{"id":30207645,"url":"https://github.com/imputnet/helium-windows","last_synced_at":"2026-06-10T01:01:02.794Z","repository":{"id":309030444,"uuid":"1033852880","full_name":"imputnet/helium-windows","owner":"imputnet","description":"Helium Browser for Windows (no auto-updates yet)","archived":false,"fork":false,"pushed_at":"2026-06-06T23:24:07.000Z","size":4208,"stargazers_count":1071,"open_issues_count":57,"forks_count":45,"subscribers_count":20,"default_branch":"main","last_synced_at":"2026-06-07T01:12:57.768Z","etag":null,"topics":[],"latest_commit_sha":null,"homepage":"","language":"C++","has_issues":true,"has_wiki":null,"has_pages":null,"mirror_url":null,"source_name":null,"license":"gpl-3.0","status":null,"scm":"git","pull_requests_enabled":true,"icon_url":"https://github.com/imputnet.png","metadata":{"files":{"readme":"README.md","changelog":null,"contributing":null,"funding":null,"license":"LICENSE","code_of_conduct":null,"threat_model":null,"audit":null,"citation":null,"codeowners":null,"security":null,"support":null,"governance":null,"roadmap":null,"authors":null,"dei":null,"publiccode":null,"codemeta":null,"zenodo":null,"notice":null,"maintainers":null,"copyright":null,"agents":null,"dco":null,"cla":null},"funding":{"liberapay":"imput","custom":"https://donate.stripe.com/3cs2cc6ew1Qda4wbII"}},"created_at":"2025-08-07T12:55:01.000Z","updated_at":"2026-06-06T23:39:41.000Z","dependencies_parsed_at":"2025-09-10T20:18:27.977Z","dependency_job_id":"d181306f-1f5a-40e8-9800-cb106808b447","html_url":"https://github.com/imputnet/helium-windows","commit_stats":null,"previous_names":["imputnet/helium-windows"],"tags_count":234,"template":false,"template_full_name":null,"purl":"pkg:github/imputnet/helium-windows","repository_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/imputnet%2Fhelium-windows","tags_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/imputnet%2Fhelium-windows/tags","releases_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/imputnet%2Fhelium-windows/releases","manifests_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/imputnet%2Fhelium-windows/manifests","owner_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners/imputnet","download_url":"https://codeload.github.com/imputnet/helium-windows/tar.gz/refs/heads/main","sbom_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/imputnet%2Fhelium-windows/sbom","scorecard":null,"host":{"name":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","kind":"github","repositories_count":286080680,"owners_count":34132030,"icon_url":"https://github.com/github.png","version":null,"created_at":"2022-05-30T11:31:42.601Z","updated_at":"2026-05-26T15:22:16.424Z","status":"online","status_checked_at":"2026-06-09T02:00:06.510Z","response_time":63,"last_error":null,"robots_txt_status":"success","robots_txt_updated_at":"2025-07-24T06:49:26.215Z","robots_txt_url":"https://github.com/robots.txt","online":true,"can_crawl_api":true,"host_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub","repositories_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories","repository_names_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repository_names","owners_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners"}},"keywords":[],"created_at":"2025-08-13T16:12:45.779Z","updated_at":"2026-06-10T01:01:02.767Z","avatar_url":"https://github.com/imputnet.png","language":"C++","funding_links":["https://liberapay.com/imput","https://donate.stripe.com/3cs2cc6ew1Qda4wbII"],"categories":["C++"],"sub_categories":[],"readme":"# helium-windows\n\nWindows packaging for [Helium](https://github.com/imputnet/helium).\n\n## Credits\n\nThis repo is based on\n[ungoogled-chromium-windows](https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-windows),\nbut is pretty heavily modified for Helium. Huge shout-out to everyone behind ungoogled-chromium,\nthey made working with Chromium infinitely easier.\n\nA huge thank you to [Depot](https://depot.dev/) for sponsoring our runners, which handle the Windows\nbuilds of Helium. Their high-performance infrastructure lets us compile and package Helium at least\n8 times faster than with GitHub-hosted runners, allowing us to release new builds within hours, not days.\n\n## License\nAll code, patches, modified portions of imported code or patches, and\nany other content that is unique to Helium and not imported from other\nrepositories is licensed under GPL-3.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).\n\nAny content imported from other projects retains its original license (for\nexample, any original unmodified code imported from ungoogled-chromium remains\nlicensed under their [BSD 3-Clause license](LICENSE.ungoogled_chromium)).\n\n## Building\n\n#### Setting up Visual Studio\n\n[Follow the \"Visual Studio\" section of the official Windows build instructions](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/refs/heads/main/docs/windows_build_instructions.md#visual-studio).