browser-mini / browser-big

Two WebKitGTK 6.0 (GTK4) browsers sharing one core.

100% Vibecode but tested. Builds warning-free with -Wall -Wextra. Used for real video calls on WebKitGTK 2.54.0 with GStreamer 1.28.7.

• browser-mini: a plain, fast page viewer.
• browser-big: the same, plus camera, microphone and WebRTC repairs and

diagnostics.

Files

Build

Debian or any Linux distro:

apt install build-essential pkg-config libgtk-4-dev libwebkitgtk-6.0-dev \
            libsoup-3.0-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev
make                # build both
make install        # into /usr/bin (PREFIX=... to change)
make uninstall
make clean
make version        # 4.39.0 (build …), md5 of the sources

Usage

browser-mini [URL] [options]
browser-big  [URL|PATH|diag] [options]

No address opens the start page. No scheme means https; a path opens as a file. -h lists every option and key.

Keys

--mod alt|super|meta moves the modifier off Ctrl. browser-big adds Ctrl+Shift+M (diagnostics page), Ctrl+Shift+T (web process threads), Ctrl+Shift+V (video element state), Ctrl+Shift+C / X (warm / release the camera).

Features

• History survives restarts; back and forward continue into it.

--private keeps nothing.

• Downloads: Ctrl+S sets a directory per page, site or everything;

the narrowest rule wins.

• Search keywords: g (default), d, w, s. w tree searches

Wikipedia. Add one with Ctrl+K: k https://example.org/?q={}.

• Lock: --lock-page or --lock-site refuses other addresses.
• Popups: --allow-popups lets pages open windows without a click

(Zoom needs it).

• Errors show top right in red for 10 s, and on stderr.

Paths

browser-mini --paths prints them all.

--clear-data wipes the profile. --forget-permissions drops camera and microphone answers.

Config

key = value, # comments, colours as RRGGBB[AA]. The command line wins. Every key is also an option: --hl=ff8800. -c PATH reads one file only, -n reads none.

Patches

Video calls need three upstream fixes. They are real bugs in current releases, not configuration, and none is upstream yet.

Apply in the source tree, then rebuild and reinstall that package:

cd webkitgtk-2.54.0
patch -p1 < /path/to/patches/webkit-videorate-skip-to-first.patch
patch -p1 < /path/to/patches/webkit-caps-normalize.patch

cd gstreamer-1.28.x/subprojects/gst-plugins-base   # or the plain gst-plugins-base tarball
patch -p1 < /path/to/patches/gst-glupload-null-meta.patch

Add --dry-run first to check. Without the GStreamer patch, WEBKIT_GST_DISABLE_GL_SINK=1 avoids the crash at some CPU cost.

Check that they work:

• Videorate: the WebRTC sample pc1 (below) encodes about 90 frames per

3 s report, not hundreds.

• Caps: --rtc-trace shows a 4:3 camera track (aspectRatio 1.333) on a

site that asks for one.

Video calls

browser-big repairs these WebKit problems by default:

--no-fix-webrtc turns off the SSRC, parameters and silent-audio repairs. --no-cam-fix injects nothing.

Permissions. A request asks at the top of the window: Enter allows, Esc denies, remembered per site. media = ask|allow|deny in the config.

Per machine:

# ~/.config/browser-big/config
audio = alsa                     # no sound server
mic_match = ThinkPad             # mic whose label contains this text
feature = OffscreenCanvas=off    # Zoom
web_compat = yes                 # Zoom: screen.orientation

mic_match / cam_match pick a device by label. mic_match overrides the microphone a site asks for. arecord -l lists microphones.

When a call does not work

browser-big URL --rtc-trace 2>&1 | tee /tmp/bb.log

• out-video.enc climbing, no far-video: the server drops our stream.
• in-video.dec climbing, video-state.frames at 0: decoded, never shown.
• in-video.fir climbing, keys still: no keyframe arrives.

Without a server: browser-big https://webrtc.github.io/samples/src/content/peerconnection/pc1/ --rtc-trace. If that works, WebKit's WebRTC is fine and the problem is site-specific.

Camera: browser-big --list-cameras shows every mode each camera offers. Check ls -l /dev/video* and membership in group video.

Crash: attach gdb before starting the camera:

gdb -p $(pgrep -nx WebKitWebProcess) -batch \
    -ex 'handle SIGUSR1 SIGUSR2 SIGPIPE SIG34 SIG35 nostop noprint pass' \
    -ex continue -ex 'thread apply all bt 30' > /tmp/bt.txt 2>&1

browser-big options

When a page renders badly

Try one at a time; the first that helps names the layer:

browser-mini URL --no-jit          # JavaScript JIT
browser-mini URL --no-dmabuf       # WebKit's dmabuf renderer
browser-mini URL --no-compositing
browser-mini URL --no-gpu
browser-mini URL --gsk cairo       # GTK renderer (default gl)

--feature NAME[=on|off] sets a WebKit runtime feature, --list-features lists them. --gl-info checks the graphics stack.