tjh.dev
1# Maintainers
2
3- Note: We could always use more contributors, testers, etc. E.g.:
4 - Dedicated maintainers for the NixOS stable channel
5 - PRs with cleanups, improvements, fixes, etc. (but please try to make reviews
6 as easy as possible)
7 - People who handle stale issues/PRs
8
9- Other relevant packages:
10 - `google-chrome`: Updated via Chromium's `upstream-info.nix`.
11 - `ungoogled-chromium`: A patch set for Chromium, that has its own entry in Chromium's `upstream-info.nix`.
12 - `chromedriver`: Updated via Chromium's `upstream-info.nix` and not built
13 from source. Must match Chromium's major version.
14 - `electron-source`: Various version of electron that are built from source using Chromium's
15 `-unwrapped` derivation, due to electron being based on Chromium.
16
17# Upstream links
18
19- Source code: https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src
20- Bugs: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list
21- Release updates: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/
22 - Available as Atom or RSS feed (filter for
23 "Stable Channel Update for Desktop")
24 - Release API: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/versionhistory/guide/
25 - Release schedule: https://chromiumdash.appspot.com/schedule
26
27# Updating Chromium
28
29Simply run `./pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/update.py` to
30update `upstream-info.nix`. After updates it is important to test at least
31`nixosTests.chromium` (or basic manual testing) and `google-chrome` (which
32reuses `upstream-info.nix`).
33
34Note: The source tarball is often only available a few hours after the release
35was announced. The CI/CD status can be tracked here:
36- https://ci.chromium.org/p/infra/builders/cron/publish_tarball
37- https://ci.chromium.org/p/infra/builders/cron/publish_tarball_dispatcher
38
39To run all automated NixOS VM tests for Chromium, ungoogled-chromium,
40and Google Chrome (not recommended, currently 6x tests!):
41```
42nix-build nixos/tests/chromium.nix
43```
44
45A single test can be selected, e.g. to test `ungoogled-chromium` (see
46`channelMap` in `nixos/tests/chromium.nix` for all available options):
47```
48nix-build nixos/tests/chromium.nix -A ungoogled
49```
50(Note: Testing Google Chrome requires `export NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1`.)
51
52For custom builds it's possible to "override" `channelMap`.
53
54## Backports
55
56All updates are considered security critical and should be ported to the stable
57channel ASAP. When there is a new stable release the old one should receive
58security updates for roughly one month. After that it is important to mark
59Chromium as insecure (see 69e4ae56c4b for an example; it is important that the
60tested job still succeeds and that all browsers that use `upstream-info.nix`
61are marked as insecure).
62
63## Major version updates
64
65Unfortunately, Chromium regularly breaks on major updates and might need
66various patches. Either due to issues with the Nix build sandbox (e.g. we cannot
67fetch dependencies via the network and do not use standard FHS paths) or due to
68missing upstream fixes that need to be backported.
69
70Good sources for such patches and other hints:
71- https://github.com/archlinux/svntogit-packages/tree/packages/chromium/trunk
72- https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/tree/www-client/chromium
73- https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/chromium/tree/master
74
75If the build fails immediately due to unknown compiler flags this usually means
76that a new major release of LLVM is required.
77
78## Beta and Dev channels
79
80Those channels are only used to test and fix builds in advance. They may be
81broken at times and must not delay stable channel updates.
82
83# Testing
84
85Useful tests:
86- Version: chrome://version/
87- GPU acceleration: chrome://gpu/
88- Essential functionality: Browsing, extensions, video+audio, JS, ...
89- WebGL: https://get.webgl.org/
90- VA-API: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/chromium#Hardware_video_acceleration
91- Optional: Widevine CDM (proprietary), Benchmarks, Ozone, etc.