libwebkit2gtk-4.0 not available in Ubuntu 24 & Debian 13 repositories

[happybeing]

Describe the bug

The Tauri v1 pre-requisite libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev is not available in Ubuntu 24 repositories. This causes an error when installing the pre-requisites specified here, and when running cargo tauri dev on Ubuntu 24.

Note: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev is available but doesn't help with Tauri 1.

Reproduction

Run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev \
    build-essential \
    curl \
    wget \
    file \
    libssl-dev \
    libgtk-3-dev \
    libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
    librsvg2-dev

reports:

E: Unable to locate package libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev'

And cargo tauri dev:

The following warnings were emitted during compilation:

warning: [email protected]: 

error: failed to run custom build command for `javascriptcore-rs-sys v0.4.0`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/home/mrh/src/safe-browser/awe/src-tauri/target/debug/build/javascriptcore-rs-sys-855dc84908b0218c/build-script-build` (exit status: 1)
  --- stdout
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=JAVASCRIPTCOREGTK_4.0_NO_PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_PATH
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
  cargo:warning=
  pkg-config exited with status code 1
  > PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/mrh/.gvm/pkgsets/go1.15/global/overlay/lib/pkgconfig: PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS=1 pkg-config --libs --cflags javascriptcoregtk-4.0 javascriptcoregtk-4.0 >= 2.24

  The system library `javascriptcoregtk-4.0` required by crate `javascriptcore-rs-sys` was not found.
  The file `javascriptcoregtk-4.0.pc` needs to be installed and the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable must contain its parent directory.
  PKG_CONFIG_PATH contains the following:
      - /home/mrh/.gvm/pkgsets/go1.15/global/overlay/lib/pkgconfig
      - 

  HINT: you may need to install a package such as javascriptcoregtk-4.0, javascriptcoregtk-4.0-dev or javascriptcoregtk-4.0-devel.

warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

Workaround

I worked around this by adding the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main

Then doing:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev

IMPORTANT: it was recommended in this comment to undo the change to sources.list after installing to prevent problems with dependencies being deleted.

Expected behavior

no errors

Full tauri info output

[✘] Environment
    - OS: Ubuntu 24.4.0 X64
    ✘ webkit2gtk-4.0: not installed
      Visit https://tauri.app/v1/guides/getting-started/prerequisites to learn more about tauri prerequisites
    ✔ rsvg2: 2.58.0
    ✔ rustc: 1.78.0 (9b00956e5 2024-04-29)
    ✔ cargo: 1.78.0 (54d8815d0 2024-03-26)
    ✔ rustup: 1.27.0 (bbb9276d2 2024-03-08)
    ✔ Rust toolchain: stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (environment override by RUSTUP_TOOLCHAIN)
    - node: 22.1.0
    - yarn: 1.22.5
    - npm: 10.7.0

[-] Packages
    - tauri [RUST]: 1.6.1
    - tauri-build [RUST]: 1.5.1
    - wry [RUST]: 0.24.7
    - tao [RUST]: 0.16.8
    - tauri-cli [RUST]: 1.5.11
    - @tauri-apps/api [NPM]: 1.5.3 (outdated, latest: 1.5.4)
    - @tauri-apps/cli [NPM]: 1.5.11 (outdated, latest: 1.5.12)

[-] App
    - build-type: bundle
    - CSP: unset
    - distDir: ../build
    - devPath: http://localhost:5173/
    - framework: Svelte
    - bundler: Vite

Stack trace

No response

Additional context

No response

[piyunior]

Have you already solved this bug?

[NaCodermer]

see Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: error while loading shared libraries: libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

add this as it shows:
jammy
jammy-security

then

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev

npm run tauri dev

for my development env, this woks

[NaCodermer]

see Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: error while loading shared libraries: libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

add this as it shows: jammy jammy-security

then

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev

npm run tauri dev

for my development env, this woks

for end user, use sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0 should be ok after add jammy and jammy-security into /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

[NaCodermer]

see Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: error while loading shared libraries: libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources
add this as it shows: jammy jammy-security
then

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev

npm run tauri dev

for my development env, this woks

for end user, use sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0 should be ok after add jammy and jammy-security into /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

This is a bit dirty. It is recommended to restore /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources to its original state after installing libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev.

Otherwise there will be weird errors, this is the one I'm currently experiencing:

on kububtu,when Double-click the deb package, will install the deb using the QApt graphical interface by default (i.e. qapt-deb-installer)

Double-click google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb 125.0.6422.112. It will originally prompt a dependency unsatisfied error in the QApt interface, but it can actually be installed using apt or dpkg

after changing /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources and apt update

Double-clicking google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb 125.0.6422.112 does not prompt a dependency not satisfied error in the QApt interface, but displays that many dependencies need to be deleted.

