Cross-platform Stride.Launcher by Kryptos-FR · Pull Request #3027 · stride3d/stride

Kryptos-FR · 2025-12-30T16:01:48Z

PR Details

New Launcher using Avalonia instead of WPF. Still needs some love.

Related Issue

#1503

Types of changes

Docs change / refactoring / dependency upgrade
Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist

My change requires a change to the documentation.
I have added tests to cover my changes.
All new and existing tests passed.
I have built and run the editor to try this change out.

Jklawreszuk · 2026-01-05T21:15:23Z

+    /// Returns path of Launcher (we can't use Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location in .NET Core, especially with self-publish).
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns></returns>
+    internal static string? GetExecutablePath() => Environment.ProcessPath;


nitpick: Could this property not be used directly?

I think I just replaced code from the previous implementation to make it cross-platform without changing the overall structure. We could inline it manually.

On the other hand, the method name is a bit more explicit. It's likely inlined anyway by the compiler, so it's just a matter of preference.

Jklawreszuk · 2026-01-05T21:34:24Z

+    }
+
+    // Avalonia configuration, don't remove; also used by visual designer.
+    public static AppBuilder BuildAvaloniaApp()


nitpick: This method seems to be unused. It would be great to integrate with RunNewApp somehow

It's used by the Avalonia plugin. It's needed for the designer.

Kryptos-FR · 2026-01-08T13:07:56Z

@Jklawreszuk I have merged back master to this PR's branch.

It's mostly working but it would be nice to also support (un-)installing the Stride packages on Linux even if we can't fully use it there yet.

Did you want to contribute to it? The branch is on this repo, so feel free to push commits if you want.

Jklawreszuk · 2026-01-13T15:56:19Z

I am sorry, but it took some time to review all the files.Overall, it looks great! A quite accurate implementation of the original Launcher. However, I have a few comments:

~~The ‘See release notes’ feature does not work - also an empty button is displayed. A hint that might be helpful - MarkdownScrollViewer.Markdown property is always null.~~
It would be nice to implement a custom title bar like in the original, but this can be done in a separate PR.

Other than that I didnt notice nothing unusual 😅

Jklawreszuk · 2026-01-13T16:02:51Z

@Kryptos-FR Once the changes have been merged, I will try to adapt Launcher to Linux if necessary. But I think that installing/uninstalling packages works correctly, no?

Kryptos-FR · 2026-01-13T18:02:02Z

I don't remember if it does work. I assume since it's restoring packages it should.

I guess we'll know soon.

Use MarkView.Avalonia library for markdown

Jklawreszuk · 2026-04-24T22:46:31Z

@Kryptos-FR Have you tested it on Windows? It seems to work fine on Linux. They only issue I see is the empty button in the release notes page

Complete the launcher README with build, versioning and layout notes, and add a hub-and-spoke documentation set under docs/launcher/ covering architecture, view models, views, version management, self-update, settings, localization, packaging, lifecycle and cross-platform notes.

Captures the full delta between the current Avalonia branch and the WPF launcher on master — including silent regressions that are not marked with TODO/FIXME — and a phased roadmap to close the gap for cross-platform parity. Notes Stride.Metrics and PrivacyPolicyHelper as deliberate, permanent removals.

…ncher port roadmap Adds a test-infrastructure phase covering bootstrap of Stride.Launcher.Tests, view-model and Avalonia-headless integration tests, and CI wiring for both Windows and Linux.

…n flow

… right-click offset Right-click events on the Button inside each row were not reliably bubbling up to the outer Border's ContextMenu on Linux. Moving the ContextMenu to the Button directly — and adding VerticalAlignment="Stretch" — ensures the menu opens wherever the row is visually hit-tested.

- Mark 'Show in Explorer' as fixed (cross-platform since commit c2555d0): update 'already ported' bullet and strike through the regression entry with the three-platform implementation detail - Correct slide animation duration from 0.5s to 1s in both the Fixed description and the Phase 3 roadmap entries (1s was intentional)

xen2 · 2026-05-15T04:15:00Z

Looking at PR desc:

Still needs some love.

I wasn't sure, Is it ready for review or still WIP?
Otherwise, let me know when it is!

Kryptos-FR · 2026-05-15T06:54:03Z

I would say, it is ready for review and testing on both Windows and Linux. I think I have one or two small fixes to push that I did on another branch.

