Windows Desktop

Brum for Windows

Multi-Panel File Commander for Web & Native Windows Desktop
Engineered in Rust & Microsoft WebView2 — High-Performance, Low Memory, Zero Electron Overhead.

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1. Overview & Architecture

Brum on Windows is distributed as:

1. Standalone Native Desktop Application (Brum.exe):
   • Powered by Microsoft WebView2 (built into Windows 10 & 11).
   • Instant startup, ~30MB RAM idle consumption, full hardware-accelerated rendering.
   • Global System Tray icon with minimize-to-tray background operation.
2. High-Performance Background & CLI Server (brum.exe):
   • Single-binary Axum async HTTP/WebSocket server.
   • Run as a headless background service, local server, or portable command-line tool.

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2. Installation Options

A. Windows Package Manager (winget)

Install with a single command from PowerShell or Windows Terminal:

winget install Woofson.Brum

B. Scoop Package Manager

Install via Scoop bucket:

scoop bucket add woofson https://github.com/Woofson/scoop-bucket.git
scoop install brum

C. Inno Setup Windows Installer (.exe)

1. Download Brum-Setup-v1.2.1.exe from GitHub Releases.
2. Choose between Desktop GUI Application or Background Windows Service (SCM) mode.
3. Automatically sets up Start Menu items, Desktop shortcuts, Context Menu integrations, and %PROGRAMDATA%\Brum\ configuration roots.

D. Zero-Install Standalone Portable ZIP

1. Download brum-v1.2.1-windows-x86_64.zip.
2. Extract anywhere (e.g. C:\Tools\Brum or a USB drive).
3. Double-click Brum.exe or brum.exe — settings and database are saved portably in the local folder or %APPDATA%\Brum\.

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3. Windows Service Architecture & SCM Management

Brum can run 24/7 as a background Windows Service managed by the native Windows Service Control Manager (SCM):

Service Control Commands:

Run PowerShell or CMD as Administrator:

# Install Brum as an auto-starting Windows Service
brum.exe --install-service

# Start the background service
brum.exe --start-service
# or: net start Brum

# Stop the service
brum.exe --stop-service
# or: net stop Brum

# Uninstall / remove the service registration
brum.exe --uninstall-service

Windows Service Logging & Configuration:

• Service Config: %PROGRAMDATA%\Brum\config.toml (auto-created if missing with safe system defaults).
• Database & Auth: %PROGRAMDATA%\Brum\brum.db
• Event Logging: SCM lifecycle events and errors are recorded directly in the Windows Application Event Log (eventvwr.msc).

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4. Windows Explorer Context Menu Integration

Add "Open in Brum" to the Windows Explorer right-click context menu for any directory, drive, or folder background:

Register Context Menu:

Double-click packaging\windows\register-context-menu.reg or run:

reg import packaging\windows\register-context-menu.reg

Unregister Context Menu:

Double-click packaging\windows\unregister-context-menu.reg or run:

reg import packaging\windows\unregister-context-menu.reg

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5. Windows Filesystem Features

• Drive Letter Navigation: Switch seamlessly across C:\, D:\, E:\, Z:\ in breadcrumbs and the quick jump menu.
• Environment Variable Expansion: Navigate directly to %USERPROFILE%, %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, %TEMP%, or ~/.
• Windows SMB & UNC Paths: Open and browse network shares transparently using UNC format (\\server\share\folder) or orthodox smb://user@server/share.
• Windows Recycle Bin Restoration: Direct integration with Windows Recycle Bin (C:\$Recycle.Bin), parsing $I* deletion metadata and restoring files to their original paths.
• Integrated Windows PowerShell / CMD Terminal: Embedded slide-up terminal console defaulting to Windows PowerShell or COMSPEC (cmd.exe).
• Transparent Encrypted Vaults (.cdvault): Password-protected AES-256-GCM / Argon2id zero-knowledge virtual storage containers.

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6. Windows PE Metadata & Build Inspection

Windows executables (brum.exe and Brum.exe) automatically embed PE Version Resources:

• File Version: Formatted as MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD (e.g. 1.2.1.419).
• Product Version: Formatted as full SemVer 2.0.0 metadata (e.g. 1.2.1+build.419.git.8f42092).
• File Properties: Right-click brum.exe in Windows Explorer -> Properties -> Details tab to view the exact build number, product version, and lab copyright information.

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7. Multimedia & Transcoding Dependencies (Format Converter)

Brum runs completely standalone out-of-the-box with zero mandatory runtime dependencies for file browsing, terminals, and encrypted vaults.

To enable full audio/video and image transcoding capabilities in the built-in Format Converter (ConvertX) Core Function on Windows, install ffmpeg and ImageMagick:

1-Command Installation via Package Managers

Via Windows Package Manager (winget):

winget install Gyan.FFmpeg ImageMagick.ImageMagick

Via Scoop:

scoop install ffmpeg imagemagick

Via Chocolatey:

choco install ffmpeg imagemagick

Manual Installation & PATH Setup

If installing manually without a package manager:

1. Download official static builds from gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds or ffmpeg.org.
2. Download ImageMagick from imagemagick.org.
3. Extract and add the directory containing ffmpeg.exe and magick.exe to your Windows System PATH environment variable.
4. Restart Brum or open a new terminal session.

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8. Building from Source on Windows

Prerequisites

• Rust & Cargo (stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc or cross-compile with x86_64-pc-windows-gnu)
• Visual Studio 2022 C++ Build Tools or MinGW-w64 toolchain
• Microsoft WebView2 Runtime (Preinstalled on Windows 10/11)

Cross-Compiling from Linux:

cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

Native PowerShell Build Script:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
.\packaging\windows\build-windows.ps1 -Release

Build outputs are placed in dist\windows\:

• dist\windows\brum-v1.2.1-windows-x86_64.zip (Portable Distribution)
• dist\windows\Brum-Setup-v1.2.1.exe (Inno Setup Installer)
• dist\windows\SHA256SUMS.txt (Integrity Hashes)

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License

MIT License — Copyright (c) 2026 Bolt J Woofson bolt@boop.no