## File: README.md [](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/releases) [](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/LICENSE.md) [](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/commits/main/) [](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChromiumBrowser/) # Thorium ## Chromium fork for linux named after [radioactive element No. 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium). Windows/MacOS/RasPi/Android/Other builds see below. - Always built with the latest [LTS](https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/12239814) version of [Chromium](https://www.chromium.org/). - Intended to behave like and have the featureset of Google Chrome, with differences/patches/enhancements listed below. - Compiler optimizations such as LTO, CFlag, LDFlag, LLVM Loop, and PGO, to make it FAST. :boom: In addition, we release builds tailored to different CPUs with different SIMD instructions, for even more execution speed. We offer [SSE3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE3), [SSE4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4), [AVX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Vector_Extensions), and [AVX2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Vector_Extensions#Advanced_Vector_Extensions_2) builds, named as such in the Releases. If you are unsure which one to download, see [About SIMD](./docs/ABOUT_RELEASES.md#about-simd). ### Other Builds              – Windows builds are here > [Thorium Win](https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Win) \  – MacOS (M1 and X64) builds are located at > [Thorium Mac](https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Mac) \  – Android (arm32 & arm64) builds are located at > [Thorium Android](https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Android) \  – Raspberry Pi builds are located at > [Thorium Raspi](https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Raspi) For the Pi 3B/3B+ and Pi 4/400. \  – Special builds are located at > [Thorium Special](https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Special) You can find 32 bit builds for old CPUs here. \  – Thorium Website with deb repo for auto-updating on Linux > https://thorium.rocks/ \  – __NEW__: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 builds at > [Thorium Legacy](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium-legacy) ### FEATURES & DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHROMIUM AND THORIUM > - Various compiler flags that improve performance and target [AVX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Vector_Extensions) CPU's (read [PATCHES.md](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/docs/PATCHES.md)) > - Experimental [MPEG-DASH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Adaptive_Streaming_over_HTTP) support. > - Includes [Widevine](https://www.widevine.com/), [All Codecs](https://tools.woolyss.com/html5-audio-video-tester/), and proper HEVC/H.265 support on Linux and Windows. > - [JPEG XL](https://jpeg.org/jpegxl/) Image File Format support restored and turned on by default. > - [FTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Transfer_Protocol) URL support restored and enabled by default. > - Restore the classic Chrome UI from before M124, instead of the new "Chrome Refresh 2023" UI. See the [Explainer](./docs/TH_24.md). Enable the flag `chrome://flags/#thorium-2024` to try it! > - Restore the classic "Download Shelf". Enable the flag `chrome://flags/#download-shelf` to use it. > - Patches from Debian including font rendering patch, VAAPI Patch, Audio Sandbox, GPU drivers, GTK auto dark mode, native notifications patch, title bar patch, and... the VDPAU Patch! (Rejoice Nvidia users) > - [DoH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS) (DNS over HTTPS) patches from Bromite. > - Enable [Do Not Track](https://allaboutdnt.com/) by default. > - Add and enable [Global Privacy Control](https://globalprivacycontrol.org/). > - Show full URLs including trailing slashes in address bar by default. > - Disable [FLOC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federated_Learning_of_Cohorts) and "[Privacy Sandbox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Sandbox)". > - Disable annoying Default Browser Infobar warning. > - Disable annoying IPH (In Product Help) promos. > - Adds [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/), [Brave Search](https://search.brave.com/), [Ecosia](https://www.ecosia.org/), [Ask.com](https://www.ask.com/), and [Yandex.com](https://yandex.com/) in US and other locales, along with the normal search engines. > - Always use the local NTP (New Tab Page) regardless of search engine. > - Fix icons when distilling page content in [Reader Mode](https://www.howtogeek.com/423643/how-to-use-google-chromes-hidden-reader-mode/). > - Enable new Menu UI when right clicking the Reload button. (Adds 