This repo contains the complete source code for the Windscribe 2.0 app. This includes installer, service/helper, and GUI.

• Windows 10/11.
• Install git. When installing Git, you can stick with all the default options presented to you by the installer.
• Clone the repository.
• Install Visual Studio Community Edition 2019 (run install_vs.bat from /tools/prepare_build_environment/windows).
• Install Python 3 via either the Microsoft Store or from here. Minimum tested version is 3.6.8.
• Install CMake v3.28.x or newer from here. The project will build with older versions of CMake, but you may encounter some warnings.
• Install Ninja v1.10.2 from here
• Install vcpkg from [here]((https://vcpkg.io/en/getting-started.html)
  • Create a VCPKG_ROOT environment variable referencing the full path to your vcpkg install folder.
  • Go to the vcpkg directory and git checkout a664e41ee50b61adcc90a44a761eca139a4b7dd7~, since versions beyond this will fail to build with the current baseline.
  • Do the bootstrap step after the above command.
• Verify the following entries are in your System PATH environment variable. If they are not, add them to the System PATH environment variable and reboot.
  • C:\Program Files\Git\cmd
  • C:\[folder containing ninja.exe]
  • C:\[folder containing cmake.exe]
• Verify that python3 is available in your System PATH environment variable.
  • If you installed Python from the Microsoft Store, enable the python3.exe execution alias in System Settings Manage App Execution Aliases.
  • If you installed Python from python.org, you can mklink /path/to/your/python3.exe /path/to/your/python.exe

• You will have to go to Manage App Execution Aliases in System Settings and disable app installer for python.exe and python3.exe

  python3 -m pip install -r tools/requirements.txt

In case of pyyaml building issue on Windows, execute the following:

pip install "cython<3.0.0" && pip install --no-build-isolation pyyaml==6.0
pip install setuptools wheel

• Copy your PFX code signing file to installer/windows/signing/code_signing.pfx.
• Edit (create) tools/notarize.yml and add the following line:

  windows-signing-cert-password: password-for-code-signing-pfx

• Edit client/common/utils/executable_signature/executable_signature_defs.h and set the WINDOWS_CERT_SUBJECT_NAME entry to match your certficate's name of signer field.

Go to subfolder tools/deps and run the following scripts in order. Append --arm64 to the command to build a library for Windows arm64. Libraries will be placed in build-libs[-arm64].

install_qt
install_openvpn_dco
install_wintun
install_wireguard
install_wstunnel

Go to subfolder tools and run build_all. Assuming all goes well with the build, the installer will be placed in build-exe. You can run build_all --sign --use-local-secrets for a code-signed build, using the certificate from the Install signing certificate section above, which will perform run-time signature verification checks on the executables. Note that an unsigned build must be installed on your PC if you intend to debug the project. Append --arm64 to the command to build for Windows arm64.

See build_all --help for other build options.

• Client app, location pings and installer helper: C:/Users/<user_name>/AppData/Local/Windscribe/Windscribe2
• Service: <Windscribe_installation_path>/windscribeservice.log
• Installer: <Windscribe_installation_path>/log_installer.txt
• Uninstaller: system Debug View
• <Windscribe_installation_path> defaults to C:/Program Files/Windscribe

• macOS Big Sur or newer, but preferably at least Monterey.
• Install Xcode 14.2 (If on MacOS 11 Big Sur, you may use Xcode 13.2.1, but this is deprecated and not maintained going forward)
  • Xcode 15 is not currently supported. You may install a copy of Xcode 14.2 and use sudo xcode-select --switch /path/to/your/xcode to have both Xcode 13/14 and 15 simultaneously.
  • You must agree to the Xcode license (sudo xcodebuild -license)
  • You may need to run xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch or the Xcode GUI once if CMake complains that it can't find the compiler when building using the Xcode generator.
  • Note: these downloads will require you to first login to your Apple account.
    • https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/Developer_Tools/Xcode_14.2/Xcode_14.2.xip
• Install brew (brew.sh)

  /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

• Install git. This step is optional, as git is bundled with Xcode.

  brew install git

• Install Auto-Tools and 7-Zip:

  brew install libtool
  brew install automake
  brew install p7zip

• Install Python 3:
  • Minimum tested version is Python 3.6.8. 3.12.0 seems to have some issues with the python deps, so 3.11.6 is the latest recommended version. You may do this however you like, however pyenv is recommended:

  brew install pyenv
  echo 'if command -v pyenv 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then eval "$(pyenv init --path)"; fi"' >> ~/.zshrc
  pyenv install 3.11.6
  pyenv global 3.11.6

