How to build VSCodium

Table of Contents

• Dependencies
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
• Build Scripts
• Build Snap
• Patch Update Process
  • Semi-Automated
  • Manual

Dependencies

• node 20.14
• jq
• git
• python3 3.11

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 Scripts

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 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,
• open vscode directory in VSCodium
• revert all changes
• run git apply --reject ../patches/<name>.patch
• fix all the *.rej files
• run npm run watch
• run ./script/code.sh until everything is ok
• run git diff > ../patches/<name>.patch

icons/build_icons.sh

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

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