# ? main branch of core repo is not used for anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Development\ **Created:** [June 4, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716 "2026-06-04T17:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/1 "2026-06-04T17:46:38Z")
I see code review comments like “main branch of core repo is not used for anything. Please port this patch to main branch of online repo and abandon here.” from Andras. I’m confused. I do not want to work on Collabora online, but to the classic desktop version (the version similar to LibreOffice). I have uploaded my current patch proposal [https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/c/core/+/3807](https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/c/core/+/3807) by using `./cogerrit submit main` . Is that correct? If not, what do I have to do? ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/2 "2026-06-05T05:45:21Z")
Hi @Regina There is a nice introduction post from Pedro that explains the new repository setup: [Your First Pull Request](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/your-first-pull-request/41?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Basically, `core` is no longer developed as a separate project in the way it used to be. The code now lives under the online repository, and the `core` is now subtree name `engine` inside online repo shared with the desktop and online. I hope that forum post helps clarify the new setup and where patches should be submitted. Thanks, Darshan ---
**Author:** ![Timur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Timur](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Timur)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:01am UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/3 "2026-06-05T08:01:19Z")
Latest Collabora Office Classic is built from `distro/collabora/coc-26.04`. Command should be ``./cogerrit submit coc-26.04`.` ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 10:35am UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/4 "2026-06-05T10:35:49Z")
> [@Timur](#): > > Command should be ``./cogerrit submit coc-26.04`.` That does not work. Message: branch coc-26.04 not found. ---
**Author:** ![Timur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Timur](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Timur)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 11:49am UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/5 "2026-06-05T11:49:50Z")
What does `git branch say? And after `git fetch origin`?` Maybe it is ``./cogerrit submit `distro/collabora/coc-26.04` sorry I did not try. ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/6 "2026-06-05T13:02:25Z")
> [@Timur](#): > > git fetch origin From ssh://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com:29418/core I have started now with a new clone into a new folder `git clone ssh://regina-henschel@gerrit.collaboraoffice.com:29418/online` I’ve got the files. And with that a `git fetch origin` has `From ssh://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com:29418/online` But building does not work: I have added an autogen.input file and then `$ wsl ./autogen.sh` returns `Result: All went OK, please run ./configure (with the appropriate parameters) now.` But `$ wsl ./configure` returns `error: header Poco/Net/WebSocket.h not found, perhaps you want to use --with-poco-includes` There seems to be something missing or what parameters are needed for configure? How to fix that? ---
**Author:** ![Timur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Timur](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Timur)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 1:11pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/7 "2026-06-05T13:11:08Z")
Main issue here is which branch to choose. `distro/collabora/coc-26.04` mentioned above is the one Classic is built from, and that needs cloning of [https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/core](https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/core). But latest Smart Art patches may not be there. To get those, you may clone `gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/online`and `cd` into and build only `engine` inside with GUI so that is runs visible. Building `engine` is with the same parameters as `core` or LibreOffice. No build of `online` would be needed. In that case, patches still need to be ported to coc-26.04 to be seen in Classic. Maybe we should think over this. ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/8 "2026-06-05T13:14:45Z")
> [@Regina](#): > > But `$ wsl ./configure` returns `error: header Poco/Net/WebSocket.h not found, perhaps you want to use --with-poco-includes` There seems to be something missing or what parameters are needed for configure? How to fix that? hi @Regina this will help to solve the POCO error: [Build Collabora Office for Linux | Collabora Office - Community Page](https://www.collaboraoffice.org/post/build-co-linux/#ubuntu) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/collaboraonline/original/2X/4/4f97105c1a83f88d9e98fcd08fe1857b0457ce34.png) ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/9 "2026-06-05T19:41:26Z")
