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Blog post author here. Since this post, there's now an option available for DRM-enabled Electron. However, it's only available through a single vendor, castLabs

Blog post author here. Since this post, there's now an option available for DRM-enabled Electron. However, it's only available through a single vendor, castLabs [0]. This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. All changes must make it upstream to show up in this fork. When asked whether they would eventually merge it upstream, they didn't provide a clear answer [1]. I also wrote a followup blog post with more detail on the current state of DRM options on the web [2]. Spoilers: it's not great. Regardless of all of these problems, I still hold an interest in browser development and have been working towards making Electron a viable option for building a browser [3]. [0] https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases [1] https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 [2] https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/the-end-of-indie-web-browsers/ https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/the-end-of-indie-web-br... [3] https://github.com/samuelmaddock/electron-browser-shell https://github.com/samuelmaddock/electron-browser-shell

NetOpWibby 6y ago
Thank you for creating a browser shell, maybe I can bring my browser project out of retirement. I just wish Chromium/Electron wasn't the only flavor (hence one of the main reasons I use Firefox). I had hoped Servo to be an additional option but alas.
- smaddock 6y ago
  I feel you regarding Chromium, I use Firefox as my daily browser. As for building my own browser, Electron/Chromium just seems like the most achievable option to empower individuals to create a browser.
- smt1 6y ago
  Right now, I think the focus has been on the GPU layering (see also: https://github.com/gfx-rs https://github.com/gfx-rs). Given the churn in the standards themselves (which is understandable since it requires buyin both from the hardware and software communities) I wish EdgeHTML had been open sourced.
heinrich5991 6y ago
The link [0] still seems to work and redirects to https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 for me.
- smaddock 6y ago
  Oh! That makes sense, they must have moved it from Issues to Discussions. Thanks, I'll update the parent comment.
speedgoose 6y ago
Did you consider to not get a license? You could perhaps download and execute Widevine pretending to be Firefox or Chrome. Is there advanced spying software in Widevine preventing to do that?
- smaddock 6y ago
  I'm honestly not sure about the legality of downloading from another distributor. I do know that distribution requires a license [0]. The risk doesn't seem worth it to use such a workaround for a serious project though. [0] https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:third_party/widevine/LICENSE;drc=09e60eb5a0d274e6b3f2ce7bc5978bd51ec3734b https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:t...
  - bonzini 6y ago
    Kodi downloads an entire ChromeOS image just to extract the widevine shared library, for example.
    - sli 6y ago
      Surely there's no way locking down distribution this much helps anything or anyone if working around the terms is simply some minor tedium that can be automated.
- zucker42 6y ago
  Potentially, there's a 5 year jail sentence for doing that[1]. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204
  - mvolfik 6y ago
    The thing is he isn't circumventing copyright protection. He is just allowing it to play in his browser too, no downloading etc. I'm a legal noob, but there always was that "fair interests" like making stuff work on different devices/OSs (youtube-dl is hiding behind this a bit), would it not apply here?
DelightOne 6y ago
> This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. It has the MIT license since 2 months ago. Did the closed-source part change or is that only about the non-npm code?
- smaddock 6y ago
  The code included in the GitHub repository downloads the closed source Electron binaries. Just for comparison, the full source would look something more like what's accessible here: https://github.com/electron/electron https://github.com/electron/electron
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - DelightOne 6y ago
    Thanks! I see it as unlikely that they will release the code, because castlabs also seem to have a business of auditing implementations for consideration for the widevine program: https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/wiki/EVS#3pl https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/wiki/EVS#3pl
jcelerier 6y ago
> This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. how does that work with the fact that Blink (LGPL) is part of electron ?

NetOpWibby 6y ago

Thank you for creating a browser shell, maybe I can bring my browser project out of retirement. I just wish Chromium/Electron wasn't the only flavor (hence one of the main reasons I use Firefox). I had hoped Servo to be an additional option but alas.

smaddock 6y ago
I feel you regarding Chromium, I use Firefox as my daily browser. As for building my own browser, Electron/Chromium just seems like the most achievable option to empower individuals to create a browser.
smt1 6y ago
Right now, I think the focus has been on the GPU layering (see also: https://github.com/gfx-rs https://github.com/gfx-rs). Given the churn in the standards themselves (which is understandable since it requires buyin both from the hardware and software communities) I wish EdgeHTML had been open sourced.

heinrich5991 6y ago

The link [0] still seems to work and redirects to https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/discussions/24 for me.

smaddock 6y ago
Oh! That makes sense, they must have moved it from Issues to Discussions. Thanks, I'll update the parent comment.

speedgoose 6y ago

Did you consider to not get a license? You could perhaps download and execute Widevine pretending to be Firefox or Chrome. Is there advanced spying software in Widevine preventing to do that?

smaddock 6y ago
I'm honestly not sure about the legality of downloading from another distributor. I do know that distribution requires a license [0]. The risk doesn't seem worth it to use such a workaround for a serious project though. [0] https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:third_party/widevine/LICENSE;drc=09e60eb5a0d274e6b3f2ce7bc5978bd51ec3734b https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:t...
- bonzini 6y ago
  Kodi downloads an entire ChromeOS image just to extract the widevine shared library, for example.
  - sli 6y ago
    Surely there's no way locking down distribution this much helps anything or anyone if working around the terms is simply some minor tedium that can be automated.
zucker42 6y ago
Potentially, there's a 5 year jail sentence for doing that[1]. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204
- mvolfik 6y ago
  The thing is he isn't circumventing copyright protection. He is just allowing it to play in his browser too, no downloading etc. I'm a legal noob, but there always was that "fair interests" like making stuff work on different devices/OSs (youtube-dl is hiding behind this a bit), would it not apply here?

DelightOne 6y ago

> This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. It has the MIT license since 2 months ago. Did the closed-source part change or is that only about the non-npm code?

smaddock 6y ago
The code included in the GitHub repository downloads the closed source Electron binaries. Just for comparison, the full source would look something more like what's accessible here: https://github.com/electron/electron https://github.com/electron/electron
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- DelightOne 6y ago
  Thanks! I see it as unlikely that they will release the code, because castlabs also seem to have a business of auditing implementations for consideration for the widevine program: https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/wiki/EVS#3pl https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/wiki/EVS#3pl

jcelerier 6y ago

> This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. how does that work with the fact that Blink (LGPL) is part of electron ?