Tizen Resource Package

Overview

Tizen Resource Package (RPK) is a feature that allows packages to share read-only resources with access control and version control. There are two ways to share resources in RPK:

  • Global Share: Resources are shared with all packages without access control
  • Allowed Share: Resources are shared with specific packages under access control

To access resources from an RPK, an application needs to declare the <res-control> tag in its manifest (tizen-manifest.xml). The resources in the RPK package are mounted in their own resource directory, making them available for use within the application.

What is Overlayfs?

Overlayfs is a union mount filesystem for Linux that combines multiple directories into a single unified view. For RPK, Overlayfs enables applications to access resources from RPK packages as if they were part of the application’s own filesystem.

Single merged view by Overlayfs

Overlayfs combines multiple layers into a single merged view.

Lower Layer 1         Lower Layer 2         Upper Layer              Merge (What app sees)
===============       ===============       ==================       =====================
                      a.txt                 a.txt                    a.txt (From Upper Layer)
b.txt                                                                b.txt (From Lower Layer1)
c.txt                 c.txt                                          c.txt (From Lower Layer2)

Creating RPK Project

Use the Tizen CLI create command to create a project.

tizen create resource-project -t rpk_app -n {project_name} -v {api_version} -- {working_directory}

Parameters:

  • {project_name}: Name of your RPK project
  • {api_version}: Tizen API version (e.g., 6.5)
  • {working_directory}: Directory where the project will be created

Example:

tizen create resource-project -t rpk_app -n MyResourcePackage -v 6.5 -- /home/user/projects

After creating the project, the initial structure will be:

.
├── project_def.prop
├── shared
│   └── res
│       └── MyResourcePackage.png
└── tizen-manifest.xml

You should create res/allowed/{res-type} or res/global/{res-type} directories to share resources:

.
├── project_def.prop
├── res
│   ├── allowed
│   │   └── tizen.sample.resource
│   │       └── sample_resource
│   └── global
│       └── tizen.sample.resource
│           └── sample_resource
├── shared
│   └── res
│       └── MyResourcePackage.png
└── tizen-manifest.xml

Writing tizen-manifest.xml for RPK

The tizen-manifest.xml file of an RPK has two additional attributes in the <manifest> tag

res-type

Specifies the name of the resource type provided by the RPK. Should match the {res-type} portion of the path where resources are installed (res/global/{res-type} or res/allowed/{res-type})

res-version

Specifies the version of the resource package in the format “x.y.z”

Example of tizen-manifest.xml (RPK)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<manifest xmlns="http://tizen.org/ns/packages" package="org.example.myrpk" version="1.0.0" res-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage" res-version="1.0.0">
    <label>org.example.myrpk</label>
    <icon>org.example.myrpk</icon>
    <metadata key="testkey" value="testvalue"/>
</manifest>

Global Resources

If you want to share resources as global share, install the resources at res/global/{res-type}/. The {res-type} indicates the name of the resource type, which could be any string that identifies the type of resources provided by the RPK.

Allowed Resources

If you want to share resources as allowed share, install the resources at res/allowed/{res-type}/. Add the <allowed-package> tag to the RPK’s tizen-manifest.xml file, with the “id” attribute set to the package ID of the package that you want to grant access to. You can also use a wildcard (’*’) to allow access for packages under specific domains.

The <allowed-package> tag can have a <required-privileges> tag for access control with privileges:

Example of tizen-manifest.xml (RPK)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<manifest xmlns="http://tizen.org/ns/packages" package="org.example.myrpk" version="1.0.0" res-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage" res-version="1.0.0">
     <label>org.example.myrpk</label>
     <icon>org.example.myrpk</icon>
     <allowed-package id="org.example.*">
        <required-privileges>
            <privilege>http://tizen.org/privilege/content.read</privilege>
            <privilege>http://tizen.org/privilege/download</privilege>
        </required-privileges>
    </allowed-package>
</manifest>

In this example, the allowed package org.example.* requires the http://tizen.org/privilege/content.read and http://tizen.org/privilege/download privileges to access the resources in the RPK.

Packaging RPK Project

Use the Tizen CLI package command to package the project. Since the project contains only resources, it does not require to be built:

tizen package -t rpk -s {security_profile} -- {working_directory}\{rpk_package_project_name}

Parameters:

  • {security_profile}: Security profile (optional, can be omitted to use default)
  • {path}: Path to the project directory

Example:

tizen package -t rpk -s my-security-profile -- /home/user/projects/MyResourcePackage

Installing RPK Project

Use the Tizen CLI install command to install the package on the device:

tizen install -n {package_name} -- {working_directory}\{rpk_package_project_name}\Package

Writing tizen-manifest.xml to Access Resources of RPK

To access resources of an RPK, declare a <res-control> tag in the tizen-manifest.xml file of the package that wants to access the resources.

