Igalia, an open source consultancy, provides a status update on their WebKit contributions, highlighting their roles as maintainers of WebKitGTK and WPE for various platforms. Key strategic goals include enhancing web platform compatibility, improving performance on embedded devices, and optimizing quality assurance processes. Recent work showcases significant contributions in areas like graphics, multimedia, and JavaScript core improvements, alongside plans for future enhancements and tool development.

1. Igalia and WebKit:
Status update and plans
WebKit Contributors Meeting 2023
Cupertino (CA), 24-25 October 2023
Mario Sánchez Prada
mario@igalia.com
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2. About me
CS Engineer, partner of Igalia
Involvement in some Open Source communities
e.g. GNOME, WebKit (WebKitGTK, a11y), Chromium
Other work done in the past:
Linux-based OS’s (i.e. Endless OS, Litl OS)
Maemo (Hildon Application Manager)
Samsung SmartTV platform
Currently coordinating Igalia's WebKit team
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4. About Igalia
Specialized Open Source consultancy, founded in 2001
Fully remote, headquartered in A Coruña, Galicia (Spain)
Worker-owned, employee-run, flat structure (140+ igalians)
Top contributors to the main Web Rendering Engines:
WebKit, Chromium, Gecko and Servo
Active contributor to other areas and OSS projects
V8, SpiderMonkey, JSC, LLVM, Node.js, GStreamer, Mesa, Linux Kernel...
Members of several working groups:
W3C, WHATWG, WPT, TC39, OpenJS, Test262, Khronos...
https://www.igalia.com
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5. Igalia and WebKit
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6. Igalia and WebKit
Maintainers of the two upstream Linux-based WebKit ports
WebKitGTK: aimed at desktop (i.e. go-to solution for GTK applications)
WPE: aimed at embedded (i.e. low resources footprint, extra flexibility...)
Implementation of Web standards and JavaScript features
Port-independent contributions to WebCore and JavaScriptCore
Other:
e.g. bugfixing, security, performance improvements, QA, 32-bit support...
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7. Examples of WebKit on embedded
Smart TVs, set-top-boxes and video game consoles
Smart home appliances and home automation devices
HiFi audio/sound systems & music streaming
In-vehicle and in-flight infotainment systems
Navigational and GPS-based instrumentation
Medical devices (e.g. patient health monitors)
Digital signage
QA & testing
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8. Who are our users?
Port users (e.g. native apps developers, integrators...)
Platform providers (e.g. Web-based frameworks)
Web developers (e.g. Web applications)
End users!
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9. Strategic goals
Web platform compatibility, interoperability
Performance and efficiency in small embedded devices
Quality assurance and Security
Better development tools and documentation
More efficient collaboration:
e.g. ports alignment (fewer different architectures, less port-specific code), better communication
increased collaboration among different teams...
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10. Recent work
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11. WebKit contributions 2023
Still the #2 committer in 2023 so far with 10.9% of all commits
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12. WebKit contributions 2023
Zooming in: ~50% of all the non-Apple commits coming from Igalia
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13. Main highlights
Web platform contributions
Graphics & Multimedia
JavaScriptCore
New WPE API
WebKit on Android
Quality assurance
Security
Development tools
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14. Web platform contributions
CSS properties: content-visibility
content-visibility: auto particularly useful on large pages
HTML Fetch Priority attributes
Optimize resource loading
Popover API
Easy creation of native pop-over elements
Secure Curves in the Web Cryptography API
Algorithms Ed25519 and X25519 in WebKitGTK
Algorithm X25519 in the Mac port
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15. Graphics
WebKitGTK and WPE graphics rendering architecture
Finished ANGLE integration and added WebGL2 support
Buffer sharing architecture (i.e. DMAbuf in linux)
Removed dependency on the internal Wayland server
Synchronization using displayLink architecture
2D rendering engine replacement for cairo
Experimental GPUProcess support (WIP).
New SVG engine (LBSE: Layer-Based SVG Engine)
SVG layers support as a 1st-class citizen in the engine
Enables HW acceleration for SVG rendering
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16. Multimedia
DMABuf-based sink for HW-accelerated video
WebCodecs audio encoder/decoder from IDL to platform layers
Improvements on WebCodecs video encoder/decoder
GStreamer-based WebRTC backends
Improved video loop behaviour
Improved power comsumption (e.g. auto-play, muted videos)
General maintenance (e.g. MSE, EME...)
