Track: Distribute the libretro core via RetroArch Online Updater > Core Downloader

[AloysHF]

Goal

Make the DingooEmu libretro core installable directly from RetroArch via Online Updater > Core Downloader, following the libretro "Add your core to Libretro infrastructure" guide.

Status: 🎉 Complete

All steps have been completed! The DingooEmu core is now available via RetroArch Online Updater > Core Downloader.

Checklist

• Step 1 — Core info file merged into libretro-super dist/info (PR #2042 — merged)
• Step 2a — Buildbot recipe present in this repo, using the official Rust CI templates (commit f301177)
• Step 2b — Buildbot registration by the Libretro team (Issue #2043 — closed)
• Step 4 — Documentation merged into libretro/docs (PR #1172 — merged)
• Verification — Core downloads and loads successfully via Online Updater > Core Downloader

Pull requests

Step	Repository	PR	Status
Core info file	libretro/libretro-super	#2042	✅ Merged
Buildbot recipe	jiangxincode/DingooEmu	f301177	✅ Merged
Buildbot registration	libretro/libretro-super	#2043	✅ Closed
Core documentation	libretro/docs	#1172	✅ Merged

Buildbot recipe (current approach)

DingooEmu is written in Rust, so the recipe uses the official Rust CI templates from libretro-infrastructure/ci-templates. These run cargo build --release --target <triple> and rename the produced cdylib to dingooemu_libretro.<ext> themselves.

Key points of the current .gitlab-ci.yml:

• Uses rust-windows-x64, rust-linux-x64, rust-apple, rust-android-jni, and rust-webos templates with CORENAME: dingooemu.
• The cdylib lib target is named dingooemu (not dingooemu_libretro), because the templates append the _libretro suffix themselves.
• The workspace default-members is set to the libretro core so a bare cargo build only builds the core, not the standalone GUI binary (which needs X11/ALSA and would break on cross-compile images).

Build matrix covered by the recipe

Platform	Rust target
Windows x64	x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
Linux x64	x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
macOS x64	x86_64-apple-darwin
macOS arm64	aarch64-apple-darwin
Android	arm64-v8a / armeabi-v7a / x86 / x86_64
iOS	aarch64-apple-ios
tvOS	aarch64-apple-tvos
webOS	armv7a

Core info file (current values)

dist/info/dingooemu_libretro.info (repo and upstream in sync):

• corename = "dingooemu", display_name = "Dingoo A320 (DingooEmu)"
• categories = "Emulator"
• supported_extensions = "app"
• manufacturer = "Ingenic", systemname = "Dingoo A320", systemid = "dingoo-a320"
• needs_fullpath = "true"
• core_options = "true" (implemented)
• savestate/cheats = "true" (implemented)
• is_experimental = "false" (core shows in Core Downloader without enabling "Show experimental cores")

Documentation

Documentation PR #1172 includes:

• Core documentation page: docs/library/dingooemu.md with background, extensions, features table, core options, joypad mappings, memory regions, and external links
• mkdocs.yml: Added "Dingoo Emulation" navigation entry (alphabetically after DOS Emulation, before Emerson)
• Core list: Added DingooEmu row in docs/guides/core-list.md
• Licenses: Added BSD-3-Clause entry in docs/development/licenses.md

Buildbot recipe history

• Added .gitlab-ci.yml with official Rust CI templates for cross-platform builds
• Updated crates/dingooemu-libretro/Cargo.toml — Changed lib target name from dingooemu_libretro to dingooemu to match CORENAME (CI templates automatically append _libretro suffix)
• Updated crates/dingooemu-libretro/dingooemu_libretro.info — Set is_experimental = "false"

Build verification

The core has been verified to:

• Download via RetroArch Online Updater > Core Downloader
• Appear as "Dingoo A320 (DingooEmu)" in the core list
• Load .app game files correctly
• Support save states, cheats, and core options