Building Lynx Explorer for Windows

This document provides instructions for building the Lynx Explorer Windows app from source.

System Requirements

100GB or more of disk space
Git/Python3(>=3.9) installed
Node.js(>=18) installed

Install Dependencies

The following dependencies are needed:

Visual Studio(2022 recommended)

Environment Setup

You must set the following environment variables:

shell

DEPOT_TOOLS_WIN_TOOLCHAIN=0
GYP_MSVS_OVERRIDE_PATH="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community" # (or your location for Visual Studio)
WINDOWSSDKDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10" # (or your location for Windows Kits)

Get the Source Code

Pull the Repository

Pull the code from the Github repository.

shell

git clone https://github.com/lynx-family/lynx.git

Install Third-party Library

Run the following commands from the root of the repository to install the dependencies.

shell

cd lynx
.\tools\envsetup.ps1
.\tools\hab.ps1 sync . --target clay

Build Lynx Explorer

Run the following commands from the root of the repository to build the LynxExplorer app.

shell

$PSNativeCommandArgumentPassing = 'Legacy' # Compatibility with PowerShell 7 if you are using it

.\buildtools\gn\gn.exe gen out\Default --args='desktop_enable_embedder_layer = true enable_clay_standalone = true disable_visibility_hidden = true use_ndk_static_cxx = false  enable_linker_map = false enable_clay = true is_headless = true skia_enable_flutter_defines = true  skia_use_dng_sdk = false skia_use_sfntly = false skia_enable_pdf = false skia_enable_svg = true enable_svg = true skia_enable_skottie = true skia_use_x11 = false skia_use_wuffs = true skia_use_expat = true skia_use_fontconfig = false clay_enable_skshaper = true skia_use_icu = true allow_deprecated_api_calls = true stripped_symbols = true is_official_build = true enable_lto = false is_clang = true enable_lepusng_worklet = true enable_napi_binding = true is_debug = false enable_inspector = true jsengine_type = \"quickjs\"' --ide=vs
.\buildtools\ninja\ninja.exe -C out\Default explorer

Or, you can run the following command to build the LynxSDK if you need. This will generate lynx_sdk_windows_${target_cpu}.zip in out\Default directory.

shell

.\buildtools\ninja\ninja.exe -C out\Default platform\windows:package_sdk

Run and Debug

After the build is completed, the lynx_explorer.exe is located in the out\Default\lynx_explorer directory. Double-click to run it.

Debug with VS

Run the gn gen command with param --ide=vs, all.sln will be generated in dictionary out\Default.

Open all.sln by Visual Studio
Select lynx_explorer as Startup Project.
Run and Debug.