Software:Blink (browser engine)
| Developer(s) | The Chromium Project and contributors |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 3 April 2013[1] |
| Written in | C++ |
| Type | Browser engine |
| License | BSD and LGPLv2.1 |
| Website | www |
Blink is a browser engine developed as part of the Chromium project with contributions from Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Opera Software, Vivaldi Technologies, Adobe, Intel, IBM, Samsung, and others.[2][3][4] It was first announced in April 2013.[5]
Naming
Blink's naming was influenced by a combination of two major factors: the connotations of speed, and a reference to the non-standard presentational blink HTML element,[6][7] which was introduced by Netscape Navigator and supported by Presto- and Gecko-based browsers until August 2013.[8] Blink has, contrary to its name, never functionally supported the element.
History
Blink is a fork of the WebCore component of WebKit,[9] which was originally a fork of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE.[10][11] It's used in Chrome starting at version 28,[12][13] Microsoft Edge starting at version 79,[14] Opera (15+),[12] Vivaldi, Brave, Amazon Silk and other Chromium-based browsers and frameworks.[citation needed]
Much of WebCore's code was used for features that Google Chrome implemented differently such as sandboxing and the multi-process model. These parts were altered for the Blink fork, and although slightly bulkier, it allowed greater flexibility for adding new features. The fork also deprecates CSS vendor prefixes; existing prefixes will be phased out and new experimental functionality will instead be enabled on an opt-in basis.[15] Aside from these planned changes, Blink initially remained relatively similar to WebCore.[13]
By commit count, Google was the largest contributor to the WebKit code base from late 2009 until 2013 when they started work on their fork, Blink.[16]
Internals
Blink engine has the following components:[17]
- DOM, HTML DOM and CSS rendering engines
- Web IDL implementation
- Skia Graphics engine — makes calls to an underlying Graphics Library (like OpenGL, Vulkan, DirectX etc) which depends on the platform
- V8 JavaScript engine
Public API
Blink exposes a public API that allows browsers such as Chromium to interact with Blink while remaining insulated from internal changes to the browser engine.[18]
Frameworks
Several projects exist to turn Chromium's Blink into a reusable software framework for other developers:
- In currently supported versions of the Android operating system (since version 4.4), the WebView component is based on Blink instead of WebKit.[19]
- Chromium Embedded Framework is widely used in software by Adobe Systems,[20][21][22] streaming media services such as Spotify,[23] video game services such as Battle.net and Steam,[24] etc.[25]
- NW.js (previously known as Node-Webkit) is the original Node.js based framework and is being developed by Intel.
- Electron is a Node.js based framework developed by GitHub.
- In the Qt 5 framework, the Qt WebEngine module supersedes the previous QtWebKit module.[25][26] In 2013, Qt WebEngine replaced the Apple-developed WebKit engine with Blink because of its cross-platform features (like WebRTC, WebGL, WebSockets, system calls, etc.) that work out of the box.[27][28] Qt developers found it easier to maintain and test it.[27]
- Microsoft Edge WebView2 is a framework that allows developers of Windows apps to implement a desktop app using web technologies, replacing the older WebView EdgeHTML based or WebBrowser MSHTML based controls.
- DotNetBrowser is a proprietary .NET Chromium-based library that can be used to use Chromium capabilities in a wide range of .NET applications, including desktop and server solutions.[29][better source needed]
Platforms
Chromium Blink is implemented on seven platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Fuchsia, Android, and Android WebView.
Blink is also unofficially supported on FreeBSD[30] and OpenBSD.[31]
iOS versions of Chromium continue to use the WebKit WebCore renderer.[32]
See also
References
- ↑ "[chrome] Log of /releases/28.0.1463.0/DEPS". https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/releases/28.0.1463.0/DEPS?view=log.
- ↑ Kingsley-Hughes, Adrian. "The real reason why Google forked WebKit". Red Ventures. https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-real-reason-why-google-forked-webkit/.
- ↑ "AUTHORS - chromium/src.git - Git at Google". googlesource.org. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/refs/heads/master/AUTHORS.
- ↑ "Google, Opera Fork WebKit. Samsung Joins Firefox to Push Servo". infoq.com. April 2013. https://www.infoq.com/news/2013/04/Google-Blink-Mozilla-Servo.