These dependencies are necessary for the system, including the desktop environment, desktop keyboard and mouse input devices, input methods, etc. Many contents and some installed software will be deleted.

According to actual test, using apt to install this deb will automatically change to use the package in the server without causing problems.
Therefore the bug should be caused by the QApt graphical interface installation (i.e. qapt-deb-installer)

In addition, dpkg -i has not been tested. I don’t know whether apt install -f is required and whether it will cause problems.

[adiantek]

Your workaround doesn't work:

The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libdbus-glib-1-dev : Depends: libdbus-glib-1-2 (= 0.112-3) but 0.112-3build2 is to be installed
 librsvg2-dev : Depends: librsvg2-2 (= 2.54.5+dfsg-1ubuntu2.1) but 2.58.0+dfsg-1build1 is to be installed
                Depends: librsvg2-common (= 2.54.5+dfsg-1ubuntu2.1) but 2.58.0+dfsg-1build1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I tested also on Kali and there is a conflict with libjpegturbo0. So now, it is unable to use tauri on latest Ubuntu LTS / Kali

[happybeing]

The workaround in the OP worked on a clean Ubuntu 24.04.

[NaCodermer]

The workaround in the OP worked on a clean Ubuntu 24.04.

cat /etc/apt/sources.list # on kubuntu24.04, it saids:
# Ubuntu sources have moved to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

might who “Packaging these dependencies from ubuntu22.04 for installation on ubuntu24.04, and distinguishing between non-dev and dev versions “ can solve this problem?

[arsinclair]

Not functional on Debian Testing (Trixie) / Unstable (sid), the package is not added to the repositories.

Installing libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev from Stable is not possible: it breaks the majority of already installed packages.

It's pretty much a show-stopper, there's no workaround atm.

[tranxuanthang]

I'm thinking of switching my project to Tauri 2.0 beta right now so that it uses webkit2gtk-4.1, and compatible with Ubuntu 24.04+, but I'm still not sure if it is worth it.

[happybeing]

That will depend on the value of switching to you.

I've switched because I want to try some the new features and it seems good but I'm aware some issues I have could be with v2 beta, especially as I'm pushing she boundaries. But finding issues is the point of a beta, and my using it. No better time to get things fixed fast!

My app is though a demo not production so it won't be a disaster if I hit bugs, but so far it seems stable. The docs are a bit patchy and fluid, but the support I've had more than make up for that.

[ReactorScram]

I don't see 4.1 in my Ubuntu 20.04 VM. Does that mean it's not possible for the same binary to support both 20.04 and 24.04?

I'm trying to think of workarounds I could do... maybe a shim script that launches either a 4.0-linked binary or a 4.1-linked binary after probing for libraries? It might work with Tauri's deb bundler, with some creativity, or I could hack around it.

But if that means simultaneously building for both Tauri 1.x and 2.x it would be too much effort. Unless 2.x has a compromise between deb and AppImage where I can install systemd services and have post-install and pre-remove scripts, but also bundle WebKit.

[happybeing]

@ReactorScram I built on Ubuntu 24 after using the fix from the OP and in very early testing people found that the following worked:

• .deb on Ubuntu 22.04 after 'sudo apt --fix-broken install`
• .deb on Ubuntu 22.04 (no extras)
• .deb on Ubuntu 23.04 (no tweaks) 🥳
• .rpm converted to .deb running on Mint 🎉 (after turning the user off and on again 😆)

The following did not work:

• AppImage on Ubuntu 23.04 (user reported "nothing happens")

[FabianLars]

If you built your app on 24.04 none of what you wrote is supposed to actually work due to glib not being backword compatible like this (basically the reason for "build on the oldest system you want to support"), so i'd be very careful with that approach.

[happybeing]

@FabianLars that's exactly what I expected yet those are the facts! 🤷‍♂️

... so far.

[ahqsoftwares]

honestly yes. but if there is need from someone and Tauri team wants to support it; all good! I wanted to make that suggestion! 👍

Btw if you also distribute appimages, you're mostly immune to this issue. AppImages would also work on distroes where webkitgtk 4.1 is unavailable

[mdeniz63]

I have kali linux latest upgrade Debian 14 version.
I have tried to install pulsesecure vpn client software but dependencies not included in debian 14 repo.
sudo dpkg -i pulsesecure_22.7.R4_amd64.deb
Unsatisfied dependencies:
libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37

Solution I added debian 12 repo firs:
echo "deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian bookworm main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-bookworm-main.list
sudo apt-get update;
sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37
sudo dpkg -i pulsesecure_22.7.R4_amd64.deb

[ahqsoftwares]

@mdeniz63 The solution is really like a band aid I would say because you have to convince users to use an older repository.