\n\n* Make sure to read through the entire section and install/configure all the required components.\n* If your Visual Studio is installed in a directory other than the default, you'll need to set a few environment variables to point the toolchains to your installation path. (Copied from [instructions for Electron](https://electronjs.org/docs/development/build-instructions-windows))\n\t* `vs2019_install = DRIVE:\\path\\to\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\Community` (replace `2019` and `Community` with your installed versions)\n\t* `WINDOWSSDKDIR = DRIVE:\\path\\to\\Windows Kits\\10`\n\t* `GYP_MSVS_VERSION = 2019` (replace 2019 with your installed version's year)\n\n#### Other build requirements\n\n**IMPORTANT**: Currently, the `MAX_PATH` path length restriction (which is 260 characters by default)\nmust be lifted in for our Python build scripts. This can be lifted in Windows 10 (v1607 or newer) with\nthe official installer for Python 3.6 or newer (you will see a button at the end of installation to do\nthis). See [Issue #345](https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium/issues/345) for other\nmethods for older Windows versions.\n\n1. Setup the following:\n    * 7-Zip\n    * Python 3.8 or above\n\t\t* Can be installed using WinGet or the Microsoft Store.\n\t\t* If you don't plan on using the Microsoft Store version of Python:\n\t\t\t* Check \"Add python.exe to PATH\" before install.\n\t\t\t* At the end of the Python installer, click the button to lift the `MAX_PATH` length restriction.\n\t\t\t* Disable the `python3.exe` and `python.exe` aliases in `Settings \u003e Apps \u003e Advanced app settings \u003e App execution aliases`. They will typically be referred to as \"App Installer\". See [this question on stackoverflow.com](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57485491/python-python3-executes-in-command-prompt-but-does-not-run-correctly) to understand why.\n\t\t\t* Ensure that your Python directory either has a copy of Python named \"python3.exe\" or a symlink linking to the Python executable.\n\t\t* The `httplib2` module at version 0.22.0 and `Pillow`. These can be installed using `pip install httplib2==0.22.0 Pillow`.\n    * Make sure to lift the `MAX_PATH` length restriction, either by clicking the button at the end of the Python installer or by [following these instructions](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry#:~:text=Enable,Later).\n    * Git (to fetch all required ungoogled-chromium scripts)\n        * During setup, make sure \"Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software\" is selected. This is usually the recommended option.\n\n### Building\n\nRun in `Developer Command Prompt for VS` (as administrator):\n\n```cmd\ngit clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/imputnet/helium-windows.git\ncd helium-windows\n# Replace TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE with a tag or branch name\ngit checkout --recurse-submodules TAG_OR_BRANCH_HERE\npython3 build.py\npython3 package.py\n```\n\nA zip archive and an installer will be created under `build`.\n\n**NOTE**: If the build fails, you must take additional steps before re-running the build:\n\n* If the build fails while downloading the Chromium source code (which is during `build.py`), it can be fixed by removing `build\\download_cache` and re-running the build instructions.\n* If the build fails at any other point during `build.py`, it can be fixed by removing everything under `build` other than `build\\download_cache` and re-running the build instructions. This will clear out all the code used by the build, and any files generated by the build.\n\nAn efficient way to delete large amounts of files is using `Remove-Item PATH -Recurse -Force`. Be careful however, files deleted by that command will be permanently lost.\n\n## Developer info\n\n### First-time setup\n\n1. [Setup MSYS2](http://www.msys2.org/)\n2. Run the following in a \"MSYS2 MSYS\" shell:\n\n```sh\npacman -S quilt python3 vim tar\n# By default, there doesn't seem to be a vi command for less, quilt edit, etc.