- Add cross-platform IPC: Windows HWND broadcast + Linux named pipe - Update launcher documentation (port-status.md, cross-platform.md)

- Add editor selector ComboBox to choose between WPF and Avalonia GameStudio - Auto-install companion editor package (WPF/Avalonia) after primary install - Query NuGet store directly for installed editor paths (works across sessions) - Persist preferred editor choice in launcher settings - Add EditorNameConverter for friendly display names - Disable editor/framework selectors during install - Update launcher documentation (port-status.md)

On Linux (and other non-Windows platforms): - CanStart requires the Avalonia editor to be present; Start button stays greyed out for versions that only have a WPF (Stride.GameStudio) package. - UpdateAvailableEditors re-evaluates CanStart after editor discovery, since UpdateStatus runs before AvailableEditors is populated. - EditorNameConverter returns 'Game Studio' without '(Avalonia)' qualifier, as there is no WPF alternative to distinguish from. - TryInstallCompanionsAsync skips the Stride.GameStudio (WPF) companion install on non-Windows platforms. The EditorSelector ComboBox is already hidden when AvailableEditors.Count <= 1, so the dropdown never appears on Linux.

Jklawreszuk

I would say that LGTM! It's great that you added the documentation - it'll be useful to anyone who wants to revisit the code. As for the Launcher, I haven't noticed any significant visual glitches or anything like that.
What I tested on Linux:

Installing/Uninstalling multiple instances of GameStudio - works as intended
Including installing xenko versions - works ? (However, xenko is located in .../stride/sources/launcher/Stride.Launcher/bin/Debug/xenko/version/xenko.version.nupkg)
Clicking in all the urls, release notes - works

Kryptos-FR · 2026-05-19T06:54:27Z

I'll admit I didn't try to install any Xenko versions. I'll look at it.

Kryptos-FR · 2026-05-24T10:27:39Z

The right question should actually be: do we still want to include any older Xenko versions in the launcher? It's not open-source and very obsolete. cc @xen2

xen2 · 2026-05-24T13:39:02Z

I would say, not necessary anymore.
We can get rid of those last vestige from the codebase.

- Drop all Xenko package references (Names.Xenko, GameStudioNames.Xenko, MainPackageIds entries for Xenko/Xenko.GameStudio) since backward compatibility with pre-Stride packages is no longer needed - Simplify PackageFilterExtensions to only match Stride.GameStudio and Stride.GameStudio.Avalonia.Desktop - Remove CheckDeprecatedSourcesCommand (prompted users to add the old Xenko NuGet source) and its AskAddNugetDeprecatedSource string resource - Remove old Xenko executable fallback paths from StrideVersionViewModel - Remove the 'Show/Hide beta versions' toggle button: it existed solely to surface old Xenko (major < 3) packages; with those gone the button had no effect. Removes ShowBetaVersions, IsBeta, IsBetaVersion, the toggle button AXAML, and the ToggleShowBetaVersions/ToggleHideBetaVersions string resources - Update NugetStore.MainPackageIds to include Stride.GameStudio.Avalonia.Desktop - Update launcher README

Update all docs under docs/launcher/ to match the code changes: - cross-platform.md: remove Xenko.GameStudio.exe from Windows fallbacks - lifecycle.md: remove Bin/Windows/Xenko.GameStudio.exe legacy path - README.md: s/Stride\/Xenko versions/Stride versions/ - versions.md: remove 'Beta filter' section (ShowBetaVersions / IsBetaVersion), update StrideStoreAlternateVersionViewModel description, remove Xenko.GameStudio.exe mention, update RemoveUnusedPackages description - viewmodels.md: remove IsBeta from StrideVersionViewModel description, remove 'e.g. legacy Xenko ID' from StrideStoreAlternateVersionViewModel - port-status.md: remove ShowBetaVersions toggle bullet

Replace the verbose in-progress tracking doc with a focused reviewer reference. Drop all resolved regression history and done roadmap items. Keep only: - What's ported (brief feature list) - Deliberate changes table (so reviewers don't revert intentional choices) - Open items: .NET 10.0 probe decision + post-merge future work - Cross-references

Kryptos-FR · 2026-05-24T18:28:06Z

@xen2 I removed references to Xenko and updated the related documentation (under docs/launcher).

xen2 · 2026-06-03T04:09:12Z

Still needs some love.

I wasn't sure if this was now ready for final review/test/merge? (otherwise feel free to mark as draft)

xen2 · 2026-06-25T08:09:36Z

Still needs some love.

I wasn't sure if this was now ready for final review/test/merge? (otherwise feel free to mark as draft)

@Kryptos-FR so was this ready for merging?

Kryptos-FR · 2026-06-25T08:57:19Z

@xen2 it's ready for final review and merging, assuming we fix the conflicts.

Resolve launcher (Avalonia) vs WPF conflicts; take master's xunit runner; add Stride.Cli to launcher solution; implement multi-checkbox dialog for Avalonia.

xen2 · 2026-06-29T14:28:49Z

@Kryptos-FR I did a merge from master, don't hesitate to check if anything looks wrong.
I tried to run it and it was OK.