[janrabcan]

Workaround which worked for me

OS: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS x86_64
Kernel: 6.8.0-51-generic

1. open file /etc/apt/sources.list
2. insert new line deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main universe
3. sudo apt update
4. sudo apt upgrade
5. sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev
6. SUGGESTION remove/comment inserted line in /etc/apt/sources.list

[Anon93x]

100% Working!!!!

[wskel]

Here's the Ubuntu workaround as a short script:

#!/bin/bash

set -e

SOURCEFILE=$(mktemp -u /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jammy-webkit.XXXXXX.sources)

cleanup() {
    echo "Cleaning up..."
    sudo rm -f "$SOURCEFILE"
    sudo apt update
}

trap cleanup EXIT

echo "Creating temporary jammy repository source..."
sudo tee "$SOURCEFILE" > /dev/null << 'EOF'
Types: deb
URIs: http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
Suites: jammy
Components: main universe
Enabled: yes
EOF

echo "Updating package lists..."
sudo apt update

echo "Installing libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev..."
if ! sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev; then
    echo "Failed to install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev"
    exit 1
fi

echo "Success: libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev is installed."

[Sebastian-Buitrag0]

If you're having trouble with the public key in Ubuntu Jammy (22.04), I recommend checking out this link where a detailed solution is provided:
Solution to the public key issue.

There, you'll find clear steps to resolve the public key error. I hope it helps!

Cheers.

[akwala]

Workaround

I worked around this by adding the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main

Then doing:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev

IMPORTANT: it was recommended in this comment to undo the change to sources.list after installing to prevent problems with dependencies being deleted.

This reports missing dependencies in Ubuntu 24.04.2:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev : Depends: libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 (= 2.36.0-2ubuntu1) but 2.48.0-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 is to be installed
                         Depends: gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 (= 2.36.0-2ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
                         Depends: libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-dev (= 2.36.0-2ubuntu1) but 2.48.0-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

(This affects other applications too. I came to this thread looking for a fix for this issue with typecatcher.)

[kero990]

honestly yes. but if there is need from someone and Tauri team wants to support it; all good! I wanted to make that suggestion! 👍

Btw if you also distribute appimages, you're mostly immune to this issue. AppImages would also work on distroes where webkitgtk 4.1 is unavailable

I'm skeptical because the biggest obstacle preventing Linux from running below the development environment isn't any particular library, but rather the GLIBC and GLIBCXX versions. If you compile a Tauri V2 AppImage on Ubuntu 24 and try to run it on Ubuntu 20, I'm certain you'll definitely encounter an error about GLIBC not meeting 2.35 requirement.

Personally, I even wanted to run Tauri V2 programs on Debian 10. To achieve this, I attempted to compile libwebkit2gtk 4.1. After spending tremendous effort successfully compiling versions 2.36-2.38, I discovered that Tauri V2 enforces a minimum requirement of 2.40. Yes, Although WebKit2GTK could be compiled with API version 4.1 starting from its 2.4 release, Tauri only supports versions above 2.40 - and this crucial information doesn't appear in any documentation or instructions. (The base library port version in Ubuntu-port(arm64 etc..)22 is 2.36-2.38, with only the update repository providing the full 2.48 version.)"

In fact, I believe the correct solution is backward compatibility. Many open-source software on Linux follow this approach - they can work with either SDL2 or SDL3, QT5 or QT6. If Tauri implemented this compatibility feature, for application developers it would probably just be a matter of an npm parameter or a CMake switch, something like:
npm run tauri build --usewebkit4.1
or
CMAKE_USE_WEBGTK4.1=ON

[FabianLars]

I'm skeptical because the biggest obstacle preventing Linux from running below the development environment isn't any particular library, but rather the GLIBC and GLIBCXX versions. If you compile a Tauri V2 AppImage on Ubuntu 24 and try to run it on Ubuntu 20, I'm certain you'll definitely encounter an error about GLIBC not meeting 2.35 requirement.

#12491

Tauri only supports versions above 2.40 - and this crucial information doesn't appear in any documentation or instructions.

True true, that was changed at some point to make the new IPC (and iirc some other stuff) work properly and we didn't have in mind that distro repos make non-latest versions unavailable.

---

I think it's fair enough to say that we're at a point where this issue is open simply for visibility and will not be properly "fixed". We'll also have to switch to gtk4 in v3 (keeping min versions the same) which would make your suggestion even harder (not something the current team can handle, nor something that imo is worth considering how bad (and badly supported) webkitgtk 4.0 and to a degree 4.1 is compared to 6.0).