212 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
212 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
# Build Instructions (Linux)
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Follow the guidelines below for building Electron on Linux.
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## Prerequisites
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* At least 25GB disk space and 8GB RAM.
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* Python 2.7.x. Some distributions like CentOS 6.x still use Python 2.6.x
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so you may need to check your Python version with `python -V`.
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* Node.js. There are various ways to install Node. You can download
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source code from [Node.js](http://nodejs.org) and compile from source.
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Doing so permits installing Node on your own home directory as a standard user.
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Or try repositories such as [NodeSource](https://nodesource.com/blog/nodejs-v012-iojs-and-the-nodesource-linux-repositories).
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* Clang 3.4 or later.
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* Development headers of GTK+ and libnotify.
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On Ubuntu, install the following libraries:
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```bash
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$ sudo apt-get install build-essential clang libdbus-1-dev libgtk2.0-dev \
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libnotify-dev libgnome-keyring-dev libgconf2-dev \
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libasound2-dev libcap-dev libcups2-dev libxtst-dev \
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libxss1 libnss3-dev gcc-multilib g++-multilib curl \
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gperf bison
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```
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On RHEL / CentOS, install the following libraries:
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```bash
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$ sudo yum install clang dbus-devel gtk2-devel libnotify-devel \
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libgnome-keyring-devel xorg-x11-server-utils libcap-devel \
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cups-devel libXtst-devel alsa-lib-devel libXrandr-devel \
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GConf2-devel nss-devel
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```
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On Fedora, install the following libraries:
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```bash
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$ sudo dnf install clang dbus-devel gtk2-devel libnotify-devel \
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libgnome-keyring-devel xorg-x11-server-utils libcap-devel \
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cups-devel libXtst-devel alsa-lib-devel libXrandr-devel \
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GConf2-devel nss-devel
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```
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Other distributions may offer similar packages for installation via package
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managers such as pacman. Or one can compile from source code.
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## Getting the Code
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```bash
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$ git clone https://github.com/electron/electron.git
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```
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## Bootstrapping
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The bootstrap script will download all necessary build dependencies and create
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the build project files. You must have Python 2.7.x for the script to succeed.
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Downloading certain files can take a long time. Notice that we are using
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`ninja` to build Electron so there is no `Makefile` generated.
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```bash
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$ cd electron
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$ ./script/bootstrap.py -v
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```
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### Cross compilation
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If you want to build for an `arm` target you should also install the following
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dependencies:
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```bash
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$ sudo apt-get install libc6-dev-armhf-cross linux-libc-dev-armhf-cross \
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g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf
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```
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And to cross compile for `arm` or `ia32` targets, you should pass the
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`--target_arch` parameter to the `bootstrap.py` script:
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```bash
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$ ./script/bootstrap.py -v --target_arch=arm
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```
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## Building
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If you would like to build both `Release` and `Debug` targets:
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```bash
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$ ./script/build.py
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```
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This script will cause a very large Electron executable to be placed in
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the directory `out/R`. The file size is in excess of 1.3 gigabytes. This
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happens because the Release target binary contains debugging symbols.
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To reduce the file size, run the `create-dist.py` script:
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```bash
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$ ./script/create-dist.py
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```
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This will put a working distribution with much smaller file sizes in
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the `dist` directory. After running the create-dist.py script, you
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may want to remove the 1.3+ gigabyte binary which is still in `out/R`.
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You can also build the `Debug` target only:
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```bash
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$ ./script/build.py -c D
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```
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After building is done, you can find the `electron` debug binary under `out/D`.
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## Cleaning
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To clean the build files:
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```bash
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$ npm run clean
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```
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To clean only `out` and `dist` directories:
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```bash
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$ npm run clean-build
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```
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**Note:** Both clean commands require running `bootstrap` again before building.
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## Troubleshooting
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### Error While Loading Shared Libraries: libtinfo.so.5
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Prebuilt `clang` will try to link to `libtinfo.so.5`. Depending on the host
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architecture, symlink to appropriate `libncurses`:
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```bash
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$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libncurses.so.5 /usr/lib/libtinfo.so.5
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```
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## Tests
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See [Build System Overview: Tests](build-system-overview.md#tests)
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## Advanced topics
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The default building configuration is targeted for major desktop Linux
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distributions, to build for a specific distribution or device, following
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information may help you.
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### Building `libchromiumcontent` locally
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To avoid using the prebuilt binaries of `libchromiumcontent`, you can pass the
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`--build_libchromiumcontent` switch to `bootstrap.py` script:
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```bash
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$ ./script/bootstrap.py -v --build_libchromiumcontent
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```
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Note that by default the `shared_library` configuration is not built, so you can
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only build `Release` version of Electron if you use this mode:
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```bash
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$ ./script/build.py -c R
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```
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### Using system `clang` instead of downloaded `clang` binaries
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By default Electron is built with prebuilt `clang` binaries provided by Chromium
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project. If for some reason you want to build with the `clang` installed in your
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system, you can call `bootstrap.py` with `--clang_dir=<path>` switch. By passing
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it the build script will assume the `clang` binaries reside in `<path>/bin/`.
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For example if you installed `clang` under `/user/local/bin/clang`:
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```bash
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$ ./script/bootstrap.py -v --build_libchromiumcontent --clang_dir /usr/local
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$ ./script/build.py -c R
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```
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### Using other compilers other than `clang`
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To build Electron with compilers like `g++`, you first need to disable `clang`
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with `--disable_clang` switch first, and then set `CC` and `CXX` environment
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variables to the ones you want.
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For example building with GCC toolchain:
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```bash
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$ env CC=gcc CXX=g++ ./script/bootstrap.py -v --build_libchromiumcontent --disable_clang
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$ ./script/build.py -c R
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```
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### Environment variables
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Apart from `CC` and `CXX`, you can also set following environment variables to
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custom the building configurations:
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* `CPPFLAGS`
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* `CPPFLAGS_host`
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* `CFLAGS`
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* `CFLAGS_host`
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* `CXXFLAGS`
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* `CXXFLAGS_host`
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* `AR`
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* `AR_host`
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* `CC`
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* `CC_host`
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* `CXX`
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* `CXX_host`
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* `LDFLAGS`
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The environment variables have to be set when executing the `bootstrap.py`
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script, it won't work in the `build.py` script.
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