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I think in an ideal world WebKit would be a good option, but sadly Apple's proprietary fork of WebKit is significantly better (in the real world) compared to WebKit on Linux. Gecko is hard to separate from Firefox, leaving Chromium as the only real choice. I would totally prefer WebKit, but the webapp performance on Linux is too bad to ignore.

In my mind, the entire appeal of Orion is that it allows the speed and efficiency of WebKit to be combined with the robust extension support afforded to both Chromium and Gecko-based browsers. While I personally like the design language of Qt, if using it means needing to pivot to Chromium on other platforms then, at least to me, it renders Orion kinda pointless on other platforms and makes it yet another Chromium browser, and there are already more than enough of those.

Gnome or KDE

Actually both could be done while still using WebKit, but it's going to involve a lot of work. WPEWebKit shares a lot of code with the GTK port, but you have to reinvent the wheel for things that GTK already handles for you such as buffer sharing and input. Cog provides a good resource for how a WPE port would look in an app: https://github.com/Igalia/cog

Or if desired the orion could use WPEWebKit directly over libwayland and libxcb (these are going to add a lot more code, and X11 for this thing is more painful).

    11 days later

    Another vote for Gnome, it's Linux, we are all running QT apps in Gnome and GTK apps in Plasma... stick with Webkit.

    8 days later

    Another vote for Webkit!! 😃 This thread is super exciting. I will gladly become a paid supporter once available on GNU/Linux!

    I vote for webkit. I agree that there's enough crhromium browsers

    6 days later

    one vote more for webkit, free me of the chromium reign!

    can't wait to be able to use the same browser in iOS, mac os and linux.

    PS. yeah, just trying to stay away from windows as far as possible

    a month later

    gp I think Flatpak is the way to go. At the very least Flatpak should be the focus.

    1. A containerized application means the developers of Orion for Linux can include all required dependencies. They don't need to concern themselves with different packaging formats like .deb or .rpm.

    2. As Flathub is planning on including payment for applications for applications distributed through them Orion unlocks a potential new source of revenue. Payments can be optional to keep the app free for users who are unsure.

    3. The installation is basically a one-click affair. Users can install Flatpaks through GNOME Software or Discover on KDE Plasma.

    4. GNOME Web/Epiphany is already distributed via Flathub and uses WebKit so there should no issues with WebKit itself.

      Sorry to report that the contractor team who was supposed to work on this bailed out. We are back to putting this on hold.

        a month later

        kio Nope, at this time we do not have anyone willing to take on this project in an economically viable way and we do not have enough Orion+ members to fund it.

          14 days later

          I am not a developer, so please excuse my ignorance, but would a Flatpak or AppImage be a viable way to move forward since they are supported on almost all distros and DE? If not, I would like to put a vote in for the Gnome DE if this project gets up and running again.

            @Vlad
            What about making a kickstarter/founding for Linux/Windows/Android Orion?

            I gotta say, me and a lot of other members would contribute. Idk, you guys could decide which platform would be better to launch first among the three options and then start a founding to gather enough resources to make it happen.

            I mean, I gotta say, personally, I haven't bought Orion+ cause it's just for Apple, I'm mostly Windows/Linux/Android user. With a founding project, I believe we can make it happen.

              6 days later

              TheLastEnvoy Not a bad idea, but raising money is just one part of equation, the other is finding people who can build a browser on Linux. If anyone know any of this caliber please send them our way so that we can assess how much money we will need to raise in the first place.

                  22 days later

                  I know this isn't being worked on now, but I figured I'd chime in.

                  I'm personally using KDE as my DE, so I'd vote for anything that lets me use the browser in KDE.

                    a month later

                    If this does ever get picked up again, I hope you're able to stick with GTK and webkit.

                    Hello everyone, I think that regarding this topic @Vlad should clarify what is the main goal of kagi, if it is to bring webkit in each Os we will to wait a long time if instead the goal is to make available a zero telemetry and light and then consider using geko for other Os?
                    The last one seems strange given the huge work they are doing to bring the extensions to webkit

                    • Vlad replied to this.
                      8 days later

                      Good luck, and hope this initiative is picked back up.

                      Worth noting that using WebKit on Linux doesn't limit you to GTK/Gnome, as WebKit for Embedded (WPE) can output a texture directly. I built a proof-of-concept browser using direct GL rendering with Sway on Wayland using WPE, (see also Cog).

                      I've done some experimental work (and so has Igalia for Epiphany/Gnome Web) on implementing the Web Extensions standard (Mozilla), with the goal of supporting at least BitWarden and uBlock Origin. Performance is great and easy to have multiprocess renderering / suspended tabs etc.