Browser’s Offspring: The Free Engine Compete Against Google’s De facto Monopoly

Andreas Kling has created the first version of a new Linux web browser. It is based on the self-developed browser engine LibWeb, which forms the basis of the web browser in the SerenityOS operating system started by Kling. The development calls the Linux Ladybird browser, based on the logo of its open source operating system.

Kling documented the development process in a 100-minute YouTube video. A little over an hour later, he came to the first presentation of results and notes: “When was the last time you saw a new web engine running on Linux? It’s been a long time, but here we are.”

Special Engine Serenity LibWeb

The Serenity LibWeb engine has so far been used only in SerenityOS’ own browser. SerenityOS is a Unix-like operating system that Kling started in 2018 and is visually reminiscent of the systems of the 90’s. All components of the operating system, including the kernel, are developed by Kling together with members of the community, and no third-party code or packages are used. The developer provides the previous Ladybird code ready on github.

The port comes at a time when calls are growing for a larger set of web engines along with the dominant Blink, Gecko and WebKit. Thus, the LibWeb browser engine is making its way from Serenity’s relatively small user base towards larger Linux distributions.

(drowsy)