zen-browser
Appimage does not work on distros that depend on musl instead of glibc
Captchas
- [x] I have read the instructions.
- [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
- [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
- [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
- [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.
What happened?
The appimages from the releases use glibc, making it impossible to run on distros like Void, Alpine etc. AFAIK it is possible to build appimages statically making it work with all distros. Could it be possible that zen does this too?
What platform are you seeing the problem on?
Linux (AppImage)
What component is this issue related to?
Other
Hi, you want something like this? 👀
This is quite a massive task, specially because it would need to be adapted to the current zen CI. I also haven't tested doing this to any firefox based browser so hopefully there isn't a weird bug or similar.
Hello @Samueru-sama, I think that is what i mean indeed. For steam, there is an unofficial appimage that works properly on any linux-based distro with the way they packaged it (https://github.com/ivan-hc/Steam-appimage). It would be awesome to bundle Zen in the same way, making it a truely portable appimage instead of semi-portable one. AFAIK I think it is possible to do it with Zen in the same way.
Hello @Samueru-sama, I think that is what i mean indeed. For steam, there is an unofficial appimage that works properly on any linux-based distro with the way they packaged it (https://github.com/ivan-hc/Steam-appimage). It would be awesome to bundle Zen in the same way, making it a truely portable appimage instead of semi-portable one. AFAIK I think it is possible to do it with Zen in the same way.
The current Steam AppImage uses runimage which is a container based solution, also you are talking to the person that made it in its current iteration xd
I don't think a container is really needed here, but only one way to find out I guess.
also you are talking to the person that made it in its current iteration xd
HA, I didn't realize lmao.
I don't think a container is really needed here, but only one way to find out I guess.
Is it possible that you can create this so we can test it then? The Steam appimage works awesome.
also you are talking to the person that made it in its current iteration xd
HA, I didn't realize lmao.
I don't think a container is really needed here, but only one way to find out I guess.
Is it possible that you can create this so we can test it then? The Steam appimage works awesome.
YESSSS, plz
Is it possible that you can create this so we can test it then? The Steam appimage works awesome.
Sure thing, with that said it will take a while since I have a backlog of other stuff to do.
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I'm trying to get a similar thing done at CPU-X
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After that I need to update a some PR I have at dunst
Once that's done I will look into this.
Hey @Samueru-sama, How's it going? Totally unrelated question but idk how to ask otherwise, but do you also have one for Discord?
Hey @Samueru-sama, How's it going?
Finished CPU-X, I was going to continue with dunst but I'm caught up with ppsspp now lol.
I will move to Zen after that and leave dunst for later.
Totally unrelated question but idk how to ask otherwise, but do you also have one for Discord?
Nope, and also I use discord as a PWA on firedragon and not a dedicated app.
Talking about discord, I'm on the pkgforge discord if you have more similar questions.
@xlc-dev test this in a musl distro and let me know the results:
https://github.com/Samueru-sama/zen-appimage-test/releases
awesome it works! I do get locale warnings though, idk if that is important.
[16464, Main Thread] WARNING: Locale not supported by C library. Using the fallback 'C' locale.: 'glib warning', file /home/ubuntu/actions-runner/_work/> desktop/desktop/engine/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201 (zen:16464): Gtk-WARNING **: 11:22:51.747: Locale not supported by C library. Using the fallback 'C' locale. [Parent 16464, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to enumerate devices of org.freedesktop.UPower: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not > provided by any .service files : 'glib warning', file /home/ubuntu/actions-runner/_work/desktop/desktop/engine/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201
Cool
The locale warning is normal given that I didn't bundle any locale, that's odd for example chromium bundles do bundle their own and I don't have to include any 🤔
In any case, this is actually a bug that sharun hasn't fixed, so for now you will have to settle with C locale in musl systems. 👀
Gonna ask other people I know to this test and then try upstream the changes here.
