[webkit-dev] Linux gtk Webkit threading question

[Alp Toker]

Hi Stephanie,

WebKit GTK+ doesn't use forks. Is it possible that you're running the 
analysis tool on 'Programs/GtkLauncher'? On Unix-like platforms, this is 
typically a shell script generated by libtool (part of our build system) 
that invokes the real binary, which would show up as a fork in the profiler.

The actual binaries live in 'Programs/.libs/'. When executing them 
directly, you should ensure that they're picking up the correct version 
of the libwebkit-1.0.so library with 'ldd'.

If everything goes to plan you'll find that WebKit GTK+ has these 
threading characteristics:

When using the curl HTTP backend:

   Unix-like systems: Entirely single threaded unless web content makes 
use of HTML5 database, DOM storage or offline web application capabilities.

   Win32: Further threads for network IO and in some cases for local IO.

When using the soup/gio HTTP backend (not yet fully supported):

   Typically two or more threads, one for the main application and the 
rest for local and network IO. Further thread usage when database 
capabilities are used as described above.

Hope this helps! Will you be publishing your paper when it's complete? 
Sounds fascinating.

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