What are recipes on Launchpad Branches?

Updated

Recipes on Launchpad Branches are a feature that lets Launchpad build Ubuntu packages directly from code branches. If your project keeps its source in a Launchpad-hosted branch and you want that source turned into an installable Ubuntu package without setting up your own build pipeline, recipes are the mechanism for that.

How recipes fit into Launchpad

Launchpad's Branches section hosts project source code using the Git version control system. Recipes sit on top of that hosting: instead of you manually producing a Debian/Ubuntu package from a branch, you point Launchpad at the branch and it performs the build.

This matters because it connects two things that are otherwise separate:

  • Source hosting — your code lives in a branch on Launchpad.
  • Ubuntu packaging — the branch's contents get built into a package.

The Launchpad Branches page describes this directly: "Launchpad can build Ubuntu packages directly from branches using recipes," and links to a guide to learn more.

Who this is for

Recipes are aimed at people who:

  • Maintain source code in a Launchpad branch.
  • Need to produce Ubuntu packages from that source.
  • Want Launchpad to handle the build rather than running their own packaging infrastructure.

If you only need to store or review code, you don't need recipes. If you need a distributable Ubuntu package derived from your branch, that's the case where recipes apply.

What to check before relying on it

A few conditions from the page are worth noting:

  • Version control is Git. Launchpad states it can host your project's source code using Git. The page also notes that Bazaar will be deprecated in September 2025, so plan around Git.
  • It's Ubuntu-specific. The recipe feature is described in terms of building Ubuntu packages, not packages for arbitrary distributions.
  • The details live in the guide. The page itself only summarizes the capability and points to a "Learn more about recipes" link for the actual procedure.

Where to go next

To actually create and use a recipe, follow the "Learn more about recipes" link from the Launchpad Branches page. That guide covers the concrete steps; this page establishes what the feature is and that it exists for building Ubuntu packages from branches.