WebKit
WebKit is a cross-platform web browser engine. On iOS and macOS, it powers Safari, Mail, iBooks, and many other applications.
Feature Status
Visit WebKit Feature Status page to see which Web API has been implemented, in development, or under consideration.
Trying the Latest
On macOS, download Safari Technology Preview to test the latest version of WebKit. On Linux, download Epiphany Technology Preview. On Windows, you'll have to build it yourself.
Reporting Bugs
- Search WebKit Bugzilla to see if there is an existing report for the bug you've encountered.
- Create a Bugzilla account to to report bugs (and to comment on them) if you haven't done so already.
- File a bug in accordance with our guidelines.
Once your bug is filed, you will receive email when it is updated at each stage in the bug life cycle. After the bug is considered fixed, you may be asked to download the latest nightly and confirm that the fix works for you.
Getting the Code
On Windows, follow the instructions on our website.
Cloning the Git SVN Repository
Run the following command to clone WebKit's Git SVN repository:
git clone git@github.com:WebKit/WebKit.git WebKit
or
git clone https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit.git WebKit
If you want to be able to track Subversion revision from your git checkout, you can run the following command to do so:
Tools/Scripts/git-webkit setup-git-svn
For information about this, and other aspects of using Git with WebKit, read the wiki page.
Checking out the Subversion Repository
If you don't want to use Git, run the following command to check out WebKit's Subversion repository:
svn checkout https://svn.webkit.org/repository/webkit/trunk WebKit
Building WebKit
Building macOS Port
Install Xcode and its command line tools if you haven't done so already:
- Install Xcode Get Xcode from https://developer.apple.com/downloads. To build WebKit for OS X, Xcode 5.1.1 or later is required. To build WebKit for iOS Simulator, Xcode 7 or later is required.
- Install the Xcode Command Line Tools In Terminal, run the command:
xcode-select --install
Run the following command to build a debug build with debugging symbols and assertions:
Tools/Scripts/build-webkit --debug
For performance testing, and other purposes, use --release
instead.
Using Xcode
You can open WebKit.xcworkspace
to build and debug WebKit within Xcode.
If you don't use a custom build location in Xcode preferences, you have to update the workspace settings to use WebKitBuild
directory. In menu bar, choose File > Workspace Settings, then click the Advanced button, select "Custom", "Relative to Workspace", and enter WebKitBuild
for both Products and Intermediates.
Embedded Builds
iOS, tvOS and watchOS are all considered embedded builds. The first time after you install a new Xcode, you will need to run:
sudo Tools/Scripts/configure-xcode-for-embedded-development
Without this step, you will see the error message: "target specifies product type ‘com.apple.product-type.tool’, but there’s no such product type for the ‘iphonesimulator’ platform.
" when building target JSCLLIntOffsetsExtractor
of project JavaScriptCore
.
Run the following command to build a debug build with debugging symbols and assertions for embededded simulators:
Tools/Scripts/build-webkit --debug --<platform>-simulator
or embedded devices:
Tools/Scripts/build-webkit --debug --<platform>-device
where platform
is ios
, tvos
or watchos
.
Building the GTK+ Port
For production builds:
cmake -DPORT=GTK -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -GNinja
ninja
sudo ninja install
For development builds:
Tools/gtk/install-dependencies
Tools/Scripts/update-webkitgtk-libs
Tools/Scripts/build-webkit --gtk --debug
For more information on building WebKitGTK+, see the wiki page.
Building the WPE Port
For production builds:
cmake -DPORT=WPE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -GNinja
ninja
sudo ninja install
For development builds:
Tools/wpe/install-dependencies
Tools/Scripts/update-webkitwpe-libs
Tools/Scripts/build-webkit --wpe --debug
Building Windows Port
For building WebKit on Windows, see the wiki page.
Running WebKit
With Safari and Other macOS Applications
Run the following command to launch Safari with your local build of WebKit:
Tools/Scripts/run-safari --debug
The run-safari
script sets the DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH
environment variable to point to your build products, and then launches /Applications/Safari.app
. DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH
tells the system loader to prefer your build products over the frameworks installed in /System/Library/Frameworks
.
To run other applications with your local build of WebKit, run the following command:
Tools/Scripts/run-webkit-app <application-path>
iOS Simulator
Run the following command to launch iOS simulator with your local build of WebKit:
run-safari --debug --ios-simulator
In both cases, if you have built release builds instead, use --release
instead of --debug
.
Linux Ports
If you have a development build, you can use the run-minibrowser script, e.g.:
run-minibrowser --debug --wpe
Pass one of --gtk
, --jsc-only
, or --wpe
to indicate the port to use.
Contribute
Congratulations! You’re up and running. Now you can begin coding in WebKit and contribute your fixes and new features to the project. For details on submitting your code to the project, read Contributing Code.