A port called Ladybird brings the SerenityOS browser engine to Linux systems for the first time. But the project is still in its infancy.
Andreas Kling has a first Version of a new Linux web browser built. It is based on the self-developed browser engine LibWeb, which already underlies the web browser in the operating system SerenityOS initiated by Kling. The development company calls the Linux browser Ladybird, based on the logo of its open-source operating system.
Kling documented the development process in a 100-minute YouTube video. After a little over an hour, he comes to a first presentation of the results and notes: “When was the last time you saw a new web engine that runs on Linux? It’s been a long time, but here we are”.
Own engine Serenity LibWeb
Up until now, the Serenity LibWeb engine was only used in SerenityOS’ own browser. SerenityOS is a Unix-like operating system that Kling initiated in 2018 and is visually reminiscent of the systems of the 1990s. All components of the operating system, including the kernel, are developed by Kling together with members of the community, no code or packages from third parties are used. The developer provides the previous Ladybird code on GitHub.
The port comes at a time when there are increasing calls for a greater variety of web engines alongside the dominant Blink, Gecko and WebKit. The LibWeb browser engine is thus making its way from the relatively small Serenity user base towards the larger Linux distributions.
