Files
buzz/desktop/src-tauri/src/webkit_rendering.rs
T
Will PflegerandGitHub 3ece4461df feat(desktop): apply WebKit rendering workarounds at startup on Linux (#3271)
On some Linux GPU/driver/compositor combinations, WebKitGTK's dmabuf
renderer aborts the web process during startup, so Buzz comes up with no
window at all and the user has no way to fix it. Setting
`WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1` avoids the abort by falling back to
the shared-memory buffer path.

WebKit reads each of its rendering variables exactly once per process,
so the choice has to be made before anything initializes — there is no
runtime toggle and no second chance later in the same process. This
decides up front from two cheap preflight signals rather than reacting
to a crash:

- **NVIDIA GPU** — any DRM device under `/sys/class/drm` reporting PCI
vendor `0x10de`, the driver family behind most upstream reports.
- **AppImage** — the `APPIMAGE` environment variable. linuxdeploy's
AppRun hook pins `GDK_BACKEND=x11`, and the dmabuf renderer buys nothing
on that XWayland path.

Either signal disables the dmabuf renderer. Neither signal leaves the
environment untouched.

## Escape hatches

`--safe-rendering` forces the safest configuration for one launch —
`WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER` plus `WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE`
— for a machine neither signal recognises.

Any user assignment of a variable this module may set stands the
heuristic down **wholesale**. Presence is the test, not truthiness, so
`VAR=0` and `VAR=` both count: a user asking for the dmabuf renderer
*on* gets it, even on a machine the heuristic would have opted out.
`--safe-rendering` against such an assignment is refused with a
diagnostic naming both the assignment and the key to unset, and exits
non-zero — the flag and the environment are two incompatible answers to
one question, and neither is guessed.

## Placement

`webkit_rendering::apply()` runs at the top of `fn main()`, before
`buzz_lib::run()`. That is the only point where the process is still
single threaded with no GTK object alive, which is what makes
`std::env::set_var` sound; the module doc and the call site both say so.
The whole module is `#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]` — macOS and Windows
compile none of it.

The decision is a pure function of argv, an injected environment lookup,
and an injected DRM root, so all of it is unit-testable without mutating
the process environment.

Closes #2338. Upstream:
[tauri#9394](https://github.com/tauri-apps/tauri/issues/9394). Same
approach and same variable as
[clash-verge-rev](https://github.com/clash-verge-rev/clash-verge-rev/blob/main/src-tauri/src/utils/linux/workarounds.rs)
`workarounds.rs` and
[screenpipe](https://github.com/screenpipe/screenpipe/blob/main/apps/screenpipe-app-tauri/src-tauri/src/linux_webkit_env.rs)
`linux_webkit_env.rs`.

Signed-off-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>
2026-07-28 17:20:29 -04:00