'Normal Reload', 'Hard Reload', and 'Clear Cache and Hard Reload') > - Home button, Chrome Labs button, and Bookmarks bar shown by default. > - [Prefetch](https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/dns-prefetching/) settings updated to respect privacy. > - Patches for [GN](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/tools/gn/+/48062805e19b4697c5fbd926dc649c78b6aaa138/README.md) and [chrome_sandbox](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/docs/design/sandbox.md) when building. > - Remove the addition of the Chrome APT sources.list during installation. > - Various new flags either developed from scratch, or added from Ungoogled Chromium. See [PATCHES.md](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/docs/PATCHES.md) > - Enable Parallel Downloading by Default. > - Inclusion of [pak](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/tree/main/pak_src#readme) a utility for packing and unpacking the [*.pak](https://textslashplain.com/2022/05/03/chromium-internals-pak-files/) files in Thorium or any other Chromium based browser. > - Logo and Branding/Naming changed to the Thorium logo, Thorium name, and "Alex313031" being appended to "The Chromium Authors" in credits, etc. > - .desktop file includes useful cmdline flags that enable experimental or useful features. (See [PATCHES.md](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/docs/PATCHES.md)) > - Includes installer patches and files to include [ChromeDriver](https://chromedriver.chromium.org/home) and *thorium_shell* [(content_shell)](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/docs/testing/web_tests_in_content_shell.md), with a .desktop file being provided for thorium_shell (named thorium-shell.desktop and shows in desktop environments as Thorium Content Shell). These are also included in the Windows releases, but it doesn't make a shorcut, although a .png and .ico is in the install directory for you to make your own shortcut with an icon. You can also run content_shell with the command thorium-shell (custom wrapper for it, located in /usr/bin/). You can run ChromeDriver at /usr/bin/chromedriver or chromedriver.exe on Windows. Also, patches for abseil library and mini_installer when building with AVX on Windows. > - Right clicking the launcher after install gives three additional desktop actions, one to open thorium-shell, another to open in Safe Mode which disables any flags one has set in chrome://flags until the next launch, and lastly to open in Dark Mode which appends the --force-dark-mode flag.  + Other patches and useful chrome://flags flags too long to list here. ʘ‿ʘ - For more info, read the [PATCHES.md](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/docs/PATCHES.md) file. - Known bugs are in the [BUGS.md](https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/infra/BUGS.md) file. - A list of Chromium command line flags can be found at > https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches ## Building See > https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/blob/main/docs/BUILDING.md ## Debugging See > https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium/tree/main/infra/DEBUG#readme -------  − https://www.reddit.com/r/ChromiumBrowser/ is a subreddit I made for Thorium and general Thorium/Chromium discussion, https://thorium.rocks/ is the website I made for it, and https://alex313031.blogspot.com/ is a blog I made relating to Thorium/ThoriumOS. \  − I also build ChromiumOS (now called ThoriumOS) with Thorium, Codecs, Widevine, linux-firmware/modules, and extra packages at > https://github.com/Alex313031/ChromiumOS/  − Thanks to https://github.com/robrich999/ for some info and fixes that went into this project.\  − Thanks to https://github.com/midzer/ for support and helping with builds. \  − Also thanks to https://github.com/bromite/bromite, https://github.com/saiarcot895/chromium-ubuntu-build, https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium, https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium, and https://github.com/iridium-browser/iridium-browser for patch code. \  − The pak_src dir, and the binaries in *pack_src/bin* are credited to @freeer https://github.com/myfreeer/chrome-pak-customizer/ *Thanks for using Thorium!* --- ## File: docs/README.md ## Thorium Docs   Documentation about building Thorium, and related stuff like gn args and releases. __I've also made some pages on the thorium.rocks website relating to Thorium development.__ - There is a developer page [Here](https://thorium.rocks/dev), with links to different tools developers would find useful. - There is also the [documentation page](https://thorium.rocks/docs/), which has html copies of things in here as well as some things not in here. Recommended to use these instead. - *NOTE:* The .txt instructions are old, and only included for posterity, please use the .md instructions.