PhotinoX.Native

PhotinoX.Native is an independent fork of tryphotino/photino.Native licensed under Apache‑2.0.
This project is not affiliated with the original Photino organization.

The goal of this fork is to maintain and improve the native cross‑platform binaries for:

• Windows x64 / ARM64
• Linux x64 / ARM64
• macOS x64 / ARM64 (Universal)

PhotinoX.Native provides a lightweight native window host using the OS’s built‑in WebView stack:

• Windows: WebView2 Runtime
  Required component: Microsoft.Web.WebView2 (Edge WebView2)
  https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/
• macOS: WKWebView (system WebKit)
  https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/
• Linux: WebKitGTK 4.1 (runtime + dev packages)
  https://webkitgtk.org/

Runtime support (RID matrix)

Binaries included in this package:

OS	Architecture	RID	Files
Windows	x64	win-x64	PhotinoX.Native.dll, WebView2Loader.dll
Windows	ARM64	win-arm64	PhotinoX.Native.dll, WebView2Loader.dll
Linux	x64	linux-x64	PhotinoX.Native.so
Linux	ARM64	linux-arm64	PhotinoX.Native.so
macOS	x64	osx-x64	PhotinoX.Native.dylib (universal)
macOS	ARM64	osx-arm64	PhotinoX.Native.dylib (universal)

All files follow the standard NuGet runtimes/<rid>/native/ layout.

Core (ecosystem)

These repositories provide the managed .NET surface around the native binaries:

• PhotinoX - .NET wrapper around the native layer.
• PhotinoX.Blazor - Blazor integration for native desktop apps.
• PhotinoX.Server - optional static-file server (avoids CORS/ESM issues).
• PhotinoX.Samples - sample projects showcasing common scenarios.

This package is intended for developers building modern desktop apps with
web‑based UI frameworks (Blazor, React, Vue, Angular, etc.) on top of
native OS windows with minimal dependencies.

If you are looking for the main project, see:
https://github.com/ivanvoyager/PhotinoX

Photino (upstream) vs PhotinoX (fork)

Aspect	Photino (upstream)	PhotinoX (fork)
Concept / architecture	Lightweight alternative to Electron: native window + system WebViews (Windows: WebView2, macOS: WKWebView, Linux: WebKitGTK).	Same architecture; fork focuses on keeping native binaries and packaging up‑to‑date.
Native layer	Photino.Native is the C++/Obj‑C++ wrapper around the OS web view.	Same layer and API surface; maintained builds and fixes in the fork.
Linux dependency (WebKitGTK)	Migrated to WebKitGTK 4.1 in early 2025 (makefile updated before the 4.0.22 release).	Uses WebKitGTK 4.1 consistently across CI/scripts.
Docs vs. reality (Linux)	Public Photino.Native docs still mention libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev and Azure Pipelines; the page wasn’t updated after the switch in code.	README/notes match current toolchains and 4.1 (no Azure Pipelines references).
Release activity	Latest public upstream release: 4.0.22 (Jan 23, 2025).	Fork publishes its own PhotinoX.Native package with current artifacts.
RID packaging	Uses standard runtimes/<rid>/native/ layout in NuGet packages.	Same standard RID layout; emphasis on keeping all target RIDs green in CI (win‑x64/arm64, linux‑x64/arm64, osx‑x64/arm64).
Positioning	Uses system web engines instead of bundling Chromium; smaller footprint vs. Electron.	Same positioning; focus on maintainable builds and predictable packaging cadence.

History (concise, factual)

Photino (upstream). Designed as a lightweight alternative to Electron: a native window hosts the OS’s built‑in web view (WebView2 on Windows, WKWebView on macOS, WebKitGTK on Linux), reducing both application size and memory footprint compared to Chromium‑bundled approaches.

Native core. The cross‑platform native layer is Photino.Native (C++/Objective‑C++), which wraps the system web view and exposes a minimal interface for higher‑level runtimes.

Linux dependency update. In January 2025 upstream switched Linux builds from WebKitGTK 4.0 to 4.1 and shortly released 4.0.22. The public documentation was not updated and still references libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev.

Current state. Upstream’s last public Photino.Native release is dated January 23, 2025 (v4.0.22). PhotinoX continues the idea with maintained native binaries and consistent RID packaging for Windows x64/ARM64, Linux x64/ARM64, and macOS x64/ARM64.

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Building (Windows / Linux / macOS)

The build system for PhotinoX.Native uses a combination of MSBuild (Windows)
and the included makefile (Linux, macOS).

Toolset note: The project targets MSVC v145 (Visual Studio 2026).
The examples below show how to build with v143 for Visual Studio 2022.
CI also uses v143 for compatibility with hosted runners.

CI: see

• .github/workflows/photinox-native-win.yml (build + pack + upload win-x64/win-ARM64)
• .github/workflows/build-native-unix.yml (build + pack + upload linux-x64/linux-arm64 and osx-x64/osx-arm64)

Windows

Requirements:

• Visual Studio 2026 (includes support for MSVC Toolset v145)
• Workload: Desktop Development with C++
• WebView2 Runtime (required by the Windows backend)
• Build configurations:
  • Release | x64
  • Release | ARM64

To build manually with MSVC Toolset v143:

msbuild .\Photino.Native\Photino.Native.vcxproj ^
  /p:Configuration=Release ^
  /p:Platform=x64 ^
  /p:PlatformToolset=v143

or for ARM64:

msbuild .\Photino.Native\Photino.Native.vcxproj ^
  /p:Configuration=Release ^
  /p:Platform=ARM64 ^
  /p:PlatformToolset=v143

Linux

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install \
    build-essential \
    libgtk-3-dev \
    libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
    libnotify-dev
make linux-x64       # or make linux-arm64

macOS

Requirements:

• Xcode 15+ (macOS 14/15/16 toolchains)
• clang with Objective‑C++ support
• WKWebView available system-wide

make mac-universal

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. Keep changes minimal and performance-conscious.

License

PhotinoX.Native is licensed under Apache‑2.0.