[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Re: gpe-mini-browser for maemo

[From: Alp Toker]

Jorge Salamero Sanz wrote:
> On Wednesday 10 January 2007 14:01, Alp Toker wrote:
>> Why distribute a browser engine that is practically unchanged since
>> 2004? You lose out on almost three years of performance, compatibility
>> and security updates.
> 
> gtk-webcore last svn commit was 12 days ago:
> http://gtk-webcore.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/gtk-webcore/
> 
> and well, this is the most usable *free* browser (might after minimo) ...

I reviewed the commit you mentioned. It seems to be a compile fix 
necessary because nobody has attempted to compile the code for so long 
that modern compilers won't build it.

However, if it works for you, that's great. What I was getting at is 
that it's not much more effort to use the current WebKit code and take 
advantage of the active WebKit developer community rather than 
supporting something from the past, with the benefit that you get a 
bang-up-to-date browser engine and someone to fix your bugs for free.

When the first exploitable security issue is reported in your browser, 
believe me that you will take comfort in reporting it to a team of 
full-time developers, and the value of that is huge. I have had to 
support forked code-bases in the past and can tell you it rapidly 
becomes an unpleasant affair.