutorial you will need: The basic idea is: create a local Git repository -> make some changes -> stage your changes -> commit them locally -> push the commits to a remote repository.

• To be familiar with Git, guides like try.github.io and git - the simple guide will help you on your way.
• To install the Git client or one of the available GUI clients. VS Code has integrated Git support.
• A GitHub repository.

The PackageMeta file configures the packager. It's mostly used for embedding any external libraries, for example the Ace3 framework:

<font color="#4ec9b0">.pkgmeta package-as: MyAddOn externals: Libs/LibStub: https://repos.wowace.com/wow/libstub/trunk Libs/CallbackHandler-1.0: https://repos.wowace.com/wow/callbackhandler/trunk/CallbackHandler-1.0 Libs/AceAddon-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceAddon-3.0 Libs/AceComm-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceComm-3.0 Libs/AceConfig-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceConfig-3.0 Libs/AceConsole-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceConsole-3.0 Libs/AceDB-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceDB-3.0 Libs/AceDBOptions-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceDBOptions-3.0 Libs/AceEvent-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceEvent-3.0 Libs/AceGUI-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceGUI-3.0 Libs/AceHook-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceHook-3.0 Libs/AceLocale-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceLocale-3.0 Libs/AceSerializer-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceSerializer-3.0 Libs/AceTimer-3.0: https://repos.curseforge.com/wow/ace3/trunk/AceTimer-3.0

Listing external embeds is convenient for packaging the latest version of a library instead of hardcoding it.

When the libaries are packaged externally, you naturally would still want to have your own local Ace3 libs in your working copy without checking them out to the repository:

• Use e.g. Ace3 standalone by dropping the Ace3 in the folder and specifying in your TOC. A library can be used standalone if it has a TOC file.
• Or put the Ace3 libs in the folder and exclude it from the repository with .gitignore

The project IDs should be listed in the TOC file (or alternatively as, , and arguments in the workflow). The substitution keyword is the tag name if on a tag, otherwise the short revision.

• The Curse ID is listed on the project page, e.g. 399282 on https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/hidetutorial
• The WoWInterface ID is in the URL, e.g. 25635 in https://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info25635-HideTutorial.html
• The Wago project ID is listed on the developer dashboard.

<font color="#4ec9b0">MyAddOn.toc <font color="#ecbc2a">## X-Curse-Project-ID: 123456 MyAddOn.lua

• 1) Interface:
• 2) Version: @project-version@
• 3) Title: MyAddOn
• 4) Notes: Does something neat
• 5) Author: Your Name
• 1) X-WoWI-ID: 12345
• 2) X-Wago-ID: abcdef12

A workflow is a configurable automated process made up of one or more jobs. You can reference the detailed GitHub Actions workflow example on the BigWigs wiki or use the below one.

<font color="#4ec9b0">.github/workflows/release.yml

The workflow accesses encrypted environment variables a.k.a. secrets, they can be created via

Generate the API tokens and assign them to your secrets:

• https://wow.curseforge.com/account/api-tokens
• https://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/filecpl.php?action=apitokens
• https://addons.wago.io/account/apikeys

Make sure your workflow and TOC file with project IDs are committed and pushed. (Note that if you push an initial workflow at the same time with a tag, then the workflow will not trigger yet. Try pushing another tag.)

Now when pushing a new tag GitHub should automatically package a .zip file and upload to CurseForge, WoWInterface and GitHub releases!

• Reference: Building for multiple game versions, GitHub Actions workflow
• Addons can check the current game flavor with the WOW_PROJECT_ID constant.
• The packager can automatically generate multiple TOC files, for example this will create one zip file with three different TOCs:, ,

<font color="#4ec9b0">AddonName.toc

• 1) Interface:
• 2) Interface-Wrath:
• 3) Interface-Classic:

As of February 2023 the default permissions granted to the automatically generated for new repositories were changed to only allow read-only access. You will need to modify the permissions of the token and grant it write access to allow the packager to publish releases to your repository.

• Kemayo: World of Warcraft addon packaging but with GitHub Actions this time
• WowInterface: Guide: Automagically package and publish addons (TravisCI)
• Example reference addon: https://github.com/ketho-wow/HideTutorial
• Symlinking AddOn folders