What Is the Latest Release of Luakit and Where Can I Download It?

Updated

The latest release is Luakit 2.4.0, shown on the project's home page under "Latest release — Luakit 2.4.0." You can get it from the official site at luakit.github.io, which links to the download page, the releases list, documentation, and the GitHub repository. Older versions are available through the "list of older releases" link on the same page.

What Luakit Is

Luakit is a browser framework built on the WebKit web content engine and the GTK+ toolkit. It is written to be fast and extensible with Lua, and it is licensed under GNU GPLv3. The project describes itself as aimed primarily at power users, developers, and anyone who wants fine-grained control over the browser's behavior and interface. The codebase is small — around 9,000 lines — which is why building from source is usually quick.

Where to Download

The home page's "Downloading Luakit" section is the starting point. From there, the available routes depend on your platform:

Platform How to get it
Arch Linux Install the luakit community package, or luakit-git from the AUR
Other Linux Download and build from source (a Debian package is noted as "in the works")
FreeBSD / OpenBSD Install the luakit package
Windows 10 Install WSL first, then download, build, and install from source
BSD, Solaris, HURD Listed as supported; Windows 10 via WSL, Solaris, and HURD are marked as not actively supported but known to work

The site also links to the GitHub repository, which is where the source lives.

Building From Source

If your distribution doesn't package Luakit, you build it yourself. The required dependencies listed on the site are:

  • GTK 3
  • WebKitGTK+ (webkit2gtk)
  • Lua 5.1 or LuaJIT
  • lfs (Lua File System)
  • SQLite 3

Two platform-specific notes from the documentation:

  • OpenBSD: build with clang instead of GCC, because the GCC version shipped with OpenBSD is outdated and will cause compilation errors.
  • Windows 10: WebKitGTK+ does not natively support Windows, so WSL is required before building.

The WebKit Security Notice

This is the most important caveat before you install. Luakit's move to the WebKit 2 API improved its security situation, but the project warns that not all Linux distributions package an up-to-date version of WebKitGTK+, and several ship very outdated versions with known vulnerabilities.

As of September 2019, the site states that Arch, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and Ubuntu all had the latest WebKitGTK+, while OpenSUSE shipped an outdated and vulnerable version in its stable channel. The project's position is that if you browse with Luakit, ensuring your distribution packages an up-to-date WebKitGTK+ is your responsibility.

Because that notice is dated, treat the distribution list as a snapshot rather than current fact — check what your own distribution provides before relying on it.

Practical Takeaways

  • Want the newest code: Luakit 2.4.0 is the current release; older releases are listed separately.
  • On Arch: the fastest path is the community package or the AUR git package.
  • On FreeBSD/OpenBSD: use the packaged version.
  • Anywhere else: build from source with the five dependencies above.
  • Before browsing: confirm your WebKitGTK+ version is current, since Luakit's security depends on it.