Compiling "Webkit"

[wossname]

Has anyone ever tried to compile webkit on linux?

I found this page about it but it is lacking all the important bits of info (such as how to acquire a sensible version of qmake)... http://trac.webkit.org/wiki/BuildingQtOnLinux

[kregg]

Tried and it was successful:



All I will say is that the Webkit has the most weirdest way of installing things from a tarball. What I did was simply compile using the normal

./configure

and then installed it by running

sh install-sh

Afterwards, if I remember correctly, I got a Programs folder, and I cd'd into it, and ran

./Gtklauncher

as root. I got the webkit shown in the diagram. The GTK interface from my experience was awful. None of the buttons (or the address bar) did anything, and it didn't like opening popups, for example for opening the attachment manager for uploading and posting an image. And that's was when I had enough of the blasted thing.

If you want, I can upload my compiled Webkit software as a .tar.gz.

[wossname]

Thanks for posting. Yeah the gtklauncher is basically an "absolute minimum" demo of how to get the thing working.

I'm trying to build via the "build-webkit" script in the Scripts directory. I've made a fair bit of progress at work today so I'll have another go tomorrow and see if I can finish a build without any complaints of missing dependencies.

But yes they certainly haven't made it easy for linux developers. To be honest they haven't made it easy for anyone, not even windows guys (since you have to install Cygwin even to do an SVN checkout). I think that in their desperation to make their precious library fully "platform independent", they have inadvertently made it utterly incomprehensible. I blame windows for this, and with some justification I reckon .

I'll report back in a day or two.

[kregg]

I downloaded the Windows binary, and it needed Safari... They certainly haven't made it easy, or that they just upgraded the browsing engine. Either way, I wanted the basic GTK launcher in Windows!

I just wish that the Webkit development can be taken over by someone who has a clue about linux standards and general easy but to-the-point installation. I did not want to install Safari on Windows just to see the browser engine working, just a basic browser will do.

[wossname]

I ended up getting the stupid thing built but now I'm so apathetic to the whole thing that I can barely be bothered doing the actual investigation I was asked to perform. I guess that says a lot about webkit.

My fallback project's (Opera's) support people have been so completely and hopelessly inadequate that despite my tight deadlines they have failed to deliver any useful information to me thus far. It is enough to make a cynical Linux developer weep into his beer. It really is.

The saga continues I guess...