WebKitView for OpenHarmony

Overview

This repository provides a WebView implementation for the OpenHarmony platform using WebKit as the rendering engine.

The project can be built using the public OpenHarmony 6.0 SDK.

Blog Post (Full Story & Details):

WebKit for OpenHarmony

Note: This project is in an early development stage. Many features are not yet implemented, and various issues are present. Please refer to the Known Issues section at the end of this document.

---

Requirements

• Ubuntu 24.04 or later (or compatible Linux distribution)
• OpenHarmony SDK
• HiHope HH-SCDAYU200 development board (or compatible device)
• OpenHarmony 6.0 arm64 image flashed on the device
• python3
• npm
• nodejs

Note: Root access to the development board is required.

Setting Up Your Development Board

1. Download (or Build) and Flash OpenHarmony 6.0 Image

The DAYU200 arm64 image is available from the OpenHarmony Daily Build.

To find the correct image, use the following filters:

• Project: openharmony
• Branch: OpenHarmony-6.0-Release
• Time Range: Current Month
• Status: Running Build

Alternatively, you can build the image yourself.

TODO: Add instructions to build the OpenHarmony image using the Docker build environment.

---

2. Prepare the Development Board

Several configuration changes are required for WebKitView to run properly on an OpenHarmony device:

• By default, the OpenHarmony runtime does not allow third-party applications to spawn child processes. This restriction must be lifted.
• The OpenHarmony memory manager may kill applications that consume more memory than the default limit. WebKitView requires a higher memory limit.
• The OpenHarmony public SDK does not include an API for GPU buffer sharing via a plain domain socket file descriptor. This functionality is provided by a custom library: native_buffer_socket, included as a prebuilt binary at prebuilts/libnative_buffer_socket.z.so.

To apply all these modifications, connect the device to your PC and run

tools/prepare-board.sh

Setting Up Your Environment

1. Build WPEWebKit for OpenHarmony (arm64)

Clone the repository and execute the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/KodeGood/webkit-openharmony-cerbero.git
cd webkit-openharmony-cerbero
./cerbero-uninstalled -c config/cross-ohos-arm64.cbc bootstrap
./cerbero-uninstalled -c config/cross-ohos-arm64.cbc package -f wpewebkit

WebKit patches are available at:

KodeGood/WebKit/wpewebkit-2.50.0-ohos

2. Install OpenHarmony SDK

Download the OpenHarmony 6.0 SDK from the official OpenHarmony website. See OpenHarmony-v6.0-release.md for more details.

Install the SDK using the provided script:

tools/install-ohos-sdk.sh <openharmony-sdk-package>/ohos-sdk-windows_linux-public.tar.gz linux <target-directory>

Add the following environment variables to your shell profile (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export OHOS_BASE_SDK_HOME=<path-to-your-openharmony-sdk>
export OHOS_SDK_NATIVE=${OHOS_BASE_SDK_HOME}/20/native
export OHOS_SDK_TOOLCHAINS=${OHOS_BASE_SDK_HOME}/20/toolchains
export PATH=$PATH:$OHOS_SDK_TOOLCHAINS:$OHOS_SDK_NATIVE/llvm/bin

Bootstrapping WebKitView with WPEWebKit

WebKitView requires WPEWebKit to be built and installed as a sysroot in your project.

To automate this setup, run:

python3 tools/bootstrap.py -a arm64 install -c <path-to-your-webkit-openharmony-cerbero>

Building and Running the WebKitView Application

./hvigorw assembleHap
./install-webkitview
./launch-webkitview

Known Issues

• First launch may take longer than expected — please be patient.
• Launching may fail occasionally; retry if necessary.
• Random crashes may occur; restarting the app typically resolves them.
• Many websites crash.
• Only websites included in the demo app bookmark list work reliably.
• SSL websites are not supported yet.
• Video playback is not yet implemented.
• WebGL is not supported.
• IME (Input Method Editor) is not integrated.
• Performance is not yet optimized.
• High memory usage may cause the system to terminate the app.
• Scrolling performance is not smooth.
• Several features remain unimplemented.