vscodium/docs/howto-build.md

How to build VSCodium

Table of Contents

• Dependencies
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
• Build for Development
• Build for CI/Downstream
• Build Snap
• Patch Update Process
  • Semi-Automated
  • Manual

Dependencies

• node 20.18
• jq
• git
• python3 3.11
• rustup

Linux

• gcc
• g++
• make
• pkg-config
• libx11-dev
• libxkbfile-dev
• libsecret-1-dev
• libkrb5-dev
• fakeroot
• rpm
• rpmbuild
• dpkg
• imagemagick (for AppImage)
• snapcraft

MacOS

see the common dependencies

Windows

• powershell
• sed
• 7z
• WiX Toolset
• 'Tools for Native Modules' from the official Node.js installer

Build for Development

A build helper script can be found at dev/build.sh.

• Linux: ./dev/build.sh
• MacOS: ./dev/build.sh
• Windows: powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File .\dev\build.ps1 or "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" ./dev/build.sh

Insider

The insider version can be built with ./dev/build.sh -i on the insider branch.

You can try the latest version with the command ./dev/build.sh -il but the patches might not be up to date.

Flags

The script dev/build.sh provides several flags:

• -i: build the Insiders version
• -l: build with latest version of Visual Studio Code
• -o: skip the build step
• -p: generate the packages/assets/installers
• -s: do not retrieve the source code of Visual Studio Code, it won't delete the existing build

Build for CI/Downstream

Here is the base script to build VSCodium:

# Export necessary environment variables
export SHOULD_BUILD="yes"
export SHOULD_BUILD_REH="no"
export CI_BUILD="no"
export OS_NAME="linux"
export VSCODE_ARCH="${vscode_arch}"
export VSCODE_QUALITY="stable"
export RELEASE_VERSION="${version}"

. get_repo.sh
. build.sh

To go further, you should look at how we build it:

• Linux: https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/.github/workflows/stable-linux.yml
• macOS: https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/.github/workflows/stable-macos.yml
• Windows: https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/.github/workflows/stable-windows.yml

The ./dev/build.sh script is for development purpose and must be avoided for a packaging purpose.

Build Snap

# for the stable version
cd ./stores/snapcraft/stable

# for the insider version
cd ./stores/snapcraft/insider

# create the snap
snapcraft --use-lxd

# verify the snap
review-tools.snap-review --allow-classic codium*.snap

Patch Update Process

Semi-Automated

• run ./dev/build.sh, if a patch is failing then,
• run ./dev/update_patches.sh
• when the script pauses at Press any key when the conflict have been resolved..., open vscode directory in VSCodium
• fix all the *.rej files
• run npm run watch
• run ./script/code.sh until everything is ok
• press any key to continue the script update_patches.sh

Manual

• run ./dev/build.sh, if a patch is failing then,
• run ./dev/patch.sh <name>.patch where <name>.patch is the failed patch
• open vscode directory in a new VSCodium's window
• fix all the *.rej files
• run npm run watch
• run ./script/code.sh until everything is ok
• go back to the command line running ./dev/patch.sh, press enter to validate the changes and it will update the patch

icons/build_icons.sh

To run icons/build_icons.sh, you will need:

• imagemagick
• png2icns (npm install png2icns -g)
• librsvg