> [@darshan](#): > > this will help to solve the POCO error Thank you. After building POCO it is now found by configure. But the next problem arises: Configure does not find `node`. I’ve installed it for Ubuntu and in the Ubuntu terminal a `node -v` results `v24.16.0`. But with `wsl ./configure` in Git Bash I get the error `configure: error: node required to build cool, but not installed` In the meantime, I have installed node in Windows as well. Git Bash now returns `/c/Program Files/nodejs/node `on `which node`. And a `node -v` returns `v24.16.0`. But `wsl ./configure` still has `checking for node… noconfigure: error: node required to build cool, but not installed` What to do? I only want to build the desktop version. ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/10 "2026-06-07T17:32:29Z")
Hi @Regina Can you check whether WSL itself can see Node? ```auto wsl which node wsl node -v ``` If those work, then Node is available in WSL and the problem is likely elsewhere. Also, are you building the `engine` repository or the Online (`cool`) repository? The error mentions COOL, which suggests the Online build system. For a desktop/core build, Node.js should generally not be the blocker, so it would be helpful to see: ```auto pwd git remote -v ``` from the directory where you’re running `./configure`. Thanks Darshan ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/11 "2026-06-07T21:33:50Z")
> [@darshan](#): > > Can you check whether WSL itself can see Node? No, it doesn’t see Node.`$ wsl which node` has an empty return and `$ wsl node -v` returns `/bin/bash: line 1: node: command not found` But a `$ which node` returns `/c/Program Files/nodejs/node` and `$ node -v` returns `v24.16.0`. > [@darshan](#): > > Also, are you building the `engine` repository Oh, I didn’t know, that I need to go into folder `engine` to get a desktop build. I’ll try that. At least `wsl ./autogen.sh` works now (without POCO) and `make` starts. But stops with errors: C:colwsl7\online\engine\workdir\UnpackedTarball\boost\boost\optional\detail\union\_optional.hpp(600) : error C2220: the following warning is treated as an error C:colwsl7\online\engine\workdir\UnpackedTarball\boost\boost\optional\detail\union\_optional.hpp(600) : warning C4702: unreachable code make[1]: \*\*\* [C:/colwsl7/online/engine/solenv/gbuild/LinkTarget.mk:338: C:/colwsl7/online/engine/workdir/CxxObject/svx/source/diagram/datamodel\_svx.o] Error 2 And more problems: After update with `./g pull -r` in `online`, next time `wsl ./autogen.sh` inside folder `engine` fails with: checking Visual C++… ./configure: 13566: ./configure.lineno: vswhere+=\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe: not found ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied checking VC++ Build Tools and similar… ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied configure: error: no Visual Studio 2022 installation found ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/12 "2026-06-10T12:29:37Z")
I still get no build for collabora office classic and need help. I have installed Visual Studio 2026 in the meantime. But I still get the above mentioned failure. I can run vswhere in the Git Bash as `vswhere` and as `wsl vswhere.exe` and it lists the values for VS2026. If I comment out the lines #216 to #220 in `autogen.sh` in folder `engine`, it find Visual Studio. That part didn’t exist in the `autogen.sh` that was used for the old `core` repository. But doing that does not solve the build problem. It then stops with error checking for clang-cl… ./configure: line 42158: cygpath: command not found ./configure: line 42160: cygpath: command not found no checking the dependency generation prefix (clang.exe -showIncludes)… configure: error: cannot determine the -showIncludes prefix Error running configure at ./autogen.sh line 344. My autogen.input is --host=x86\_64-pc-cygwin –disable-ccache –with-visual-studio=2026 –enable-python=fully-internal –without-lxml –with-external-tar=c:/colwsl7/external –with-strawberry-perl-portable=c:/bloadds/spp –with-ant-home=c:/bloadds/apache-ant-1.10.15 –with-junit=c:/bloadds/junit-4.10.jar –with-jdk-home=c:/bloadds/jdk –enable-dbgutil –enable-werror –disable-cve-tests –without-fonts PKG\_CONFIG=/mnt/c/bloadds/pkg/pkgconf-2.4.3.exe What do I need to do? Do you was successful on building `engine` on Windows 11? ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/13 "2026-06-10T12:50:18Z")
