Length::dp no longer collapses to absolute pixels at construction: the design value travels in a new LengthBase::Dp variant and the density multiplication happens when the length is resolved. Previously dp( n ) baked in whatever density() returned at view-build time, so correctness across output changes depended on the view being rebuilt after set_density and in that order; now a density change is picked up by the very next paint with no reconstruction. Length::resolve keeps its signature (process density), and the new Length::resolve_with_density takes an explicit factor. dp becomes const in the bargain. Density also becomes overridable per canvas, the first step towards surface-local responsive state. SoftwareCanvas and GlesCanvas carry a density: Option<f32> analogous to the layout_viewport introduced for sub-canvas fluid resolution: None means "use the process global", Canvas::set_density pins a local factor, and sub-canvases inherit it. All canvas-routed resolution honours it — geom_px / font_px for stock-widget design pixels, and the new Canvas::resolve_geom / resolve_font for explicit Length values, which every widget now uses in place of the raw l.resolve( canvas.viewport_layout(), EM ) pattern (row, column, wrap_grid, spacer, container, separator, button, text, rich_text, text_edit, list_item, vslider, image, and the container draw path). Overlay sizing keeps resolving against the main surface with the global density, which is what it describes. New tests cover explicit-density resolution, resolution-time application, the local-over-global override and sub-canvas inheritance. The GLES image texture cache is now bounded. It was content-keyed but unbounded and never evicted, so a stream of distinct buffers — a photo carousel, video thumbnails — grew GPU memory for the lifetime of the canvas. The cache now tracks an estimated byte total (RGBA8, w × h × 4) against a 32 MiB budget and evicts least-recently-drawn textures on insert; the most recent entry is never evicted, so a single texture larger than the whole budget still draws and simply owns the cache until replaced. Drop-time cleanup is unchanged: drain deletes whatever the map holds. CI gains a Clippy step (workspace, all targets, test-support, -D warnings) sharing the build cache of the test job, with make clippy mirroring the invocation locally and CONTRIBUTING listing it. Run make clippy locally before pushing the first time — the gate has not seen the tree yet and pre-existing lints will fail CI until addressed. docs/backends.md formalises the software/GLES capability matrix that was previously scattered across per-method rustdoc: parity set (fills, strokes, text, images, paths, path clips), graceful degradations on software (flat-fill gradients, no shadows, no backdrop blur, hard bottom edge), GPU-only features (external textures), the shared Oklab-fallback limitation, and the cross-backend blit panic. Linked from README, onboarding and architecture's known-gaps list, which now states the parity gaps explicitly. The dp/density prose in architecture.md, lib.rs and the Length rustdoc is updated for resolution-time semantics and the per-canvas override.
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Contributing to ltk
Thanks for considering a contribution. This document covers the practical mechanics: how to set up your environment, how to run tests, what shape a patch should take, and where to send it.
For background on the toolkit itself, read
docs/onboarding.md and
docs/architecture.md first.
Reporting bugs and proposing features
Open an issue on the project repository before sending a non-trivial
patch. We want to align on scope before you spend time on an
implementation. For security-relevant issues see
SECURITY.md — those should not go through the public
issue tracker.
When reporting a bug, include:
- the
ltkversion (commit hash if you built from source), - the Rust toolchain (
rustc --version), - the compositor and OS,
- a minimal reproducer (Rust source preferred over screenshots),
- whether the issue happens on both the GLES and the software backend
(set
LTK_FORCE_SOFTWARE=1to force software).
Building and testing
The project requires the Rust toolchain shipped with Debian stable (currently 1.85). On Debian / Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install \
libwayland-dev libegl-dev libxkbcommon-dev pkg-config
git clone <repo>
cd ltk
cargo build
cargo test --features test-support
Tests require the test-support feature: the test_support module is
feature-gated in src/lib.rs, and the code under tests/ and
benches/ imports it, so a bare cargo test fails to compile.
The Makefile wraps the common targets:
make all # cargo build --release
make test # cargo test --features test-support
make doctest-md # typecheck the Rust snippets in docs/*.md
make stylecheck # mechanical style checks (tabs, attribute spacing)
make clippy # semantic lints, warnings as errors (mirrors CI)
make audit # cargo audit (installs cargo-audit on first run)
make doc # cargo doc --no-deps
make examples # run every example under examples/ in turn
make clean # runs dh_clean, so it needs debhelper installed
Run make doctest-md after editing any file under docs/ — it feeds
each markdown file to rustdoc --test to catch API drift in the
snippets.
Running the examples requires a Wayland session and the default theme on disk:
export LTK_THEMES_DIR="$PWD/themes"
cargo run --example showcase
Code style
ltk uses a custom Modified Allman style. rustfmt's default
settings do not match it; do not run cargo fmt. The full rules live
in code_style_guide.md, but the headline points
are:
- tabs for indentation (never spaces),
- opening
{on its own new line forfn,impl,struct,enum,mod,if,for,while,match,loop, } else {and} else if … {on the same line as the closing brace (compact else),- spaces inside non-empty parentheses:
fn foo( x: i32 ),bar( arg ),Some( x ),Ok( v ), - spaces inside non-empty attribute brackets:
#[ derive( Clone, Debug ) ], - no spaces inside
<>generics:Vec<String>,Option<i32>, - comments in English — never another language.
Match the surrounding code when in doubt.
Patch shape
- Keep changes focused: one logical change per pull request. A bug fix and a refactor go in separate PRs.
- Add tests. The repository has ~680 tests covering the existing
surface, and a contribution that adds behaviour without test
coverage will get review pushback. See
tests/for examples of integration tests viaUiSurface, and the inline#[cfg(test)] mod testsblocks undersrc/for unit tests. - Document new public API. Every
pubitem exported from the crate root is expected to have a///rustdoc comment with at minimum a one-paragraph description and an example. Module-level//!comments are required for new submodules. - Don't break the public API surface without coordinating. Until the
crate hits
1.0, breaking changes go in minor versions (0.x.0 → 0.(x+1).0); patch versions (0.x.y → 0.x.(y+1)) keep source compatibility. - Give user-visible changes a
CHANGELOG.mdentry under[Unreleased]. - Run
cargo test --features test-supportandmake auditbefore sending. CI will run them again, but it is faster for both of us if your local run is clean.
Architectural decisions worth knowing
A few patterns recur across the codebase:
- Builder methods consume
self(pub fn padding( mut self, p: impl Into<Length> ) -> Self). Chaining works because every builder returnsSelf. Don't introduce setters that take&mut self. - Layouts and widgets share
Element<Msg>. Anything that converts toElementcan be pushed into any layout. The split betweensrc/layout/andsrc/widget/is documentation, not architecture. - The runtime is single-threaded. Use
RefCellfor caches insideAppstate, neverMutex. Cross-thread communication goes throughChannelSender. view()must be pure. No I/O, no allocation-heavy work, no state mutation. Cache derived data on the app struct (behindRefCellif needed) and look it up.- Theming is process-global. There is no per-app theme; the active
document and mode live in a
RwLock<Arc<…>>.view()reads the state, never writes it. Mode flips and document swaps go throughltk::set_active_modeandltk::set_active_document. - Per-frame allocations are fine. Building the
Elementtree on every render is the supported model. Don't try to retain widgets across frames.
License
By submitting a patch you agree it is licensed under
LGPL-2.1-only, the same as the rest of the project. Do not
add Co-Authored-By lines or other AI attribution to commit messages.
Code of conduct
Be respectful. Disagreements are welcome; personal attacks are not. Maintainers will moderate threads that go off the rails.