Electron for Loong64

This project aims to build a version of Electron that supports the Loong64 architecture.

Note: The Electron binaries require glibc >= 2.38.

Branches

• dev: The development branch, containing the latest patches and build scripts.
• X.Y.Z: The release branches, corresponding to the release versions of Electron.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to @jiegec for his invaluable Chromium patches in AOSC-Dev/chromium-loongarch64, which make this project possible.

How This Project Works

1. This project builds upon the official Electron repository by applying custom patches. See electron.patch for details.
2. The build process runs in a dedicated container environment that includes all necessary build tools and dependencies. See Dockerfile.builder for details.

Development

Environment Requirements

• Linux host machine with Loong64 architecture
• Docker with docker-buildx installed
• LATX version 1.4.4 (required for running ghcr.io/darkyzhou/electron-buildtools image)
• System resources: minimum 16GB RAM and 100GB free disk space

Source Code Preparation

For detailed reference, check the prepare job in .github/workflows/electron.yaml

1. Launch a ghcr.io/darkyzhou/electron-buildtools container. All subsequent steps should be executed inside this container

2. Set up the Electron repository:

   • Clone or update the official Electron repository
   • Switch to your target branch, e.g. v33.2.0
   • Place it in $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron to match the Electron's requirement
   • Note: Do not apply electron.patch at this stage

Updating Chromium Patches

1. Version alignment:

   • Check chromium-loongarch64 and Electron Releases
   • Identify the latest compatible Chromium version with available patches for your target Electron version

2. Launch a ghcr.io/darkyzhou/electron-buildtools container. All subsequent steps should be executed inside this container

3. Update dependencies:

   • Modify the DEPS file in $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron to reference the selected Chromium version
   • Run npx e sync in $BUILD_ROOT/src. This will apply all existing patches from the Electron repository

4. Apply existing patches:

   • Apply electron.patch from the repository to $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron using git apply in $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron

5. Apply Chromium patches:

   • Apply the consolidated Chromium patch file (e.g., chromium-131.0.6778.85.diff) to $BUILD_ROOT/src
   • Resolve any conflicts if they occur

6. Manage patches using Electron's npx e patches command:

   Note: $BUILD_ROOT/src is a git repository containing submodules, including $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron and a few folders in $BUILD_ROOT/src/third_party

   1. Commit changes in both the main repository and affected submodules

   2. Use npx e patches <name> in $BUILD_ROOT/src to update patches in $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron

   3. The <name> parameter should match entries in $BUILD_ROOT/src/electron/patches/config.json

      In config.json, all the items should be a valid git repository. So if the patches modified a folder in $BUILD_ROOT/src/third_party but the folder itself is NOT a git repository, the modification will be collected in the main chromium item.

   Following commands help demonstrate the process:

   cd $BUILD_ROOT/src
   git add .
   # Don't commit submodules
   git restore --staged $(git submodule status | cut -d' ' -f2)
   git commit -m "loong64 support
   
   Co-authored-by: Jiajie Chen <c@jia.je>"
   npx e patches chromium
   
   # Then, we do the same thing for the submodules
   git submodule foreach git add .
   # ...

7. Run npx e sync again to sync the sources and apply our new patches.

Building

1. Container setup:

   • Launch a ghcr.io/darkyzhou/electron-builder container. Check available tags for the latest image
   • Note: You may need to create a custom image for specific Electron versions if the latest image runs into compilation issues

2. Build process:

   • Follow the steps in the build job from .github/workflows/electron.yaml
   • Ensure all environment variables from the env section are set
   • Note: The build process is time-intensive, typically requiring around 10 hours on a 3A6000 processor

Troubleshooting

Common compilation errors:

• relocation R_LARCH_B26 out of range: 172745664 is not in [-134217728, 134217727]
  • Root cause: The library was compiled without the -mcmodel=medium flag. For more details, see laelf.adoc.
  • Resolution: Recompile the library with the -mcmodel=medium flag. See Dockerfile.libffi for implementation examples.