Apple Rolls Out WebKit2, But No Linux Love Yet

WebKit, the layout engine designed by Apple that was originally derived from KDE's KHTML and since then has picked up support by Google within their Chrome/Chromium web browser, is used in parts of GNOME, and has been adopted elsewhere, just got a new Apple upgrade today. Apple has published what they are calling "WebKit2", which is a new WebKit framework they have been working on for their Safari web-browser.

WebKit2 is described by Apple's Anders Carlsson in the mailing list message as:

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.

Documentation concerning WebKit2 can be found on the project's Trac. Unfortunately, the open-source WebKit2 is not yet supported on Linux. Apple has just provided support for Windows and Mac OS X, but they will accept patches that add other OS support.

WebKit2 is currently considered a "technology preview" by Apple and has not yet landed in a released version of Safari. Soon Apple will be publishing a basic web browser demo that's powered by WebKit2 for demonstration purposes.