Hi @Regina Thanks for your patience working through this - the Windows setup has a couple of sharp edges. Both errors come from the same place, so two quick fixes should clear them: 1. Run from Cygwin bash. cygpath: command not found means the shell isn’t 64-bit Cygwin. The native build has to be launched from the Cygwin terminal (Git Bash and MSYS2 won’t work, as they don’t ship cygpath). Could you also restore the vswhere lines you commented out in autogen.sh? They’re what locates Visual Studio, and removing them is what leads to the -showIncludes error. 2. Tell configure about VS 2026. By default it only looks for Visual Studio 2022, so a 2026-only machine isn’t found. The code does support 2026, you just need to ask for it. Add this to autogen.input: –with-visual-studio=2026 Once you’re in Cygwin and VS is detected, the -showIncludes check passes on its own - it was just a knock-on effect of the compiler not being found. One honest note: VS 2026 support is brand new, so if it keeps fighting you, VS 2022 is the well-tested baseline and the smoother route. I haven’t built on Windows 11 myself, so this is from reading the build scripts - [the LibreOffice “BuildingOnWindows”](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/BuildingOnWindows) wiki page is the fullest reference, and it applies directly since the engine shares core’s build system. Thanks, Darshan ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/14 "2026-06-10T14:19:44Z")
I’m not using Cygwin but WSL2. That has worked with the old `core` and works for LibreOffice, thus I don’t understand why it doesn’t work now with `engine`. I use already `--with-visual-studio=2026`, see posted `autogen.input`. > [@darshan](#): > > 1. Could you also restore the vswhere lines you commented out in autogen.sh? I mean the lines `# Favor noticeably faster dash, when available if ($system eq 'Linux' and not defined $ENV{CONFIG_SHELL}) { chomp(my $dash = `command -v dash 2>/dev/null`); $ENV{CONFIG_SHELL} = $dash if $dash; }` How are these lines connected to vswhere? If I comment them out Visual Studio is found, with them it is not found. > [@darshan](#): > > VS 2022 is the well-tested baseline and the smoother route I have installed VS 2026 because that is said on [Build Collabora Office for Windows | Collabora Office - Community Page](https://www.collaboraoffice.org/post/build-co-windows/) I have tried with VS 2022 as well, and it fails with the same problem: ```auto checking Visual C++... ./configure: 13521: ./configure.lineno: vswhere+=\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe: not found ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied checking VC++ Build Tools and similar... ./configure: 1: ./configure.lineno: /mnt/c/PROGRA~2: Permission denied configure: error: no Visual Studio 2022 installation found Error running configure at ./autogen.sh line 344. ``` I’m at a loss. ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/15 "2026-06-10T15:03:38Z")
> [@Regina](#): > > I have installed VS 2026 because that is said on [Build Collabora Office for Windows | Collabora Office - Community Page](https://www.collaboraoffice.org/post/build-co-windows/) Hi @Regina, These instructions are for the new Collabora Office, not for Collabora Office Classic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![darshan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/darshan/32/2230_2.png) [@darshan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/darshan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/16 "2026-06-10T15:19:26Z")
Hi @Regina Let me try to simplfy here the build for collabora classic Fix is simpler than it looks. In WSL2 you have two options: a plain Linux build (gcc, what you did for old core and LibreOffice), or a cross-build to native Windows binaries (Visual Studio toolchain). Every error you hit - vswhere, “Visual Studio 2026”, cygpath, -showIncludes - comes from the Windows toolchain. The engine is the same core build system, so a plain Linux build works exactly as it did for old core. To get back to the familiar Linux build: 1. Work on the Linux filesystem, e.g. ~/online, not under /mnt/c/… (the Windows drive is very slow in WSL and causes file-permission issues). 2. Install build dependencies (once): [Making sure you're not a bot!](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/BuildingOnWindows) Building on Linux: [Making sure you're not a bot!](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/BuildingOnLinux) - How to build (overview): [Making sure you're not a bot!](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/How_to_build) 1. Start from a clean engine/autogen.input. Remove all the Windows lines (the cygwin host, --with-visual-studio, the external Windows paths). For a normal Linux build it can be as short as: `--enable-debug` 1. Configure and build from inside engine: ```auto cd engine ./autogen.sh make ``` 1. Launch it with instdir/program/soffice. That’s the same flow you know from old core. I hope this will help to make things easy here 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![caolan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/caolan/32/996_2.png) [@caolan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/caolan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/17 "2026-06-11T15:01:20Z")
