flutter_flutter/docs/tool/Engine-artifacts.md
auto-submit[bot] c50dd2ea93
Reverts "fix: get content hash for master on local engine branches (#173114)" (#173145)
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Reverts: flutter/flutter#173114
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Initiated by: jtmcdole
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Reason for reverting: there is still another problem with the merge
queue causing the content hash to be different:

git revision: e13dd5384cc0db576291c2925852879f1111f284
actual hash: 4b6f7b0f9849efaa59f515c8e95f3f27a6eb2ffb
hash in the queue? 9e5b2eef4ba79b15b4f80dbba812d199d262366f



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Original PR Author: jtmcdole
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Reviewed By: {matanlurey, chingjun}
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This change reverts the following previous change:
The content hash doesn't exist for local engine changes, except for on
CI. If we detect we're on a branch with committed or uncommitted changes
to engine files; use "master".

towards #171790

re-land attempt for #172792  with the following changes:

1. content_aware_hash.(ps1|sh) now consider multiple branches to choose
between HEAD and merge-base.
2. content_aware_hash_test.dart updated for these new requirements 
3. content_aware_hash_test.dart allows for forcing powershell on mac for
testing
4. updated docs/tool/Engine-artifacts.md documentation.

## Pre-launch Checklist

- [x] I read the [Contributor Guide] and followed the process outlined
there for submitting PRs.
- [x] I read the [Tree Hygiene] wiki page, which explains my
responsibilities.
- [x] I read and followed the [Flutter Style Guide], including [Features
we expect every widget to implement].
- [x] I signed the [CLA].
- [x] I listed at least one issue that this PR fixes in the description
above.
- [x] I updated/added relevant documentation (doc comments with `///`).
- [x] I added new tests to check the change I am making, or this PR is
[test-exempt].
- [ ] I followed the [breaking change policy] and added [Data Driven
Fixes] where supported.
- [x] All existing and new tests are passing.

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Co-authored-by: auto-submit[bot] <flutter-engprod-team@google.com>
2025-08-01 23:37:49 +00:00

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Markdown

# How `flutter` fetches engine artifacts
[flutter.dev/to/engine-artifacts](https://flutter.dev/to/engine-artifacts)
While in the same repository, the `flutter` (tool), which is used to run and
test the framework, needs to know how to download the engine artifacts for the
current platform and target device. Engine artifacts include `dart` (the
standalone Dart SDK), which runs `flutter` itself, and per-platform and build
mode prebuilt engines (which include the C++ compiled engine, and the embedders
for Android, iOS, and so-on).
![An example of cached engine artifacts](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/47c45971-5c5c-4a01-8239-8af0b98cabb8)
When using a _released_ version of Flutter, i.e. from a channel such as `stable`,
[`bin/internal/engine.version`](../../bin/internal/engine.version) is set to the
content hash SHA for a merged commit in `https://github.com/flutter/flutter`, where
the engine artifacts have already been pre-built and uploaded.
When using the `master` channel, or _contributing_ to Flutter (which is typically
as a fork of Flutter's `master` channel), the engine SHA is _computed_ by
generating a content-aware hash of files that affect the engine build (such as
`DEPS` and the `engine` directory itself).
For _advanced_ use-cases, such as on CI platforms, or for custom 1-off testing
using a pre-built Flutter engine (to use a _locally_ built Flutter engine see
[locally built engines](../contributing/testing/Running-and-writing-tests.md#locally-built-engines)), the environment variable `FLUTTER_PREBUILT_ENGINE_VERSION` can be set,
again to a engine SHA for a merged commit in `flutter/flutter`. This is only needed
if different artifacts from the content sha are desired:
```sh
$ FLUTTER_PREBUILT_ENGINE_VERSION=abc123 flutter --version
..
Engine • revision abc123 ..
..
```
```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> CheckEnvVar
CheckEnvVar: <code>FLUTTER_PREBUILT_ENGINE_VERSION</code> set?
UseEnvVar: Use <code>FLUTTER_PREBUILT_ENGINE_VERSION</code>
CheckReleaseFile: <code>bin/internal/engine.version</code> exists?
UseReleaseFile: Use <code>bin/internal/engine.version</code>
UseContentAwareHash: Compute content-aware hash
CheckEnvVar --> UseEnvVar: Yes
CheckEnvVar --> CheckReleaseFile: No
UseEnvVar --> [*]: Done
CheckReleaseFile --> UseReleaseFile: Yes
CheckReleaseFile --> UseContentAwareHash: No
UseReleaseFile --> [*]: Done
UseContentAwareHash --> [*]: Done
```
## Flutter CI/CD Testing
On Cocoon (Flutter's internal CI/CD) we _often_ set
`FLUTTER_PREBUILT_ENGINE_VERSION` to the following:
| Branch | Presubmit | Merge Queue | Postsubmit |
| ------------------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ------------- |
| `main` | `content.sha` | `content.sha` | `content.sha` |
| `flutter-x.x-candidate.x` | `content.sha` | N/A[^1] | `content.sha` |
| `stable` or `beta` | N/A[^3] | N/A[^1] | N/A[^3] |
| _anything else_[^2] | `content.sha` | `content.sh` | `content.sha` |
> To generate a new `engine.version`:
>
> ```sh
> ./bin/internal/content_aware_hash.sh > ./bin/internal/engine.version
> ```
>
> As of [`b0ccfb53801abc9b0aa93e7cca3a3841513c3086`](https://flutter.googlesource.com/recipes/+/b0ccfb53801abc9b0aa93e7cca3a3841513c3086) (May 6 2025), the packaging release process will refuse to let you publish a
> release with an out of date `engine.version`.
[^1]: Does not use a merge queue.
[^2]: I.e. experimental branches that do not fall into one of the above.
[^3]: Only updated through `flutter-x.x-candidate.x` branches.
## References
The script(s) that compute (and test the computation of) the engine version:
- [`bin/internal/update_engine_version.sh`](../../bin/internal/update_engine_version.sh)
- [`bin/internal/update_engine_version.ps1`](../../bin/internal/update_engine_version.ps1)
- [`dev/tools/test/update_engine_version_test.dart`](../../dev/tools/test/update_engine_version_test.dart)
- [`bin/internal/last_engine_commit.sh`](../../bin/internal/last_engine_commit.sh)
- [`bin/internal/last_engine_commit.ps1`](../../bin/internal/last_engine_commit.ps1)
- [`dev/tools/test/last_engine_commit_test.dart`](../../dev/tools/test/last_engine_commit_test.dart)
- [`bin/internal/content_aware_hash.sh`](../../bin/internal/content_aware_hash.sh)
- [`bin/internal/content_aware_hash.ps1`](../../bin/internal/content_aware_hash.ps1)
- [`dev/tools/test/content_aware_hash_test.dart`](../../dev/tools/test/content_aware_hash_test.dart)
The tool uses the engine version in the following locations:
- [`lib/src/artifacts.dart`](../../packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/artifacts.dart)
- [`lib/src/build_system/source.dart`](../../packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/build_system/source.dart)