[webkit-dev] Announcing WebKit2

[Xan Lopez]

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 1:01 AM, Anders Carlsson <andersca at apple.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> This is a heads-up that we will shortly start landing patches for a new
> WebKit framework that we at Apple have been working on for a while. We
> currently call this new framework "WebKit2".
>
> WebKit2 is designed from the ground up to support a split process model,
> where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate
> process. This model is similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major
> difference being that we have built the process split model directly into
> the framework, allowing other clients to use it.
>
> Some high-level documentation is available
> at http://trac.webkit.org/wiki/WebKit2
>
> Currently WebKit2 is available for Mac and Windows, and we would gladly
> accept patches to add more ports.
>
> We're more than happy to answer any questions you might have, and we hope
> that this will be a topic of discussion at the WebKit Contributors Meeting.

I suppose I could wait until you land the patches and see by myself, but:

- In the wiki you mention that one goal of the new framework is to
provide a stable C-based API. Is this meant as a public API for
WebKit, the same in all platforms (like JSC), or a stable internal API
for embedders to use in order to implement their native APIs on top?
>From some lines in the wiki (like WKView wrapping native objects) it
seems like you want to do the former, but that seems like quite a
massive effort and the loss of an important selling port of the
various WebKit ports.

- Does your new framework require any significant changes in WebCore?
Could you briefly summarize them?

- Do you see valid usecases in the long term for the "traditional"
ports or are your plans to quickly transition all code to the new
system as soon as it's ready?

Cheers,

Xan