Electron and Chrome patcher to force OpenGL rendering

electron_patcher.py

"""
electron_patcher.py: Enforce 'use-angle@1' in Chrome and Electron applications

Version 1.0.0 (2024-08-11)
"""

import enum
import json

from pathlib import Path


class ChromiumSettingsPatcher:

    class AngleVariant(enum.Enum):
        Default = "0"
        OpenGL = "1"
        Metal = "2"

    def __init__(self, state_file: str) -> None:
        self._local_state_file = Path(state_file).expanduser()


    def patch(self) -> None:
        """
        Ensure 'use-angle@1' is set in Chrome's experimental settings
        """
        _desired_key   = "use-angle"
        _desired_value = self.AngleVariant.OpenGL.value

        if not self._local_state_file.exists():
            print("  Local State missing, creating...")
            self._local_state_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
            state_data = {}
        else:
            print("  Parsing Local State file")
            state_data = json.loads(self._local_state_file.read_bytes())


        if "browser" not in state_data:
            state_data["browser"] = {}
        if "enabled_labs_experiments" not in state_data["browser"]:
            state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"] = []

        for key in state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"]:
            if "@" not in key:
                continue

            key_pair = key.split("@")
            if len(key_pair) < 2:
                continue
            if key_pair[0] != _desired_key:
                continue
            if key_pair[1] == _desired_value:
                print(f"  {_desired_key}@{_desired_value} is already set")
                break

            index = state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"].index(key)
            state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"][index] = f"{_desired_key}@{_desired_value}"
            print(f"  Updated {_desired_key}@{_desired_value}")

        if f"{_desired_key}@{_desired_value}" not in state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"]:
            state_data["browser"]["enabled_labs_experiments"].append(f"{_desired_key}@{_desired_value}")
            print(f"  Added {_desired_key}@{_desired_value}")

        print("  Writing to Local State file")
        self._local_state_file.write_text(json.dumps(state_data, indent=4))


def main():
    # Patch all Electron applications
    for directory in Path("~/Library/Application Support").expanduser().iterdir():
        if not directory.is_dir():
            continue

        state_file = directory / "Local State"
        if not state_file.exists():
            continue

        print(f"Patching {directory.name}")
        patcher = ChromiumSettingsPatcher(state_file)
        patcher.patch()

    # Patch all Chrome variants
    if Path("~/Library/Application Support/Google").expanduser().exists():
        for directory in Path("~/Library/Application Support/Google").expanduser().iterdir():
            if not directory.is_dir():
                continue

            state_file = directory / "Local State"
            if not state_file.exists():
                continue

            print(f"Patching {directory.name}")
            patcher = ChromiumSettingsPatcher(state_file)
            patcher.patch()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

FYI today I installed the 15.4.1 Sequoia update on my MacPro 6,1 and after rebooting OCLP notified me that I had to reinstall some patches:

Since I had read the @edilAraujo comments about Docker Desktop I tried to start 1Password before re-applying the patches ... and it works! I was therefore able to modify some of its settings to prevent the password request to come up every day with its red-window-of-death.
@khronokernel sorry to bother again, but is there any chance that issue #1145 is going to be fixed in a future release of OCLP?

Ok I've found a workaround for 1Password, just disable "Use Hardware Acceleration" in Settings > Advanced before installing the root patches:

If you have already installed the OCLP root patches, the same result can be achieved adding this line
"app.useHardwareAcceleration": false,
to the 1Password settings file:
~/Library/Group\ Containers/2BUA8C4S2C.com.1password/Library/Application\ Support/1Password/Data/settings/settings.json
but before doing so you have to be sure that the 1Password app is not running and its menu item is disabled.

@trulow I guess that the latter could be useful for your fork of electron_patcher.py but I'm not a Python expert and this needs some specific detection/patch methods for 1Password.

I installed Sequoia on my MacPro6,1 and it works very well. Using this patcher fixed Chrome and Opera for me and the only remaining app so far is Obsidian for which I have found the following fix. First launch Obsidian from using this command

open /Applications/Obsidian.app --args --use-angle=gl

Then once you are up and running go to Settings>Appearance>Hardware Acceleration and turn it off. You can now run obsidian as normal.