hi @Samueru-sama, After living in the appimage for a while now, aside from that locale warning i have no other issues. Except for that anything but youtube is not playing audio, video or both. I get issues on very legal anime websites like "This video file cannot be played.(Error Code: 102630)" or on twitch i get: "This video is either unavailable or not supported in this browser. (Error #4000)". Other websites would play the video but do not have sound. Only youtube does fine without any issues.
hi @Samueru-sama, After living in the appimage for a while now, aside from that locale warning i have no other issues. Except for that anything but youtube is not playing audio, video or both. I get issues on very legal anime websites like "This video file cannot be played.(Error Code: 102630)" or on twitch i get: "This video is either unavailable or not supported in this browser. (Error #4000)". Other websites would play the video but do not have sound. Only youtube does fine without any issues.
That's due to a missing lib, which one I'm not sure 🤔
I don't have this issue on my Artixlinux system, however I do have it in a ubuntu container as well as the alpine container.
I also have the same issue with the tarball in the ubuntu container, so at least it is not a regression.
@xlc-dev try again
This is weird. I noticed with strace that it was using the host ffmpeg libs, even though they are already bundled.
It seems Zen has built in code to look for libraries that bypasses the dynamic linker, this causes it to ignore --library-path and end up using ffmpeg of the host.
thankfully, the thing does look in the directory where the binary is located, so I just had to symlink the libraries to fix the issue lol
@xlc-dev I'm assuming the reaction you left to the comment means that it works right?
Ah yes, everything has so far been going without issues. I did try your appimage for obs studio today. But I don't think it has been built with Wayland support. Or am I wrong? If I for fun turn off the xwayland server obs refuses to start. AFAIK it can run natively
Ah yes, everything has so far been going without issues. I did try your appimage for obs studio today. But I don't think it has been built with Wayland support. Or am I wrong? If I for fun turn off the xwayland server obs refuses to start. AFAIK it can run natively
You might want to open an issue at the appimage repo in that case.
Ah yes, everything has so far been going without issues. I did try your appimage for obs studio today. But I don't think it has been built with Wayland support. Or am I wrong? If I for fun turn off the xwayland server obs refuses to start. AFAIK it can run natively
You might want to open an issue at the appimage repo in that case.
:S can't. you turned them off: https://github.com/Samueru-sama/OBS-Studio-AppImage-test
Ah yes, everything has so far been going without issues. I did try your appimage for obs studio today. But I don't think it has been built with Wayland support. Or am I wrong? If I for fun turn off the xwayland server obs refuses to start. AFAIK it can run natively
You might want to open an issue at the appimage repo in that case.
:S can't. you turned them off: https://github.com/Samueru-sama/OBS-Studio-AppImage-test
That's a fork, the actual repo is in pkgforge
Hi, @xlc-dev. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.
Issue Summary:
- Original issue: AppImage releases incompatible with musl-based Linux distributions.
- Samueru-sama created a test version, resolving locale warnings and media playback issues.
- Media playback issue was due to a missing library, fixed by Samueru-sama.
- xlc-dev confirmed the fix resolved the problem.
Next Steps:
- Please confirm if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
- If no updates are provided, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.
Thank you for your understanding and contribution!
![dosubot[bot] avatar](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/in/324583?v=4 "Published by a pub.dev verified publisher"){kind=small}
Hi, @xlc-dev. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog and am marking this issue as stale.
Issue Summary:
- You reported that the AppImage releases depend on glibc, causing incompatibility with musl-based distros like Void and Alpine.
- A test AppImage was created by Samueru-sama to address these issues, resolving locale warnings and fixing media playback problems.
- You confirmed the test AppImage works well, with only minor locale warnings and initial media playback issues now fixed by symlinking libraries.
- The issue remains unresolved with a PR still open to finalize the fix.
- The issue is currently marked stale pending confirmation of its relevance.
Next Steps:
- Please let me know if this issue is still relevant with the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
- If I do not hear back within 7 days, I will automatically close this issue.
Thank you for your understanding and contribution!