🎨 Omarchy Chromium

A custom build of Chromium with the Omarchy theme patches - providing command-line theme switching capabilities for seamless integration with your desktop environment.

✨ Features

• 🎨 Dynamic Theme Switching - Change Chromium's theme via command-line flags
• 🚀 Built from Source - Using Google's official Chromium source with bundled toolchain
• 📦 AUR Package - Easy installation for Arch Linux users
• 🔄 Automated Updates - Scripts to track upstream Chromium releases
• 🛠️ Developer Friendly - Full build automation and release pipeline

📥 Installation

Option 1: Install from AUR (Recommended)

The package is available in the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/omarchy-chromium-bin

# Using an AUR helper (if you have one installed)
yay -S omarchy-chromium-bin
# OR
paru -S omarchy-chromium-bin

# Manual installation (without AUR helper)
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/omarchy-chromium-bin.git
cd omarchy-chromium-bin
makepkg -si

Option 2: Download Pre-built Binary

Download the latest .pkg.tar.zst from Releases and install:

sudo pacman -U omarchy-chromium-*.pkg.tar.zst

Option 3: Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/omacom-io/omarchy-chromium.git
cd omarchy-chromium
makepkg -si

🎨 Theme Usage

GM3-compliant theme switches - change themes without opening new windows:

# Set custom user color (RGB values)
chromium --no-startup-window --set-user-color="28,32,39"

# Switch color scheme
chromium --no-startup-window --set-color-scheme="dark"
chromium --no-startup-window --set-color-scheme="light"

# Set color variant
chromium --no-startup-window --set-color-variant="vibrant"

# Enable grayscale theme
chromium --no-startup-window --set-grayscale-theme="true"

# Reset to default theme
chromium --no-startup-window --set-default-theme

Note: These are Material Design 3 (GM3) compliant switches. The --no-startup-window flag applies changes to existing windows without opening a new one.

🏗️ Project Structure

The project consists of three main components:

Directory	Purpose
~/omarchy-chromium	Build repository - Contains PKGBUILD, patches, and automation scripts
~/omarchy-chromium-src	Chromium source - Official Chromium checkout with Omarchy patches applied (not committed)
~/BUILD_LAB/omarchy-chromium-bin	AUR package - Binary package metadata for AUR distribution

🔧 Development

Initial Setup

besides AUR everything is meant to be done/initialized by makepkg -s itself

1. Setup AUR package repository:

   mkdir -p ~/BUILD_LAB
   git clone ssh://[email protected]/omarchy-chromium-bin.git ~/BUILD_LAB/omarchy-chromium-bin
   

2. Configure GitHub CLI (for releases):

   gh auth login
   # Follow prompts to authenticate with GitHub

📜 Automation Scripts

🎯 smart_update.sh - Upstream-Aware Updates (Recommended)

Only builds and pushes to AUR when upstream Chromium has changes!

This is the recommended way to keep your package updated - it ensures you only push to AUR when there's an actual new Chromium release from Arch Linux.

Usage:

# Check upstream and update if needed
./smart_update.sh

What it does:

• ✅ Checks if Arch Linux has released a new Chromium version
• ✅ Only proceeds if there are upstream changes
• ✅ Automatically runs update_to_upstream.sh and do_update.sh
• ✅ Prevents unnecessary AUR updates
• ✅ Saves build time and resources

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🔍 check_upstream.sh - Check for Updates

Checks if the upstream Arch Linux Chromium package has a newer version than ours.

Usage:

# Check if updates are available
./check_upstream.sh

Returns:

• Exit code 0: Update available
• Exit code 1: Already up-to-date
• Exit code 2: Error occurred

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🚀 do_update.sh - Manual Build & Release

Use this for hotfixes, patches, or when you need to force a release regardless of upstream status.

1. Increments pkgrel by one
2. Builds package using makepkg -s
3. Uploads to GitHub Releases
4. Updates AUR package metadata

Usage:

# Full build and release (for patches/fixes)
./do_update.sh

# Skip build (use existing package)
SKIP_BUILD=1 ./do_update.sh

When to use:

• When you've made patches or fixes
• For emergency updates
• When smart_update.sh says no update but you need to release

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🔄 update_to_upstream.sh - Sync with Upstream

Synchronizes with the latest official Chromium release:

1. Fetches latest version from Arch Linux's Chromium package
2. Updates local PKGBUILD version
3. Stashes local changes in Chromium checkout
4. Checks out new Chromium version tag
5. Applies Omarchy theme patches
6. Prepares build environment