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17. JavaScriptCore
ARMv7 improvements (32-bit)
Improved code generation for stack load/save in Air on ARMv7
Reduces generated code size for WASM by ~30%
Worked on Concurrent JIT
Worked on WASM BBQJIT (99% done)
Worked on the B3 low level optimizer
Needed to enable OMG for WASM and FTL for JavaScript
WASM GC
Contribute initial implementation (WIP)
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18. New WPE API
Several problems with current model
Started working in a new proposal that will be part of WebKit
We started submitting patches to upstream the changes (WIP)
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19. WebKit on Android
Goal: WebKit-based alternative to Android WebView
No new port needed, just the WPE's public API
Multiple architectures: arm64, armv7, x86-64, x86
Native integration with Android
HW acceleration and WebGL support
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20. Quality Assurance
Increased gardening effort on WebKitGTK and WPE
Increased amount of tests running on WebKitGTK and WPE:
WebKitGTK: from ~62.5K to 69.5K tests (+11.2%)
WPE: from ~56K to 62.5K tests (+11.6%)
Reduced amount of skipped tests on WebKitGTK and WPE:
WebKitGTK: from ~14K tests to.7K tests (-10.2%)
WPE: from ~21.2K to 20K tests (-6%)
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21. Quality Assurance
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22. Security
Major, minor and unstable releases:
Feature (major) releases every 6-months (march, september)
Minor releases (i.e. bugfixes) and development releases
Aligned releases for WebKitGTK and WPE:
&
WebKit Security Advisories (WSA):
&
https://webkitgtk.org/releases https://wpewebkit.org/release
https://webkitgtk.org/security.html https://wpewebkit.org/security
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23. Tooling and documentation
Problem: complex develpment environment:
Dependency on different libraries (and not all versions supported)
JHBuild not great for reproduceability; flatpak not great for development
Solution: container-based SDK (OCI compatible)
Reproduceable and share-able environment, it includes all the usual tools
Cover all the development workflows (including hacking on dependencies)
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24. Next Steps
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25. Web Platform contributions
Add support for
New API to manage browser navigation actions and examine history
Add support for
Attribute of the NavigateEvent interface
True if the UA performed a visual transition before a navigation event
Navigation API
hasUAVisualTransition
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26. Graphics
WebKitGTK and WPE graphics rendering architecture
Completely integrate displayLink architecture, simplify and refactor
Extend the use of the DMAbuf architecture (API change in WPE)
2D rendering engine replacement for cairo
Integrate GPUProcess support.
New SVG engine (LBSE):
Finish upstreaming the remaining patches
Ensure good test coverage and no performance regressions
Turn on LBSE by default and remove the legacy SVG engine
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27. Multimedia
Implementation of the GStreamer WebRTC backend
Improve WebCodecs integration with WebGL and WebAudio
General maintenance (e.g. MSE, EME...)
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28. JavaScriptCore
Finish work on ARMv7 improvements:
Concurrent JIT
WASM BBQJIT (99% done)
Enable OMG for WASM and FTL for JavaScript
Need to finish implementing B3 support first
Investigate and optimize heap/JIT memory usage in 32-bit
WASM GC:
Land patches to provide full support and ship the feature
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29. New WPE API
Finish initial version of the new API & start upstreaming ASAP
Review all API docs and write guides and tutorials
Deprecate the old API (won't be removed in the short term)
⚠️No specific release date (i.e. best-effort)
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30. WebKit on Android
Goal: first usable version of WPE Android
Immediate steps:
Update to the latest stable version of WPE
WebDriver support + Web Platform Test suite
Implement missing functionality
Conformance testing
Other: HTTP/2 support, WebInspector...
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31. Quality Assurance
Improve QA processes for WebKitGTK and WPE
Use the new SDK in the bots simplifying the QA procedure
Keep using flatpak for releasing nightlies (i.e. Epiphany Tech Preview)
Prepare GTK bots to use GTK4 by default
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32. Tooling and documentation
Release initial version of the new SDK:
Finish the remaining features & tests in the SDK
Upload proper documentation and tutorials
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33. Questions?
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34. Thanks!
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