Chromium Docs

How to add a new dependency on Linux

For this example, imagine we want to add a dependency on the DBus client library. Note that this dependency already exists.

Test locally and do not start committing changes until you finish testing that the new dependency works.

(Debian) Determine which packages are needed

Which dev package do we need?

The DBus documentation includes examples that include the DBus header like this:

#include <dbus/dbus.h>

Searching for dbus/dbus.h on packages.debian.org yields only 1 result: libdbus-1-dev. This is the dev package that we need.

Which library package do we need?

The page for the dev package shows only two dependencies: pkg-config and libdbus-1-3. The latter is the one we want.

Now is a good time to make sure the package is available (and that the minimum version is available) on all supported distros. The source of truth for supported Debian-based distros is given in the SUPPORTED_DEBIAN_RELEASES and SUPPORTED_UBUNTU_RELEASES variables in //chrome/installer/linux/debian/update_dist_package_versions.py. Check on both packages.debian.org and packages.ubuntu.com.

(RPM) Determine which library is needed

Look at the list of files provided by the Debian dev package. There should be at least one file with a .so extension. In our case, this is libdbus-1.so: save this for later.

If the packages were available on all supported Debian-based distros, it's highly likely they will be available on all RPM-based ones too. But if you want to double-check, rpmfind.net is a good resource. The source of truth for supported RPM-based distros is given in the SUPPORTED_FEDORA_RELEASES and SUPPORTED_OPENSUSE_LEAP_RELEASES variables in //chrome/installer/linux/rpm/update_package_provides.py.

Add the dev and library packages to the sysroot

From the earlier section “(Debian) Determine which packages are needed”, we know that we need libdbus-1-dev and libdbus-1-3. Add these both to the DEBIAN_PACKAGES list in //build/linux/sysroot_scripts/sysroot_creator.py. Building and uploading the sysroot images is detailed in Linux sysroot images. You may need to add additional dependent libraries for your new library.

Whitelist the new dependencies

Debian

Add the library package to the PACKAGE_FILTER variable in //chrome/installer/linux/debian/update_dist_package_versions.py and run the script.

RPM

Add the library file to the LIBRARY_FILTER variable in //chrome/installer/linux/rpm/update_package_provides.py and run the script.

Build against the package

Using pkg-config

If the dev package provides a file with a .pc extension, it's a good idea to set up your build config using pkg-config, as this will automatically pass include dirs to the compiler, and library files to the linker.

libdbus-1-dev provides dbus-1.pc, so we can add this to our BUILD.gn:

import("//build/config/linux/pkg_config.gni")

# "dbus" is whatever you want to name the config.
pkg_config("dbus") {
  # "dbus-1" is the name of the .pc file.
  packages = [ "dbus-1" ]
}

component("my_awesome_component") {
  deps = [ ":dbus" ]
  ...
}

See //build/config/linux/pkg_config.gni for further details.

Including the library directly

If the dev package doesn't provide a .pc file, you will need to add the build flags manually:

config("dbus") {
  # libdbus-1.so is the name of the dev library.
  libs = [ "dbus-1" ]

  include_dirs = [
    "/usr/include/dbus-1.0",
    ...
  ]
}

Test that you can build and run against the new dependency

For DBus, you might try:

#include <dbus/dbus.h>

void TestIt() {
  DBusConnection* bus = dbus_bus_get(DBUS_BUS_SESSION, nullptr);
  DCHECK(bus);
}

The purpose of the test is to make sure that:

  1. The include path is set up properly.
  2. The library can be dynamically linked at runtime.
  3. The .deb and .rpm packages can build.

To test 3, make sure your args.gn has the following:

is_component_build = false  # This is required.
use_sysroot = true  # This is the default.
# is_*san = false  # This is the default.

Next, build chrome/installer/linux. If there are dependency errors, your package may not be available on all supported distros.

Add packages to build deps script

Add the dev package to the dev_list variable in //build/install-build-deps.sh, and add the library package to the common_lib_list variable in the same file.

Note that if you are removing a package from this script, be sure to add the removed packages to the backwards_compatible_list variable.

Install packages on the bots

After adding the packages to install-build-deps.sh, new swarming images will be generated and rolled out to the swarming bots. However, this can take several days. To expedite the process, the packages can be added to the Puppet config and rolled out immediately. To do this, add the dev package, the library package, and the i386 version of the library package to the Puppet config file. For DBus, this will look like:

  # Add packages here temporarily to roll out to the fleet as needed.
  all:
    - libdbus-1-dev
    - libdbus-1-3
    - libdbus-1-3:i386

Instrumented libraries

In order for MSAN to work, you will likely need to add your library package to the instrumented libraries. To do this, add the library dev package to third_party/instrumented_libs/BUILD.gn:

  # This is the minimum you will need. Check other examples in this file if
  # something goes wrong.
  instrumented_library("libdbus-1-3") {
    build_method = "debian"
  }

Then add :libdbus-1-3 to //third_party/instrumented_libs:locally_built's deps.

See Linux Instrumented Libraries for instructions on building and uploading the instrumented libraries.