Usage:

# Manually sync to latest upstream
./update_to_upstream.sh

# Then build
makepkg -s

What it does:

• ✅ Automatically detects new Chromium versions
• ✅ Preserves your local modifications
• ✅ Applies compatible patches only
• ✅ Ready to build immediately

🔄 Typical Workflow

Recommended: Smart Update (checks upstream first)

cd ~/omarchy-chromium
./smart_update.sh  # Only builds if Arch has new Chromium

Manual Update for Patches/Fixes

cd ~/omarchy-chromium
./do_update.sh  # Increments pkgrel, builds, releases

Update to New Chromium Version (manual)

cd ~/omarchy-chromium
./update_to_upstream.sh  # Updates to latest Chromium
./do_update.sh          # Builds and releases

Quick Re-release (no rebuild)

cd ~/omarchy-chromium
SKIP_BUILD=1 ./do_update.sh  # Uses existing package

Check if updates are available

cd ~/omarchy-chromium
./check_upstream.sh  # Shows if Arch has newer version

🤖 GitHub Actions Automation

Automated builds using self-hosted GitHub runners with multiple workflow types.

📋 Complete GitHub Workflows Documentation →

Quick Overview:

• 🌙 Nightly Builds: Daily automated builds (01:00 UTC)
• 🔨 Manual Full Build: Complete rebuilds from source
• 🎨 Test Theme Patch: Isolated patch testing
• ⚡ Quick Release: Fast AUR release testing

View all workflows →

🛠️ Build Configuration

The build uses Google's bundled toolchain for maximum compatibility:

• Clang/LLVM: Version 21 (bundled)
• Rust: Bundled toolchain
• PGO: Profile-Guided Optimization enabled
• CFI: Control Flow Integrity enabled
• Patches Applied:
  • ✅ omarchy-theme-switcher.patch - Core theme functionality
  • ✅ use-oauth2-client-switches-as-default.patch - OAuth2 support
  • ❌ compiler-rt-adjust-paths.patch - Skipped (bundled toolchain)
  • ❌ chromium-*-nodejs-version-check.patch - Skipped (bundled Node.js)
  • ❌ increase-fortify-level.patch - Skipped (conflicts with bundled build)

📊 Build Requirements

• Disk Space: ~100GB (source + build artifacts)
• RAM: 16GB minimum, 32GB recommended
• Build Time: 3-4 hours on modern hardware
• Network: Fast connection for initial checkout (~30GB)

🔧 Patch Maintenance

Theme Switcher Patch (IMPORTANT)

The core omarchy-theme-switcher.patch is based on an upstream Chromium change request:

📎 Upstream CL: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/6832165

If the patch fails to apply:

1. Visit the CL and check its merge status
2. Fix merge conflicts in the CL to keep it mergeable with main
3. Download the updated diff:

   # From the CL page, click "Download" and select "Patch"
   # Or use git:
   cd ~/omarchy-chromium-src/src
   git fetch https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src refs/changes/65/6832165/[LATEST_PATCHSET]
   git format-patch -1 FETCH_HEAD -o ~/omarchy-chromium/

4. Replace omarchy-theme-switcher.patch with the new version
5. Test the build with the updated patch

Note: Keeping the CL mergeable with Chromium main branch is crucial for maintaining this project. If you encounter merge conflicts, please help by updating the CL!

🧪 Testing

Comprehensive testing procedures for theme functionality and build system.

📋 Complete Testing Documentation →

Quick Testing:

# Run theme command line handler tests
cd ~/omarchy-chromium-src/src
tools/autotest.py -C out/Release --gtest_repeat=1 chrome/browser/themes/theme_command_line_handler_unittest.cc

View all testing procedures →

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Test your changes thoroughly (including unit tests above)
4. Submit a pull request

Testing Patches

cd ~/omarchy-chromium-src/src
# Apply your patch
patch -p1 < ~/your-patch.patch
# Test build
autoninja -C out/Release chrome
# Run theme tests
tools/autotest.py -C out/Release --gtest_repeat=1 chrome/browser/themes/theme_command_line_handler_unittest.cc

📝 License

This project is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause License - same as Chromium.

🙏 Credits

• Chromium Project - The amazing open-source browser
• Arch Linux - Package maintainers and build infrastructure
• Omarchy - Theme integration concept
• Contributors - Everyone who has helped improve this project

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• AUR Comments: AUR Package Page
• Maintainer: Helmut Januschka [email protected]

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Made with ❤️ for the Arch Linux community