WebRTC support on Linux

[ken0x0a]

I tested only on macOS.
It might already work on other platforms.

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I want to use WebRTC

Describe the solution you'd like
I don't have any preference.
I just want to use WebRTC.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• With system webbrowser (doesn't work on macOS)

  Notification.requestPermission() // => undefined
  navigator.mediaDevices // => undefined

• Using another process
  I don't know any library to use WebRTC with VideoUI on desktop 😭

Additional context

It seems, the cause of this issue is this https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/88052

And, the following might solve this issue on macOS (not tested).
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=208667#c17

---

There are similar issues in other repositories.

• [Question] Permissions branchseer/DeskGap#26 (comment)
  (someone mentioned "WkWebView's getUserMedia functionality is disabled, when embedded")
• Webrtc Camera and Audio not available on MacOS Webview webview/webview#368

[nothingismagick]

So i found these additions to the Info.plist

	<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
	<string>$(PRODUCT_NAME) Requires camera access in order to capture and transmit video</string>
	<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
	<string>$(PRODUCT_NAME) Requires microphone access in order to capture and transmit audio</string>

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/information_property_list/nscamerausagedescription?language=objc
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/information_property_list/nsmicrophoneusagedescription?language=objc

@rajivshah3

[nothingismagick]

regarding notifications @ken0x0a - we merged a cross-platform notification API: tauri-apps/tauri#505

It will land in the next release.

[nothingismagick]

I am wondering if we will have to roll our own:
libp2p/rust-libp2p#1066

[nothingismagick]

Well, I believe that our new custom protocol allows for the secure context on all platforms. Still, we have not proven this to work, so am moving this issue over to WRY for tracking there.

[wusyong]

Maybe this also belongs to #81?

[nklayman]

WebRTC also is not supported by Webkit2GTK. It technically doesn't require permissions to work, but it's most commonly used with a webcam/mic input and those require permissions.

[lemarier]

macOS update

The runtime requires some permissions. Adding an embed PLIST to the runtime fixed the issue for me.

You can give it a try with embed_plist

Sample PLIST

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
	<string>Request camera access for WebRTC</string>
	<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
	<string>Request microphone access for WebRTC</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Test app

#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
embed_plist::embed_info_plist!("Info.plist");

fn main() -> wry::Result<()> {
  use wry::{
    application::{
      event::{Event, StartCause, WindowEvent},
      event_loop::{ControlFlow, EventLoop},
      window::WindowBuilder,
    },
    webview::WebViewBuilder,
  };

  let event_loop = EventLoop::new();
  let window = WindowBuilder::new()
    .with_title("Hello World")
    .build(&event_loop)
    .unwrap();
  let _webview = WebViewBuilder::new(window)
    .unwrap()
    .with_url("https://test.webrtc.org/")?
    .build()?;

  event_loop.run(move |event, _, control_flow| {
    *control_flow = ControlFlow::Poll;

    match event {
      Event::NewEvents(StartCause::Init) => println!("Wry application started!"),
      Event::WindowEvent {
        event: WindowEvent::CloseRequested,
        ..
      } => *control_flow = ControlFlow::Exit,
      _ => (),
    }
  });
}

Also, seems to works only over HTTPS, so doesn't work for custom protocol, so I think the wry job is pretty much done, only require the custom protocol support who I think should be moved to another issue.

Tauri should give the possibility to inject a PLIST at runtime for development. For bundled app, we already generate a plist, so maybe we should add it as a configuration object to request microphone, webcam access, so we could inject it automatically.

Edit: Looks like I've been able to get custom protocol to work. We need to make sure to use the host localhost in our custom protocol. So for example, instead of using wry:// as the entry point, we should use wry://localhost/, this way content, is processed as HTTPS.

[wusyong]

It seems webkitgtk doesn't support webrtc.
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=194805

[wusyong]

Found a bug tracker states webkitgtk does has webrtc support.
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196222

I'll try to build it this night.

[nothingismagick]

Regarding boring-ssl and its gpl nature, we aren't shipping it (just linking) so it will not impact us.

[wusyong]

yeah I think you are right. We cannot distribute it for non-GPL apps because of it.
Below is the status report from WPE but should hold the same to WebkitGtk
https://wpewebkit.org/about/faq.html#what%E2%80%99s-the-status-regarding-webrtc%3F

[VarLad]

https://webrtc.rs/ seems usable now
Can that be somehow used for Tauri?