209 lines
8.1 KiB
Rust

//! WebKit rendering workarounds for Linux, applied before WebKit initializes.
//!
//! WebKitGTK's dmabuf renderer aborts the web process during startup on some
//! GPU/driver/compositor combinations, so Buzz comes up with no window at all
//! and the user has no way to fix it (#2338, upstream tauri#9394). Setting
//! `WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1` avoids the abort by falling back to the
//! shared-memory buffer path.
//!
//! WebKit reads each of these variables exactly once per process, so the choice
//! has to be made before anything initializes — there is no runtime toggle and
//! no second chance later in the same process. This module therefore decides
//! from cheap preflight signals instead of reacting to a crash:
//!
//! * an NVIDIA GPU, the driver family behind most upstream reports; and
//! * AppImage packaging, where linuxdeploy's AppRun hook pins `GDK_BACKEND=x11`
//! and the dmabuf renderer buys nothing on that XWayland path (#2338).
//!
//! `--safe-rendering` is the manual escape hatch for a machine neither signal
//! recognises; it also disables accelerated compositing, for that launch only.
//!
//! This is the shape the Tauri ecosystem converged on: clash-verge-rev's
//! `utils/linux/workarounds.rs` and screenpipe's `linux_webkit_env.rs` both set
//! the same variable from the same signals at the same point in startup.
use std::ffi::{OsStr, OsString};
use std::path::Path;
/// Force the safest rendering configuration for this launch.
const SAFE_RENDERING: &str = "--safe-rendering";
/// PCI vendor ID reported by NVIDIA devices under `/sys/class/drm`.
const NVIDIA_PCI_VENDOR: &str = "0x10de";
/// Where DRM devices advertise their PCI vendor.
const DRM_ROOT: &str = "/sys/class/drm";
/// Drops the zero-copy dmabuf buffer path. The workaround for #2338.
const DISABLE_DMABUF: &str = "WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER";
/// Drops accelerated compositing as well. `--safe-rendering` only.
const DISABLE_COMPOSITING: &str = "WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE";
/// What the heuristic applies: the #2338 workaround alone, matching the
/// ecosystem precedents. `DISABLE_COMPOSITING` is deliberately not here — no
/// report has isolated it as necessary, and it costs more rendering than this.
const HEURISTIC: [&str; 1] = [DISABLE_DMABUF];
/// What `--safe-rendering` applies, which is also every variable this module may
/// set and therefore every variable a user assignment takes away from it. Being
/// the same list is the invariant: nothing outside it is ever written, so a user
/// value for any other WebKit variable is not a conflict.
const OWNED: [&str; 2] = [DISABLE_DMABUF, DISABLE_COMPOSITING];
/// Reads one environment variable. Injected so the decision is testable without
/// mutating the process environment. `OsString` rather than `String` because
/// presence is the test — a non-UTF-8 assignment is still the user's.
type EnvLookup<'a> = &'a dyn Fn(&str) -> Option<OsString>;
/// What this launch should do about its rendering environment.
#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
enum Plan {
/// Set each of these to `1`, then report `why`.
Apply {
vars: &'static [&'static str],
why: String,
},
/// Change nothing, and report `why`.
Leave { why: String },
/// The request cannot be delivered. Report it and exit non-zero rather than
/// starting an app that silently ignores what the user asked for.
Fatal { diagnostic: String },
}
/// Applies the workaround for this launch.
///
/// Must be called from `main()` before `crate::run()`: WebKit memoizes these
/// variables at process start, and `std::env::set_var` is only sound while the
/// process is still single threaded, which it is nowhere else in Buzz.
///
/// `Err` carries a user-facing diagnostic; the caller reports it and exits.
pub fn apply() -> Result<(), String> {
match plan(
std::env::args_os(),
&|key| std::env::var_os(key),
Path::new(DRM_ROOT),
) {
Plan::Apply { vars, why } => {
for var in vars {
// Safe here and only here — see the doc comment above.
std::env::set_var(var, "1");
}
let applied: Vec<String> = vars.iter().map(|var| format!("{var}=1")).collect();
eprintln!("buzz-desktop: {} — {why}", applied.join(" "));
Ok(())
}
Plan::Leave { why } => {
eprintln!("buzz-desktop: WebKit rendering left as-is — {why}");
Ok(())
}
Plan::Fatal { diagnostic } => Err(diagnostic),
}
}
/// The whole decision, as a pure function of argv, the environment, and the DRM
/// device tree.
fn plan(
args: impl IntoIterator<Item = impl AsRef<OsStr>>,
env: EnvLookup<'_>,
drm_root: &Path,
) -> Plan {
let safe_rendering = args
.into_iter()
.any(|arg| arg.as_ref() == OsStr::new(SAFE_RENDERING));
let user_set = user_set(env);
if !user_set.is_empty() {
// A user who has assigned one of these has taken over the decision, so
// the heuristic stands down wholesale — writing the *other* variable
// behind their back would be exactly the surprise they opted out of.
return match safe_rendering {
// Two incompatible answers to one question, and no basis for
// picking: honouring the flag would overwrite configuration the
// user typed, honouring the environment would silently ignore a
// rescue flag from a user whose app does not start.
true => Plan::Fatal {
diagnostic: conflict(&user_set),
},
false => Plan::Leave {
why: format!("{} set in the environment", describe(&user_set)),
},
};
}
if safe_rendering {
return Plan::Apply {
vars: &OWNED,
why: format!("{SAFE_RENDERING} requested, this launch only"),
};
}
let signals = [
(nvidia_gpu(drm_root), "NVIDIA GPU"),
(env("APPIMAGE").is_some(), "AppImage"),
];
let hits: Vec<&str> = signals
.iter()
.filter_map(|(hit, label)| hit.then_some(*label))
.collect();
match hits.is_empty() {
true => Plan::Leave {
why: "no NVIDIA GPU and not an AppImage".to_string(),
},
false => Plan::Apply {
vars: &HEURISTIC,
why: hits.join(", "),
},
}
}
/// Owned variables the environment already carries, keyed by name.
///
/// Presence is the test, not truthiness: `VAR=0` and `VAR=` are both genuine
/// user assignments, and both take the decision away from this module.
fn user_set(env: EnvLookup<'_>) -> Vec<(&'static str, OsString)> {
OWNED
.iter()
.filter_map(|key| env(key).map(|value| (*key, value)))
.collect()
}
/// User assignments rendered as `KEY=value`, for a log line or a diagnostic.
fn describe(user_set: &[(&str, OsString)]) -> String {
let shown: Vec<String> = user_set
.iter()
.map(|(key, value)| format!("{key}={}", value.to_string_lossy()))
.collect();
shown.join(", ")
}
/// Whether any DRM device reports NVIDIA's PCI vendor ID. An unreadable device
/// tree is not a hit — the workaround has a real cost, so it needs evidence.
fn nvidia_gpu(drm_root: &Path) -> bool {
let Ok(entries) = std::fs::read_dir(drm_root) else {
return false;
};
entries.flatten().any(|entry| {
std::fs::read_to_string(entry.path().join("device/vendor"))
.is_ok_and(|vendor| vendor.trim().eq_ignore_ascii_case(NVIDIA_PCI_VENDOR))
})
}
/// The diagnostic for `--safe-rendering` against a user-set owned variable.
///
/// The message both shows what is set and names the keys to unset — the two
/// things a user whose app will not start needs in order to act on it.
fn conflict(user_set: &[(&str, OsString)]) -> String {
let keys: Vec<&str> = user_set.iter().map(|(key, _)| *key).collect();
format!(
"{SAFE_RENDERING} cannot be applied: {} already set in the environment. \
Either unset {} and run {SAFE_RENDERING} again, or keep that \
environment and drop the flag.",
describe(user_set),
keys.join(", "),
)
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests;