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CEF Setup

CyberDeck Browser uses Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) for normal web page rendering in the Windows browser application. CEF binaries are large and must not be committed directly to this repository.

Expected Layout

Download an official CEF binary distribution and extract it under a local path. For Windows, a typical layout is:

third_party/
  cef_binary_<version>_windows64/
    include/
      cef_version.h

The exact CEF version must be recorded in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md before CEF runtime files are bundled in a release.

Configure

Without CEF headers, the current scaffold still builds as a launch-and-exit Windows executable:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

With CEF headers available:

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DCEF_ROOT="C:\path\to\cef_binary"
cmake --build build

Or use the Windows release helper to download the default official CEF build and produce a CEF-enabled release package:

.\scripts\build_windows_release.ps1 -SkipInstaller -CefSha256 "<trusted sha256>"

Use this helper when checksum pinning is required:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\download_cef.ps1 `
  -CefUrl "https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com/<cef-archive>.tar.bz2" `
  -ExpectedSha256 "<trusted sha256>"

build_windows_release.ps1 checks scripts\cef_windows_downloads.sha256 for the default archive checksum. If no trusted checksum is found locally or from a matching .sha256 sidecar, it requires an explicit checksum argument.

To require CEF during configure:

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DCEF_ROOT="C:\path\to\cef_binary" -DCYBERDECK_REQUIRE_CEF=ON

The CMake integration expects a standard CEF binary distribution containing:

include/cef_version.h
cmake/FindCEF.cmake
libcef_dll/CMakeLists.txt
Debug/ or Release/ runtime binaries
Resources/ runtime resource files

The build links the official libcef_dll_wrapper target and copies CEF runtime binaries/resources next to CyberDeckBrowser.exe after build.

Windows Media Codecs

CEF setup also decides what media codecs CyberDeck can play. The default CEF binary distribution can render normal pages, but H.264/AVC and AAC support may be absent because Chromium treats them as proprietary codecs. Reddit and some YouTube streams rely on those formats.

For a Windows release that claims Reddit/YouTube video playback support, build and package against a CEF distribution produced from official source with the required proprietary codec support enabled, then clear the related licensing requirements. Keep the exact CEF version and codec build flags in the release notes and third-party notices. More detail is in docs/WINDOWS_MEDIA.md.

Official Windows CEF binaries require an MSVC-compatible build. MinGW builds remain useful for non-CEF scaffold checks, but they intentionally leave CEF disabled.

Linux Status

Linux support is separated from the Windows app path. The non-CEF Linux core launcher remains CyberDeckBrowserLinux, and the Linux CEF host is CyberDeckBrowserLinuxCef, installed as cyberdeck-browser-cef.

Easy Ubuntu/WSL2 install:

./scripts/install_linux.sh --deps

That script downloads an official Linux CEF binary archive from the CEF Automated Builds CDN, extracts it under third_party/cef/linux64, configures with -DCEF_ROOT=<that-path> -DCYBERDECK_REQUIRE_CEF=ON, builds the separated Linux CEF target, runs tests, and creates a cyberdeck-browser wrapper under ~/.local/bin.

Manual Linux configure:

cmake -S . -B build-linux-cef -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCEF_ROOT="$PWD/third_party/cef/linux64" -DCYBERDECK_REQUIRE_CEF=ON
cmake --build build-linux-cef --parallel
./build-linux-cef/cyberdeck-browser-cef "https://www.example.com"

Linux CEF code lives under src/platform/linux. Do not put Linux CEF hosting inside the existing Win32 browser host.

Download Helper

Use scripts/download_cef.ps1 on Windows only with an official CEF download URL that has been selected for this project:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\download_cef.ps1 -CefUrl "<official-cef-archive-url>"

Do not download or vendor CEF from mirrors or unknown repositories.

On Linux, prefer:

./scripts/install_linux.sh --deps

or pass a specific official archive URL:

CEF_URL="https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com/<official-linux64-archive>.tar.bz2" \
  ./scripts/install_linux.sh --force-cef