ungoogled-chromium-debian

This repository contains files to build Debian packages of ungoogled-chromium.

This branch contains the code to build packages for: Debian unstable (sid). Since Debian unstable is a moving target (i.e. it never stabilizes), this branch is not guaranteed to be stable.

Downloads

Binaries (i.e. .deb packages): There are three ways to get binaries:

• OBS Production Project
• OBS Development Project

If your distro is not listed, you may have a look at the community-maintained list of packages compatible on other distros. However, please note that this compatibility is not guaranteed; it may break at any time.

Source Code: Use the tags labeled with sid via git checkout (see building instructions). The branches are for development and may not be stable.

Installing

NOTE: The packages are essentially identical in structure to Debian's chromium packages. As a result, they cannot be installed simultaneously with the distro-provided Chromium package.

At minimum, you will need to install the ungoogled-chromium and ungoogled-chromium-common packages.

• If you have the .deb packages:

   # dpkg -i ungoogled-chromium_*.deb ungoogled-chromium-common_*.deb
  

• If you are using OBS:

  • OBS (Debian Buster)

    # echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Buster/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.list > /dev/null
    # curl -s 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Buster/Release.key' | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
    # sudo apt update
    # sudo apt install -y ungoogled-chromium
    

  • OBS (Debian Sid)

    # echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Sid/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.list > /dev/null
    # curl -s 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Sid/Release.key' | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
    # sudo apt update
    # sudo apt install -y ungoogled-chromium
    

  • OBS (Ubuntu Bionic)

    # echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Bionic/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.list > /dev/null
    # curl -s 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Bionic/Release.key' | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
    # sudo apt update
    # sudo apt install -y ungoogled-chromium
    

  • OBS (Ubuntu Focal)

    # echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Focal/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.list > /dev/null
    # curl -s 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Focal/Release.key' | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home-ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
    # sudo apt update
    # sudo apt install -y ungoogled-chromium
    

The other packages are as follows:

• *-driver: ChomeDriver
• *-l10n: Localization package for the browser UI.
• *-sandbox: SUID Sandbox. This is only necessary if you do not have user namespaces enabled (i.e. kernel parameter kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone)
• *-shell: Contains content_shell. Mainly for browser development/testing; search the Chromium docs for more details.
• *-dbgsym*: Debug symbols for the associated package.

Building

# Install essential requirements
sudo apt install git python3 packaging-dev equivs

# Clone the repository and its submodules
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-debian.git

# NOTE: If you are reading this on GitHub, make sure to read the version corresponding
# to your checkout of this repo (replace TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE with the tag or branch you want to build):
# https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-debian/blob/TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE/README.md
#
# Or, just read the README in your local repo.

# Replace TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE with the tag or branch you want to build (optional)
# Example of a tag: 79.0.3945.88-1.sid1
# Example of a branch: debian_sid
git -C ungoogled-chromium-debian checkout --recurse-submodules TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE

# Setup build tree under build/
mkdir -p build/src
cp -r ungoogled-chromium-debian/debian build/src/
cd build/src

# Replace UPLOADER_HERE with your uploader string (optional)
# Example of an uploader string: John Doe <[email protected]>
echo 'UPLOADER_HERE' > debian/uploader.txt

# Final setup steps for debian/ directory
./debian/scripts/setup debian

# Install remaining requirements to build Chromium
sudo mk-build-deps -i debian/control
rm ungoogled-chromium-build-deps_*

# Download and unpack Chromium sources (this will take some time)
./debian/scripts/setup local-src

# Start building
dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc

Restarting the build

If the build aborts during the last command, it can be restarted with this command:

dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc -nc

If it still fails, then try this command (this will clear any intermediate build outputs):

dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc

If all else fails, delete the entire build tree and start again.

Building via source package

Build via a Debian source package (i.e. .dsc, .orig.tar.xz, and .debian.tar.xz). This is useful for online build services like Launchpad and openSUSE Build Service.

# Install essential requirements
sudo apt install git python3 packaging-dev equivs

# Clone the repository and its submodules
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-debian.git

# NOTE: If you are reading this on GitHub, make sure to read the version corresponding
# to your checkout of this repo (replace TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE with the tag or branch you want to build):
# https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-debian/blob/TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE/README.md
#
# Or, just read the README in your local repo.

# Replace TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE with the tag or branch you want to build (optional)
# Example of a tag: 79.0.3945.88-1.sid1
# Example of a branch: debian_sid
git -C ungoogled-chromium-debian checkout --recurse-submodules TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE

# Setup build tree under build/
mkdir -p build/src
cp -r ungoogled-chromium-debian/debian build/src/
cd build/src

# NOTE: If you are planning to upload to a build service then you may be required
# to specify a suitable uploader string so that gpg will know which key to sign
# your source package with.

# Replace UPLOADER_HERE with your uploader (optional)
# Example of an uploader string: John Doe <[email protected]>
echo 'UPLOADER_HERE' > debian/uploader.txt

# Final setup steps for debian/ directory
./debian/scripts/setup debian

# Download and unpack Chromium sources (this will take some time)
./debian/scripts/setup local-src

# Create a source tarball suitable for use with a Debian source package (this will take some time)
./debian/scripts/setup orig-source

# Create the Debian source package (this will take some time)
debuild -S -sa -d

(PACKAGE_TYPE_HERE is the same as above)

Source package files will appear under build/

Developer info

This section contains information for those contributing to ungoogled-chromium-debian.