[YuilTripathee]

Is there any solution connecting other languages implementation like SWIG?
Seems like a workaround (but for temporary use might be usable)

[togetherwithasteria]

Hiiii ^^

Can we rename this issue to "WebRTC support on Unices"?

It seems this issue is also talking about MacOS (which isn't Linux of course), soo it'll be great for clarity!!!

[FabianLars]

@lovelyyfiaaa Heyy :)
webrtc does work on macos, that's why the issue was renamed from WebRTC support to WebRTC support on Linux a few messages above (actually it was fixed a little bit before it was renamed)

[FabianLars]

My last comment is still accurate. We're still waiting for the next webkigtk update which hopefully has more complete webrtc support. (they have a ~6 month release schedule to always get a new release out before a new ubuntu version in case you're wondering)

[DougAnderson444]

I am wondering if we will have to roll our own: libp2p/rust-libp2p#1066

WebRTC was merged into libp2p (for server-to-browser for now, which should "serve" Tauri's needs 😆) with this PR:

libp2p/rust-libp2p#2622 (Merged 🎉)

[luke-goddard]

Webkitgtk release note is a bit cryptic, can someone more informed than me confirm if WebRTC is supported with this release?
WebKitGTK 2.38.4 released! - Fix the build with GStreamer-based WebRTC enabled.

[FabianLars]

Nope, it's hidden behind a (experimental?) build-time flag that no distro enabled so far, which means we have to wait for it to be stable and enabled by default on the webkitgtk side.

[edualb]

@FabianLars do you have any update about this topic? Is there anything we (as community) can help with it?

[FabianLars]

do you have any update about this topic?

Nothing specific, afaik it's making steady progress but i didn't see any hints about it being enabled by default in 2.42 yet (or any kind of ETAs for that matter).

Is there anything we (as community) can help with it?

People with experience in low-level stuff that may know a thing or two about anything that may help the webkitgtk project (whatever that would be) could reach out to the webkitgtk devs and see if they need any help.
Apart from that we can only really be patient.

[thenbe]

Instructions for how to enable webRTC on nixOS can be found in this thread. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but it works.

[JIGutierrez]

Have there been any workarounds discovered for this, specifically around P2P? I've been trying to use simple-peer on a Linux build, and haven't had any success with injecting webRTC packages, and I'd like to avoid changing protocols if possible...

Fingers crossed 🤞🏽

[DougAnderson444]

@JIGutierrez for my p2p tauri apps I use the WebRTC transport built into rust-libp2p

[JIGutierrez]

@JIGutierrez for my p2p tauri apps I use the WebRTC transport built into rust-libp2p

Right, but as far as I'm aware (new to Tauri and Rust) there's no way of using that JS-Side unless you create bindings for it, right?

[DougAnderson444]

What do you want to do exactly? Control your Rust WebRTC node from the JavaScript front end of Tauri? Relay Rust-Tauri WebRTC messages to the JS front end? Communicate with other WebRTC nodes (other people) from the JS front end of Tauri?

[JIGutierrez]

What do you want to do exactly? Control your Rust WebRTC node from the JavaScript front end of Tauri? Relay Rust-Tauri WebRTC messages to the JS front end? Communicate with other WebRTC nodes (other people) from the JS front end of Tauri?

I'd like to use the js library simple-peer, which uses the browser's WebRTC API, which is not in webgtk2 on Linux. You can optionally supply a custom webRTC implementation, but the only ones available are for Node and don't work on Tauri (as far as I've tried). I was considering compiling webrtc-rs to webassembly (haven't tried to know if it's compatible), but that does seem like overkill.

[matthme]

You can indeed use simple-peer in the JavaScript front-end of your Tauri app for the browser client. That's no problem.

I think this is in fact exactly the problem this whole github issue is about, that this is not possible on Linux. I am no world-class systems builder however, so I might be dissecting the problem space along the wrong axes...

[bra1n]

The webkit devs compiled an entry in their FAQ for when WebRTC support arrives in Webkit and it links to this issue. So it seems like there is still some way to go before full WebRTC support arrives for Webkit and with that for Tauri on Linux.

[nyabinary]

So what the status with this and Tauri v2

[FabianLars]

Still the same. Also, it's not coupled to the Tauri version (if we ignore tauri-apps/tauri#9662).