[webkit-dev] The Chromium WebKit API

[Darin Fisher]

*Please ignore this if you are not interested in the Chromium WebKit API...*


I'm writing to announce that we have finished decoupling the Chromium WebKit
API <http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/webkit/api/> from the
rest of the Chromium repository, and so we are now ready to move it to
svn.webkit.org.  The plan is for it to live under
WebKit/WebKit/chromium/<http://trac.webkit.org/browser/trunk/WebKit/chromium/>
.


*Some background:*

Chromium began life using WebCore directly.  A layer (named webkit/glue) was
added to the Chromium repository to help insulate most of the Chromium
repository from the fast moving WebCore codebase.  However, that layer grew
to have many dependencies on lower layers in the Chromium repository (base,
net, etc.), and it was also coded using Google C++ style.

For much of the past year (since Feb!), we have been working furiously to
eliminate those dependencies and convert to WebKit C++ style so that this
glue layer could live in the WebKit repository and thereby provide a clean
and stable API to WebCore for consumption by Chromium.  The result is
something we have been calling our WebKit API.

Over the past year, we also upstreamed all of our modifications to WebCore.
 However, without the corresponding WebKit layer in plain sight, it is often
hard to understand some of the PLATFORM(CHROMIUM) code that lives in
WebCore.  It is long overdue that we contribute our WebKit API layer into
svn.webkit.org.


*Next steps:*

Within the coming days, we plan to commit the Chromium WebKit API into
WebKit/WebKit/chromium, and then throw all the requisite switches in the
Chromium repository to point the Chromium build at this code.  Dimitri
Glazkov and Eric Seidel are going to be driving this effort.  Thanks guys!!


*Future steps:*

After the dust has settled with this move, we will still have some chores
left to do.

There remain a number of WebCore dependencies in the Chromium repository
that we plan to eliminate.  These will be eliminated by introducing
additional interfaces in the Chromium WebKit API.  (We did not want to delay
the initial commit of the Chromium WebKit API waiting on these changes.)

It will now be possible to port DumpRenderTree to the Chromium WebKit API,
and this is a task we will undertake in the following months.  It'll be
great for the Chromium project to move to the same testing infrastructure
for layout tests as the rest of the WebKit community!


Regards,
-Darin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.webkit.org/pipermail/webkit-dev/attachments/20091105/4ebc089d/attachment.html>