Kryptos-FR · 2026-06-29T18:15:07Z

@xen2 there are a couple of build issues. I will fix them.

edit: fix the build issues in .cs code caused by the merge. However I now get a error MSB4057: The target "GetTargetPath" does not exist in the project which was supposedly fix by 64012d0. This happens for any Stride.Templates project from Visual Studio, also on master.

Kryptos-FR · 2026-07-05T11:22:12Z

@xen2 merged master and fixed the conflicts. I wondering if the Launcher should also be optionally installed through the Stride CLI (stride launcher install)? Or in other words, do we still need the custom installer?

xen2 · 2026-07-08T22:25:49Z

I wondering if the Launcher should also be optionally installed through the Stride CLI (stride launcher install)? Or in other words, do we still need the custom installer?

I was also hesitating about that.
I was thinking we still wanted a proper .msi installer with CLI and an uninstall entry? But not sure about it...

I think first we want to decide how we distribute the launcher in the future:

do we want launcher itself to become a dotnet tool?
if yes, what does the actual installer do? install a precompiled version in program files (better control over uninstall), or simply get it installed as global dotnet tool in default folder? or dotnet tool with custom location in program files?

Ethereal77 · 2026-07-09T10:25:41Z

Imo the Stride CLI is reasonable as a .NET tool, as it is going to be used by programmers used to work with the console. However, the launcher is more oriented towards the general public, and requiring someone that only wants to try Stride to go to the console to write commands is a barrier many people won't pass through.
For those people. the experience of an installer or a bootstrapper is more welcoming.

Another issue some people have (although it is minor imho) is that Stride is not "installed" in the usual sense, but downloaded and referenced from the NuGet cache. I've talked with several people that have used other engines and find this highly confusing (specially if they are not very versed in NuGet).

Kryptos-FR requested a review from Jklawreszuk December 30, 2025 16:01

Kryptos-FR added the area-Launcher Stride Launcher label Dec 30, 2025

Kryptos-FR mentioned this pull request Dec 30, 2025

Make Stride.Launcher crossplatform #1503

Open

Kryptos-FR force-pushed the feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick branch 3 times, most recently from 7b72320 to 03f94a4 Compare December 30, 2025 18:49

Jklawreszuk reviewed Jan 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

Kryptos-FR force-pushed the feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick branch from 03f94a4 to e96d938 Compare January 7, 2026 20:45

Kryptos-FR force-pushed the feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick branch from e96d938 to e161999 Compare April 7, 2026 20:55

xen2 force-pushed the master branch 2 times, most recently from ab329f3 to 482bd28 Compare April 16, 2026 07:56

Kryptos-FR and others added 4 commits April 21, 2026 13:10

Cherry-pick Launcher from xplat-editor branch

72c363e

Update packages

2c247ce

Cherry-pick minimum changes to presentation libraries

9631523

Upgrade to Avalonia 12

4950387

Use MarkView.Avalonia library for markdown

Kryptos-FR force-pushed the feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick branch from e161999 to 4950387 Compare April 21, 2026 15:19

Kryptos-FR marked this pull request as ready for review April 21, 2026 15:20

ci: fix potential parallel build issue for the launcher job

726e083

Kryptos-FR and others added 6 commits April 25, 2026 07:31

docs: add Phase 5 (test infrastructure with Avalonia headless) to lau…

a9b7c5b

…ncher port roadmap Adds a test-infrastructure phase covering bootstrap of Stride.Launcher.Tests, view-model and Avalonia-headless integration tests, and CI wiring for both Windows and Linux.

feat(launcher): add close-confirmation localized strings

1f29517

feat(launcher): persist tab selection immediately on change

3a51352

feat(launcher): add MainViewModel.TryCloseAsync for close-confirmatio…

dd54dc9

…n flow

Kryptos-FR added 3 commits May 2, 2026 23:25

Merge branch 'master' into feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick

1a7538f

Kryptos-FR added 4 commits May 15, 2026 10:06

fix(launcher): alignment and text trimming in recent projects

cb7f8e1

feat(launcher): cross-platform GameStudio IPC

9f2d406

- Add cross-platform IPC: Windows HWND broadcast + Linux named pipe - Update launcher documentation (port-status.md, cross-platform.md)

Jklawreszuk approved these changes May 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

Kryptos-FR added 3 commits May 24, 2026 20:08

Merge origin/master into feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick

a5b1025

Resolve launcher (Avalonia) vs WPF conflicts; take master's xunit runner; add Stride.Cli to launcher solution; implement multi-checkbox dialog for Avalonia.

A few fixes following merge from master

11559ae

Kryptos-FR force-pushed the feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick branch from 9c29b2e to 11559ae Compare June 29, 2026 19:05

Kryptos-FR added 2 commits July 5, 2026 12:43

build: convert Stride.Launcher.sln to slnx format

88eacaf

Merge branch 'master' into feature/launcher-avalonia-cherrypick

427a325

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