\nln -s /usr/bin/vim /usr/bin/vi\n```\n\n### Updating patches and pruning list\n\n1. Start `Developer Command Prompt for VS` and `MSYS2 MSYS` shell and navigate to source folder\n\t1. `Developer Command Prompt for VS`\n\t\t* `cd c:\\path\\to\\repo\\helium-windows`\n\t1. `MSYS2 MSYS`\n\t\t* `cd /path/to/repo/helium-windows`\n\t\t* You can use Git Bash to determine the path to this repo\n\t\t* Or, you can find it yourself via `/\u003cdrive letter\u003e/\u003cpath with forward slashes\u003e`\n1. Clone sources\n\t**`Developer Command Prompt for VS`**\n\t* `python3 helium-chromium\\utils\\clone.py -o build\\src`\n1. Check for rust version change (see below)\n1. Update pruning list\n\t**`Developer Command Prompt for VS`**\n\t* `python3 helium-chromium\\devutils\\update_lists.py -t build\\src --domain-regex helium-chromium\\domain_regex.list`\n1. Update patches\n\t**`MSYS2 MSYS`**\n\t1. Setup patches and shell to update patches\n\t\t* `./devutils/update_patches.sh merge`\n\t\t* `source devutils/set_quilt_vars.sh`\n\t1. Go into the source tree\n\t\t* `cd build/src`\n\t1. Use quilt to refresh patches. See ungoogled-chromium's [docs/developing.md](https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium/blob/master/docs/developing.md#updating-patches) section \"Updating patches\" for more details\n\t1. Go back to repo root\n\t\t* `cd ../..`\n\t1. Remove all patches introduced by helium-chromium\n\t\t* `./devutils/update_patches.sh unmerge`\n\t1. Sanity checking for consistency in series file\n\t\t* `./devutils/check_patch_files.sh`\n1. Use Git to add changes and commit\n\n### Update dependencies\n\n**NOTE:** For all steps, update `downloads.ini` accordingly.\n\n1. Check the [LLVM GitHub](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases/) for the latest version of LLVM.\n\t1. Download `LLVM-*-win64.exe` file.\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n1. Check the esbuild version in file `build/src/third_party/devtools-frontend/src/DEPS` and find the closest release in the [esbuild GitHub](https://github.com/evanw/esbuild/releases) to it.\n\t* Example: `version:3@0.24.0.chromium.2` should be `0.24.0`\n1. Check the ninja version in file `build/src/third_party/devtools-frontend/src/DEPS` and find the closest release in the [ninja GitHub](https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases/) to it.\n\t1. Download the `ninja-win.zip` file.\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n1. Check the [Git GitHub](https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/) for the latest version of Git.\n\t1. Get the SHA-256 checksum for `PortableGit-\u003cversion\u003e-64-bit.7z.exe`.\n1. Check for commit hash changes of `src` submodule in `third_party/microsoft_dxheaders` (e.g. using GitHub `https://github.com/chromium/chromium/tree/\u003cversion\u003e/third_party/microsoft_dxheaders`).\n\t1. Replace `version` with the Chromium version in `helium-chromium/chromium_version.txt`.\n1. Check the node version changes in `third_party/node/update_node_binaries` (e.g. using GitHub `https://github.com/chromium/chromium/tree/\u003cversion\u003e/third_party/node/update_node_binaries`).\n\t1. Download the \"Standalone Binary\" version from the [NodeJS website](https://nodejs.org/en/download).\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n1. Check for version changes of windows rust crate (`third_party/rust/windows_x86_64_msvc/`).\n\t1. Download rust crate zip file.\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n\t1. Update `patches/ungoogled-chromium/windows/windows-fix-building-with-rust.patch` accordingly.\n\n### Update rust\n1. Check `RUST_REVISION` constant in file `tools/rust/update_rust.py` in build root.\n\t* Example: Revision could be `f7b43542838f0a4a6cfdb17fbeadf45002042a77`\n1. Get date for nightly rust build from the Rust GitHub page: `https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/commit/f7b43542838f0a4a6cfdb17fbeadf45002042a77`\n\t1. Replace `RUST_REVISION` with the obtained value\n\t1. Adapt `downloads.ini` accordingly\n\t* Example: The above revision corresponds to the nightly build date `2025-03-14` (`YYYY-mm-dd`)\n1. Download nightly rust build from: `https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/\u003cbuild-date\u003e/rust-nightly-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.tar.gz`\n\t1. Replace `build-date` with the obtained value\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n\t1. Extract archive\n\t1. Execute `rustc\\bin\\rustc.exe -V` to get rust version string\n\t1. Adapt `patches\\ungoogled-chromium\\windows\\windows-fix-building-with-rust.patch` accordingly\n1. Download nightly rust build from: `https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/\u003cbuild-date\u003e/rust-nightly-i686-pc-windows-msvc.tar.gz`\n\t1. Replace `build-date` with the obtained value\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n1. Download nightly rust build from: `https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/\u003cbuild-date\u003e/rust-nightly-aarch64-pc-windows-msvc.tar.gz`\n\t1. Replace `build-date` with the obtained value\n\t1. Get the SHA-512 checksum using `sha512sum` in **`MSYS2 MSYS`**.\n\n","project_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fimputnet%2Fhelium-windows","html_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/projects/github.com%2Fimputnet%2Fhelium-windows","lists_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fimputnet%2Fhelium-windows/lists"}