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Building Agent & Collector Installers

This guide covers building the agent and collector installer packages from source. This is relevant for self-hosted deployments and development.

Prerequisites​

DependencyRequired ForVersion
GoAll builds1.24+
WiX ToolsetWindows MSI builds3.x (3.11 or 3.14 recommended)
Telegraf binaryWindows MSI bundlesLatest stable from influxdata.com
nfpmLinux .deb and .rpm packagesLatest (go install github.com/goreleaser/nfpm/v2/cmd/nfpm@latest)
dpkg-debLinux .deb fallback (if nfpm unavailable)System package

Windows Agent MSI​

The build script is at agent/installer/build.ps1.

Build​

cd agent\installer
.\build.ps1 -Version "2.1.0"

Parameters:

ParameterDefaultDescription
-Version2.1.0Version string embedded in the binary and MSI filename
-TelegrafPath—Path to a telegraf.exe binary. If omitted, uses bin\telegraf.exe if present
-SkipGoBuild—Skip Go compilation (use existing binaries in bin\)
-Clean—Remove previous build artifacts before building

What It Builds​

  1. stratora-agent.exe — the agent service binary (with PE version resources)
  2. stratora-tray.exe — system tray status indicator
  3. Installer assets (icon, dialog/banner bitmaps from repo logo)
  4. WiX compilation and linking → final MSI

Output​

agent/installer/output/StratoraAgent-{version}.msi

Telegraf Dependency​

The agent MSI bundles a Telegraf binary. The build script does not download Telegraf automatically. You must either:

  • Place telegraf.exe in agent/installer/bin/ before building
  • Pass -TelegrafPath C:\path\to\telegraf.exe

Without a real Telegraf binary, the script creates a placeholder — the MSI will build but won't function.

Linux Agent Packages​

The build script is at agent-linux/build.sh.

Build​

cd agent-linux
./build.sh 1.2.0

The version argument defaults to 1.2.0 if omitted.

What It Builds​

  1. Static binary — CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 for universal Linux compatibility
  2. .deb package — Debian/Ubuntu (via nfpm or dpkg-deb fallback)
  3. .rpm package — RHEL/Rocky/Alma (nfpm required — no fallback)

Output​

agent-linux/build/stratora-agent                           # Static binary
agent-linux/build/stratora-agent_{version}_amd64.deb       # Debian package
agent-linux/build/stratora-agent-{version}-1.x86_64.rpm   # RPM package

Without nfpm​

If nfpm is not installed, the script falls back to dpkg-deb for the .deb package. The .rpm package requires nfpm — install it with:

go install github.com/goreleaser/nfpm/v2/cmd/nfpm@latest

Windows Collector MSI​

The build script is at collector/installer/build.ps1.

Build​

cd collector\installer
.\build.ps1 -Version "2.1.0"

Parameters: Same as the agent build script (-Version, -TelegrafPath, -SkipGoBuild, -Clean).

What It Builds​

The collector MSI bundles three binaries:

  1. collector.exe — the collector service (built from cmd/collector/)
  2. stratora-agent.exe — the agent service (built from the agent/ module)
  3. stratora-tray.exe — system tray indicator

This means the collector MSI also includes an agent — the collector host monitors itself via the bundled agent.

Output​

collector/installer/output/StratoraCollector-{version}.msi

Telegraf Dependency​

Same as the agent — Telegraf is not downloaded automatically. The script checks bin\telegraf.exe, then falls back to agent\installer\bin\telegraf.exe.

Placing Binaries for Download Endpoints​

The Stratora backend serves installer downloads via unauthenticated API endpoints. For these endpoints to work, built packages must be copied to the correct directories on the Stratora server.

Directory Layout​

{installDir}/
└── downloads/
    ├── StratoraAgent-2.1.0.msi          # Agent Windows MSI
    ├── stratora-agent_1.2.0_amd64.deb   # Agent Linux DEB
    ├── stratora-agent-1.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm # Agent Linux RPM
    └── collector/
        └── StratoraCollector-2.1.0.msi  # Collector Windows MSI

Where {installDir} is determined by:

  1. The STRATORA_INSTALL_DIR environment variable, or
  2. The parent of the directory containing the backend binary (e.g., if the binary is at C:\Stratora\bin\stratora-backend.exe, then installDir is C:\Stratora)

Download Endpoints​

EndpointServesDirectory
GET /api/v1/downloads/agent/windowsLatest .msi{installDir}/downloads/
GET /api/v1/downloads/agent/linux-debLatest .deb{installDir}/downloads/
GET /api/v1/downloads/agent/linux-rpmLatest .rpm{installDir}/downloads/
GET /api/v1/downloads/collector/windowsLatest .msi{installDir}/downloads/collector/

How File Selection Works​

Each endpoint scans its directory for files matching the expected extension (.msi, .deb, or .rpm). If multiple files match, the most recently modified file is served. This means:

  • To update, copy the new package into the directory — it will be served immediately
  • Old versions can be removed to save disk space
  • Only keep one file per extension in each directory to avoid ambiguity
warning

The collector MSI must be in the downloads/collector/ subdirectory, not in downloads/ directly. This prevents the agent Windows endpoint from accidentally serving the collector MSI (both are .msi files).

After Building — Copy Checklist​

# From the Stratora source directory, copy built packages to the server:
$InstallDir = "C:\Stratora"  # Adjust to your install path

# Agent packages
Copy-Item agent\installer\output\StratoraAgent-2.1.0.msi "$InstallDir\downloads\"
Copy-Item agent-linux\build\stratora-agent_1.2.0_amd64.deb "$InstallDir\downloads\"
Copy-Item agent-linux\build\stratora-agent-1.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm "$InstallDir\downloads\"

# Collector package (note: subdirectory)
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$InstallDir\downloads\collector" | Out-Null
Copy-Item collector\installer\output\StratoraCollector-2.1.0.msi "$InstallDir\downloads\collector\"

Version Bumping​

When cutting a new release, update the version in these locations:

ComponentVersion Location
Windows Agentagent/installer/build.ps1 -Version default (line 4)
Windows Agentagent/cmd/stratora-agent/versioninfo.json
Windows Agentagent/cmd/stratora-tray/versioninfo.json
Linux Agentagent-linux/build.sh VERSION default (line 12)
Linux Agentagent-linux/packaging/nfpm.yaml version field
Linux Agentagent-linux/packaging/nfpm-rpm.yaml version field
Windows Collectorcollector/installer/build.ps1 -Version default (line 6)
Windows Collectorcmd/collector/versioninfo.json

All build scripts accept a -Version / version argument that overrides the default, so you can also pass the version at build time without editing files.