- ↑ "Blink: A rendering engine for the Chromium project". The Chromium Blog. https://blog.chromium.org/2013/04/blink-rendering-engine-for-chromium.html.
- ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2013-04-03). "Google Forks WebKit And Launches Blink, A New Rendering Engine That Will Soon Power Chrome And Chrome OS". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/03/google-forks-webkit-and-launches-blink-its-own-rendering-engine-that-will-soon-power-chrome-and-chromeos/.
- ↑ Shankland, Stephen (2013-04-03). "Google parts ways with Apple over WebKit, launches Blink". CNet. https://www.cnet.com/news/google-parts-ways-with-apple-over-webkit-launches-blink/.
- ↑ Kobie, Nicole (2013-08-07). "Firefox 23 finally kills "blink" tag". PC Pro. https://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/383512/firefox-23-finally-kills-blink-tag.
- ↑ "Which webkit revision is Blink forking from?". blink-dev mailing list. https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msg/blink-dev/J41PSKuMan0/gD5xcqicqP8J.
- ↑ "'(fwd) Greetings from the Safari team at Apple Computer' – MARC". Lists.kde.org. 7 January 2003. https://lists.kde.org/?m=104197092318639.
- ↑ "The WebKit Open Source Project". https://webkit.org/.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Blink". QuirksBlog. April 2013. https://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2013/04/blink.html.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Google going its own way, forking WebKit rendering engine". Ars Technica. April 2013. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/google-going-its-own-way-forking-webkit-rendering-engine/.
- ↑ "Download the new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium". https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501095/download-the-new-microsoft-edge-based-on-chromium/.
- ↑ "Blink Developer FAQ". https://www.chromium.org/blink/developer-faq#TOC-Will-we-see-a--chrome--vendor-prefix-now-.
- ↑ Siracusa, John (2013-04-12). "Hypercritical: Code Hard or Go Home". Hypercritical.co. http://hypercritical.co/2013/04/12/code-hard-or-go-home.
- ↑ "How Blink works" (in en). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aitSOucL0VHZa9Z2vbRJSyAIsAz24kX8LFByQ5xQnUg/edit?usp=embed_facebook.
- ↑ "Blink Public API". https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/third_party/blink/public/README.md.
- ↑ "WebView for Android". 28 February 2014. https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/webview/overview.
- ↑ Hallgrimur Bjornsson (9 August 2023). "Introducing HTML5 extensions". Adobe Systems. https://www.adobe.com/devnet/creativesuite/articles/introducing-html5-extensions.html.
- ↑ "Adobe Edge Animate Team Blog". Adobe Systems. https://blogs.adobe.com/edge/.
- ↑ "CEF integration in Dreamweaver". https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/using/cef-integration.html.
- ↑ "Open Source". https://www.spotify.com/us/opensource/.
- ↑ "Chromium Embedded Framework - Valve Developer Community". https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Framework.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Developer diary: Creating a desktop client for Conclave - 10×10 Room". 2014-04-24. https://10x10room.com/2014/04/24/developer-diary-creating-a-desktop-client-for-conclave/.
- ↑ "Qt WebEngine Overview". Qt Project. https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwebengine-overview.html.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Introducing the Qt WebEngine" (in en). https://www.qt.io/blog/2013/09/12/introducing-the-qt-webengine.
- ↑ "Qt Switching From WebKit To Chromium Engine - Phoronix". https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ2MDY.
- ↑ "DotNetBrowser". https://www.teamdev.com/dotnetbrowser.
- ↑ "FreshPorts www/chromium". 2010-10-13. https://www.freshports.org/www/chromium.
- ↑ "OpenBSD Ports Readme: port www/chromium". 2023-12-11. https://openports.pl/path/www/chromium.
- ↑ EMIL PROTALINSKI (2013-04-04). "Google's Blink Q&A: New rendering engine will replace WebKit on all platforms in 10 weeks with Chrome 28". https://thenextweb.com/google/2013/04/04/googles-blink-qa-new-rendering-engine-will-replace-webkit-on-all-platforms-in-10-weeks-with-chrome-28.
External links
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