• Install dmgbuild:

  python3 -m pip install dmgbuild

• Install CMake v3.28.x or newer from here and make sure that the cmake executable is in the path and available for execution. The project will build with older versions of CMake, but you may encounter some warnings.
• Install vcpkg from here
  • Create a VCPKG_ROOT environment variable referencing the full path to your vcpkg install folder.
  • Go to the vcpkg directory and git checkout a664e41ee50b61adcc90a44a761eca139a4b7dd7~, since versions beyond this will fail to build with the current baseline.
  • Do the bootstrap step after the above command.
• Clone the repository.
• Install python deps:

  python3 -m pip install -r tools/requirements.txt

• Install golang (minimum version 1.18): follow instructions from https://go.dev/doc/install

• Install your Developer ID Application signing certificate from your Apple Developer account in Keychain Access.
• Edit client/common/utils/executable_signature/executable_signature_defs.h and set the MACOS_CERT_DEVELOPER_ID entry to match your Developer ID Application signing certificate.

Go to subfolder tools/deps and run the following scripts in order. Libraries will be placed in build-libs.

install_qt
install_wireguard
install_wstunnel

Go to subfolder tools and run build_all. Assuming all goes well with the build, the installer will be placed in build-exe.

See build_all --help for other build options.

• If you make any changes to the helper source code backend/mac/helper/src, you must increase the CFBundleVersion in backend/mac/helper/src/helper-info.plist. The installer only updates the helper if this bundle version number has changed.
• The IKEv2 protocol will only function in builds produced by Windscribe. Its implementation on macOS utilizes the NEVPNManager API, which requires the 'Personal VPN' entitlement (com.apple.developer.networking.vpn.api) and an embedded provisioning profile file. If you wish to enable IKEv2 functionality, you will have to create an embedded provisioning file in your Apple Developer account and use it in the client project (Search for embedded.provisionprofile in client/CMakeLists.txt for details on where to place the embedded provisioning profile).

• Client app and location pings: /Users/<user_name>/Library/Application Support/Windscribe/Windscribe2
• Installer: /Users/<user_name>/Library/Application Support/Windscribe/Windscribe/log_installer.txt
• Helper: /Library/Logs/com.windscribe.helper.macos/helper_log.txt

The repository contains Dockerfile to simplify building process. Skip all the other sections of this manual if you decide to use Docker.

• Generate builder image:

  sudo docker build -t ws-builder .

• Install vcpkg:

  sudo docker run --rm -v .:/w ws-builder /bin/bash -c "git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git && ./vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.sh --disableMetrics"

• Build all the dependencies:

  for i in qt wireguard wstunnel; do sudo docker run --rm -v .:/w ws-builder /bin/bash -c "cd /w/tools/deps/ && ./install_$i"; done

• Build the application:

  sudo docker run --rm -v .:/w ws-builder /bin/bash -c "export VCPKG_ROOT=/w/vcpkg  && cd /w/tools/ && ./build_all"

Build process tested on Ubuntu 20.04/ZorinOS 16 (gcc 9.3.0).

• Install build requirements:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install build-essential git curl patchelf libpam0g-dev software-properties-common libgl1-mesa-dev fakeroot python3-pip zip unzip libnl-genl-3-dev pkg-config libcap-ng-dev wget autoconf libtool libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libx11-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-dev libxi-dev libxrender-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-glx0-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-sync-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-render-util0-dev libxcb-util-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libwayland-dev

  # install CMake 3.28.x or newer (default for Ubuntu 20.04 is 3.16.3).
  # Make sure that the cmake executable is in the path and available for execution.
  sudo snap install cmake --classic

• Install vcpkg from here
  • Create a VCPKG_ROOT environment variable referencing the full path to your vcpkg install folder.
  • Go to the vcpkg directory and git checkout a664e41ee50b61adcc90a44a761eca139a4b7dd7~, since versions beyond this will fail to build with the current baseline.
  • Do the bootstrap step after the above command.
• Install golang (minimum version 1.18): follow instructions from https://go.dev/doc/install
• Clone the repository.
• Install python deps:

  python3 -m pip install -r tools/requirements.txt

Go to subfolder tools/deps and run the following scripts in order. Libraries will be placed in build-libs. When building Qt6, you may encounter an error relating to check_for_ulimit. If so, downgrade to CMake version 3.24.

install_qt
install_wireguard
install_wstunnel

Go to subfolder tools and run build_all. Assuming all goes well with the build, the installer will be placed in build-exe.

See build_all --help for other build options.

The application installs to /opt/windscribe.

• Client app and location pings: ~/.local/share/Windscribe/Windscribe2
• Helper: /opt/windscribe/helper_log.txt

Please see our Contributing Guidelines

The Windscribe Desktop Client app License