VSCodium LogoVSCodium

How to build VSCodium

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:

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