Attributes of <res-control> tag:

  • resource-type: Specifies the name of the resource type provided by the RPK
  • min-res-version: Minimum version of the resource package required (optional)
  • max-res-version: Maximum version of the resource package required (optional)
  • auto-close: Whether the application should automatically close when the RPK is updated or uninstalled (optional, default: “false”)

Example of tizen-manifest.xml (TPK)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns="http://tizen.org/ns/packages" api-version="6.5" package="org.example.allowed_basic" version="1.0.0">
    <profile name="mobile" />
    <ui-application appid="org.example.allowed_basic" exec="allowed_basic" type="capp" multiple="false" taskmanage="true" nodisplay="false" launch_mode="single">
        <icon>allowed_basic.png</icon>
        <label>allowed_basic</label>
        <res-control resource-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage" min-res-version="1.2.0" max-res-version="2.0.0" auto-close="true"></res-control>
    </ui-application>
</manifest>

Accessing Resources of an RPK

#include <app_common.h>

void get_rpk_resource_path(char *path;) {
    int ret = app_get_res_control_allowed_resource_path("org.example.MyResourcePackage", &path);
    // ...
}

Multiple RPK Packages with Same Resource Type

Multiple RPKs with the same resource type and different resource versions can be installed, but only one RPK is selected. A package that wants to access an RPK can specify min-res-version and max-res-version to select the appropriate RPK.

Example Selection Logic

Assume the following RPK packages with the same resource type are installed:

  • pkgid: org.example.rpk1, res-type: org.example.MyResourcePackage, res-version: 1.5.0
  • pkgid: org.example.rpk2, res-type: org.example.MyResourcePackage, res-version: 2.0.0
  • pkgid: org.example.rpk3, res-type: org.example.MyResourcePackage, res-version: 3.0.0

For an application org.example.app that declares the following res-controls:

  • With <res-control resource-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage" max-res-version="1.5.0"/>, org.example.rpk1 will be selected
  • With <res-control resource-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage" min-res-version="1.5.0" max-res-version="2.5.0"/>, org.example.rpk2 will be selected
  • With <res-control resource-type="org.example.MyResourcePackage"/>, org.example.rpk3 will be selected (the highest res-version)

Resource Access Priority for Library Type RPKs

When using library type RPKs, the order of <res-control> entries determines the priority. If multiple RPKs provide libraries with the same file name, the RPK referred to by the first <res-control> entry has the highest priority, and its version of the file will be mounted and used.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns="http://tizen.org/ns/packages" api-version="7.0" package="org.example.samplerpkconsumer" version="1.0.0">
    <profile name="tizen" />
    <ui-application appid="org.example.samplerpkconsumer" exec="samplerpkconsumer" type="capp" multiple="false" taskmanage="true" nodisplay="false" launch_mode="single">
        <icon>samplerpkconsumer.png</icon>
        <label>samplerpkconsumer</label>
        <res-control resource-type="tizen.sample.rpk1" auto-close="false" />
        <res-control resource-type="tizen.sample.rpk2" auto-close="false" />
        <res-control resource-type="tizen.sample.rpk3" auto-close="false" />
    </ui-application>
</manifest>

In this example, if those RPKs contain libcustom.so, the file from tizen.sample.rpk1 will be used, because it is listed first.

System Requirements

  • Tizen Platform: Version 6.5 or higher
  • File System: Overlayfs support
  • Tizen Studio: 4.5 and Higher
API Function Description
package_info_get_res_type() Retrieves the resource type of an RPK
package_info_get_res_version() Retrieves the resource version of an RPK
package_info_foreach_res_allowed_package() Iterates through allowed packages of an RPK
package_info_foreach_required_privilege() Iterates through required privileges of an allowed package
app_get_res_control_allowed_resource_path() Gets the absolute path to the application’s resource control directory used to share the allowed resources
app_get_res_control_global_resource_path() Gets the absolute path to the application’s resource control directory used to share the global resources

For more information on CLI commands, see Command Line Interface Commands.

For further details, refer to the official Tizen documentation: Tizen Resource Package Documentation

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