First-time setup

1. Clone this repo
2. Add the remote for Debian as upstream:

git remote add upstream https://salsa.debian.org/chromium-team/chromium.git

Pull new changes from Debian

These instructions will pull in changes from Debian's chromium package into debian_sid:

git checkout --recurse-submodules debian_sid
git pull upstream master
# Complete the git merge
# Update patches via instructions below

Pull new changes from ungoogled-chromium

There are two options, which depend on the use case.

1. Update to tag (where TAG_HERE is the tag name):

pushd debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium/
git fetch
git checkout TAG_HERE
popd
# Commit the submodule changes
# Update patches via instructions below

2. Update to HEAD of master branch:

git submodule update --remote
# Commit the submodule changes
# Update patches via instructions below

Updating patches

./debian/devutils/update_patches.sh merge
source debian/devutils/set_quilt_vars.sh

# Setup Chromium source
mkdir -p build/{src,download_cache}
./debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium/utils/downloads.py retrieve -i debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium/downloads.ini -c build/download_cache
./debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium/utils/downloads.py unpack -i debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium/downloads.ini -c build/download_cache build/src

cd build/src
# Use quilt to refresh patches. See ungoogled-chromium's docs/developing.md section "Updating patches" for more details
quilt pop -a

# Remove all patches introduced by ungoogled-chromium
./debian/devutils/update_patches.sh unmerge
# Ensure debian/patches/series is formatted correctly, e.g. blank lines

# Sanity checking for consistency in series file
./debian/devutils/check_patch_files.sh

# Remove entries from debian/copyright that are used in patches
./debian/devutils/fix_copyright_excludes.py

# Use git to add changes and commit

Fixing patches when ninja aborts

# Make sure you are in the build sandbox
cd build/src
./debian/scripts/revert_domainsubstitution
# Debian already applied patches via quilt. Use quilt to modify patches
# Once you are done, copy the patches from build/src/debian/patches
# to this repo's debian/patches
./debian/scripts/apply_domainsubstitution
dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc -nc

Adding a new branch

To add either a primary or secondary branch:

1. Create a new branch that forks off an existing branch with code that is closest to the desired code.
2. Give the branch a name of the format DISTRO_CODENAME. For example, Ubuntu 18.10 (cosmic) should have a branch name ubuntu_cosmic.
3. Make the necessary changes and commit
4. Submit a Pull Request for your new branch to the branch it is based off of. In the Pull Request, specify the new branch name that should be created. (This is necessary because GitHub doesn't support the creation of branches via PRs)

Tagging a new version

1. Update the commit or tag version of the ungoogled-chromium repository in debian/ungoogled-upstream/version.txt as necessary.
2. Increment the revision in debian/distro_revision.txt. However, if the upstream version was changed in Step 1, reset the revision to 1.
3. Use git tag to add a new tag with the name generated from debian/devutils/print_tag_version.sh
   • e.g. git tag -s $(./debian/devutils/print_tag_version.sh)
   • NOTE: This requires that debian/ungoogled-upstream/ungoogled-chromium contains the ungoogled-chromium repo files.

Notes on updating older branches

If you're going to backport a branch for a newer distro version onto an older distro branch, you will need to either:

1. Try to use the older system library: Change debian/control to use an older version and get patches for Chromium to work with the older system library.
2. Use the bundled system library instead:
   1. If you are merging a newer distro's branch into an older distro's branch, and the older distro's branch removed the system library, git may automatically strip out most, if not all, the code to use the system library.
   2. For libraries like ICU or VA-API, there may be commits in the history that added or removed the library (try a search on the commit history). You can try cherry-picking them, or using them as a reference.
   3. Remove the dependency in debian/control
   4. Determine the library's name under Chromium's third_party/ directory. We will refer to this name as $LIB_NAME below. Note that there are multiple third_party directories; the most common one is at the root of the Chromium source tree. Another one you may see is base/third_party. The following instructions still apply regardless of which third_party directory you use.
   5. Add $LIB_NAME to the keepers tuple in debian/scripts/unbundle. Also, check for any special removal logic, such as calls to functions strip and remove_file.
   6. Remove any filepaths including third_party/$LIB_NAME in debian/clean.
   7. Some libraries may produce additional build outputs (e.g. switching back to bundled ICU). In this scenario, you will need to add the build outputs into the relevant package's .install file. See debian/control for what the different packages are.
   8. Check for any special rules in debian/rules dealing with your library under third_party/$LIB_NAME
   9. Remove any entries involving third_party/$LIB_NAME from the Files-Excluded section of debian/copyright
   10. Remove any patches from debian/patches/ relating to your library.

Contributing

Contribution guidelines are the same as ungoogled-chromium.

Submit PRs to this repository for every packaging type that should be updated.

Differences between Debian's Chromium

There are a few differences with Debian's Chromium:

• Modified default CLI flags and preferences; see debian/etc/default-flags and debian/etc/master_preferences
• Re-enable chrome://tracing and DevTool's Performance tab
• Package names are prefixed with ungoogled-, and will conflict Debian's Chromium packages.
• Enable more FFMpeg codecs by default
• Use tcmalloc (Chromium default) instead of the system's memory allocator