RetroArch¶

Description¶

RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines, and media players powered by the Libretro framework. It supports multiple UI styles including XMB and Ozone, and provides a unified interface for retro gaming across platforms.

Overview¶

Designed for retro gaming enthusiasts, this role installs RetroArch along with its core assets and themes on Arch Linux systems. It ensures all UI styles are ready and provides a consistent emulator frontend interface.

Architecture¶

ARCHITECTURE.md draws RetroArch from its own metadata: the containers it runs under compose, what changes under swarm, how each volume is backed, and every role it depends on or is depended upon by.

Section	Drawn from
Compose	`meta/services.yml`
Swarm	`meta/services.yml` replicas and placement
Volumes	`meta/volumes.yml` against the NFS decision chain
Dependencies	`meta/services.yml` and `meta/main.yml` of every role

Purpose¶

The purpose of this role is to automate the deployment of a full-featured RetroArch environment, reducing manual setup and improving reproducibility across gaming setups.

Features¶

Installs RetroArch: Including the main RetroArch package and theme assets.
UI Assets Support: Both XMB and Ozone menu styles supported out of the box.

Quick Setup¶

Development¶

Clone, set up the workstation, and deploy RetroArch onto the local stack:

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
make onboard
make compose-deploy mode=reinstall apps=dsk-retroarch full_cycle=false

Production¶

Install RetroArch directly onto the target machine: clone the repository, install the OS prerequisites and the repository toolchain, then deploy against localhost over a local connection (no SSH, no container):

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
bash scripts/install/package.sh
make install
source scripts/meta/env/load.sh

APP=dsk-retroarch
DOMAIN="<your-domain>"
TLS_MODE=self_signed
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="<your-ssh-public-key>"
INVENTORY=inventories/production
infinito administration inventory provision "$INVENTORY" \
  --inventory-file "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
  --host localhost \
  --include "$APP" \
  --vars "{\"TLS_MODE\": \"$TLS_MODE\", \"DOMAIN_PRIMARY\": \"$DOMAIN\", \"users\": {\"administrator\": {\"authorized_keys\": [\"$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY\"]}}}"
infinito administration deploy dedicated "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
  --password-file "$INVENTORY/.password" \
  --diff -vv

Further Resources¶

Credits¶

Kevin Veen-Birkenbach

Part of the Infinito.Nexus Project and maintained by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Licensed under the Infinito.Nexus Community License (Non-Commercial).

That licence covers this role. The software it deploys is a separate grant: GPL-3.0-only, under which commercial use is allowed. You owe its authors this much: publish the source of changes you distribute. Permission for one of the two is not permission for the other.