> checking Visual C++… ./configure: 13521: ./configure.lineno: > vswhere+=\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe: not found I don’t typically build under windows, and windows can be tricky with all the different wrappers and unix-alike tool provider possibilities, path hackery and now wsl. I think there’s two problems. syntax problem. That build optimization effort is guarded behind “Linux” and it passed our windows ci. The idea was that if it passed windows ci then dash either worked or it wasn’t present. That doesn’t actually seem to be the case, so lets just do: [https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/c/online/+/4299](https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/c/online/+/4299) to drop that explicitly for wsl for now. So that’s the same outcome as your local “comment it out”. So keep that commented out or apply the above. B: Then I think the next issue is the “cygpath not found”. So before you run any ./autogen.sh or ./configure what is the output of $ command -v cygpath or $ which cygpath and in what shell are you running it? I think the assumption built into windows/coda/README.md and its --host=x86\_64-pc-cygwin argument is that autogen/configure is launched from a git-bash shell. I do have that installed on a Windows env and if I run “git bash” (from the windows launcher menu thing) and do “which cygpath” I get /usr/bin/cygpath I think there is yet another alternative window configure route where the cygpath is “Emulation of Cygwin’s cygpath command for WSL” as a function within configure.ac that kicks in only _without_ the use of –host=x86\_64-pc-cygwin. I have no idea if that route was the one you had in the pre engine-merge build or if there was another cygpath somewhere in your path. ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/18 "2026-06-11T17:16:42Z")
I have just learned in the ESC meeting, that the current VS version 18.7. produces the above mentionend `error: cannot determine the -showIncludes prefix`. Thus I will try what I get, when I go back to version 18.6. I’ll answer your other questions later. In the meantime, I have tried to use Cygwin instead of WSL2. With Cygwin and Visual Studio 2022, configure works, but the build itself breaks in `online/engine/cli_ure/source/native/native_bootstrap.cxx(288)`. I’ll report back after my next tries. ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/19 "2026-06-11T21:43:08Z")
> [@caolan](#): > > I do have that installed on a Windows > env and if I run “git bash” (from the windows launcher menu thing) and > do “which cygpath” I get /usr/bin/cygpath I get that too. > [@caolan](#): > > In what shell are you running it? I build in Git Bash. However, autogen is called as `wsl ./autogen.sh`. > [@caolan](#): > > So keep that commented out I’ve gone that way. I have reverted Visual Studio to version 18.6.2. Configure works then and I can run `make`. It loads the externals and starts building. But then it fails with the same error as I have got in my Cygwin try. The error message is: ```auto C:/colwsl7/online/engine/cli_ure/source/native/native_bootstrap.cxx(288): error C2039: 'bootstrap': is not a member of 'cppu' C:\colwsl7\online\engine\include\cppuhelper/bootstrap.hxx(34): note: see declaration of 'cppu' C:/colwsl7/online/engine/cli_ure/source/native/native_bootstrap.cxx(288): error C2440: 'initializing': cannot convert from 'unoidl::com::sun::star::uno::XComponentContext ^' to 'com::sun::star::uno::Reference' C:/colwsl7/online/engine/cli_ure/source/native/native_bootstrap.cxx(288): note: No user-defined-conversion operator available that can perform this conversion, or the operator cannot be called ``` Perhaps someone else can try a Windows build of `engine` using WSL2? What has changed from `core` to `engine`? For example, in `include/cppuhelper/bootstrap.hxx`, I see that the lines ```auto CPPUHELPER_DLLPUBLIC css::uno::Reference< css::uno::XComponentContext > SAL_CALL bootstrap(); ``` were removed. ---
**Author:** ![caolan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.collaboraonline.com/caolan/32/996_2.png) [@caolan](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/u/caolan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 8:53am UTC](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716/20 "2026-06-12T08:53:07Z")
At which point you are probably into differences between what is in distro-configs/CODAWindows.conf vs not using “–with-distro=CODAWindows” so my guess is that adding (at least) --disable-cli to your configuration line would get past that unbuilt-in-default-ci module. I imagine the direction will be to make the various explicit CODAWindows.conf options that skip building certain parts into eventual removal of those parts [Next page](https://forum.collaboraonline.com/t/main-branch-of-core-repo-is-not-used-for-anything/4716.md?page=2)