Comparison of web browser engines
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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browser engines. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up to date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.
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[edit] General information
Basic general information about the engines.
| Engine | Developer(s) | Software license | Leading application | Programming language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gecko | Netscape/Mozilla Foundation | MPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL tri-license | Mozilla Firefox | C++ |
| GtkHTML[note 1] | GNOME | GNU LGPL | Novell Evolution | C |
| iCab[note 1] | Alexander Clauss | Proprietary | iCab | ? |
| KHTML | KDE | GNU LGPL | Konqueror | C++ |
| NetFront | Access Co. | Proprietary | NetFront | ? |
| Presto | Opera Software | Proprietary | Opera | C++[1] |
| Prince XML | YesLogic Pty Ltd | Proprietary | Prince XML | Mercury |
| XEP | RenderX | Proprietary | XEP | Java |
| Robin | Ritlabs | Proprietary | The Bat! | Delphi |
| Tasman[note 1] | Microsoft | Proprietary | Microsoft Entourage | ? |
| Trident | Microsoft | Proprietary | Internet Explorer | C++[2] |
| WebKit[note 2] | Apple, KDE, Nokia, Google, RIM, Palm, others | GNU LGPL, BSD-style | Google Chrome | C++ |
[edit] Release history
A brief overview of the release history.
| Engine | First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Version | Date | Version | Date | Version | |
| Gecko | 7 December 1998 | "Preview" | 19 March 1999 | M3 | 16 February 2012 | 10.0.2 |
| GtkHTML | 2000 | ? | 2000 | ? | 14 December 2009 | 3.28.2 |
| iCab | 1998 | ? | 1998 | ? | 1 January 2008 | 3.0.5[3] |
| KHTML | October 2000 | ? | October 2000 | ? | 4 August 2009 | 4.3 |
| NetFront | 1995 | ? | 1995 | ? | 13 January 2010 | 4.0 |
| Presto | 13 November 2002 | 1.0 | 28 January 2003 | 1.0 | 12 April 2011 | 2.8.131 |
| Prince XML | April 2003 | 1.0 | April 2003 | 1.0 | May 2010 | 7.1 |
| XEP | 1999 | fo2pdf | ? | ? | March 2010 | 4.18 |
| Robin | 27 April 2000 | 1.32 | 27 April 2000 | 1.32 | 24 August 2009 | 4.2.10 |
| Tasman | 27 March 2000 | 0 | 27 March 2000 | 0 | 11 May 2004 | 1.0 |
| Trident | April 1997 | No number | October 1997 | No number | 14 March 2011 | 5.0 |
| WebKit | 7 January 2003 | 48 | 23 June 2003 | 85 | N/A | SVN version only |
[edit] Operating system support
The operating systems the engines can run on without emulation.
| Engine | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Symbian OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gecko | Yes | Yes[note 3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| GtkHTML | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| iCab | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| KHTML | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NetFront | Partial[note 4] | No | Yes | No | No | Terminated[4] |
| Presto | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Prince XML | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| XEP[5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Robin | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Tasman | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Trident | Yes | Dropped (4.0) | No[6] | No | Dropped (5.0) | No |
| WebKit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c This engine is not currently being developed.
- ^ WebKit was created by Apple by forking KHTML. Subsequently Apple released it as an open source project.
- ^ Although dropped in current version, older versions of the Gecko web browser engine for Mac OS 8.6 and Mac OS 9 are still available for download from Netscape's Archived Products site. An updated port of the Mozilla Application Suite for classic Mac OS systems is maintained as Classilla.
- ^ NetFront supports only Windows CE family.
[edit] References
- ^ Lextrait, Vincent (January 2010). "The Programming Languages Beacon, v10.0". http://www.lextrait.com/Vincent/implementations.html. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Hachamovitch, Dean (2007-12-14), Internet Explorer 8 and Acid2: A Milestone, Microsoft, http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/19/internet-explorer-8-and-acid2-a-milestone.aspx
- ^ The iCab 4 browser uses the WebKit engine - iCab 3.0.5 was the final release of the Carbon (API)-based iCab engine "iCab 4 Abandons Support for the Classic Mac OS". http://lowendmac.com/thomas/08tt/icab-drops-classic-mac-os.html. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ From Access website (2010/06/19): "Access no longer offers nor supports NetFront Browser for Symbian."
- ^ XEP is written in Java, with a dedicated release line for Windows.
- ^ Through the use of the Wine Libraries some version of IE can be started."Beta - IEs4Linux". Tatanka.com.br. http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Beta. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
[edit] See also
- List of web browser engines
- Comparison of web browsers
- Comparison of e-mail clients
- Comparison of layout engines (non-standard HTML)
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