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A web browser reference implementation using Mozilla Android Components

28 points by commoner 8y ago

commoner 8y ago
This browser uses the same GeckoView engine as the recently updated Firefox Focus (for Android), which runs much faster than the Gecko engine that's currently being used in Firefox for Android. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox-focus https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox-focus
untog 8y ago
Is there a similar component for the Firefox JS engine? I'd be interested to know if it could be used standalone and how big it would be. (Mozilla also has the Rhino JS engine that works on Android, but this is something different)
- commoner 8y ago
  Originally, there was XULRunner, which was used in applications including ChatZilla, Google AdWords Editor, Komodo Edit, Pencil, Songbird, and Zotero. XULRunner has been discontinued. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XULRunner https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XUL... Mozilla briefly developed Positron, which was an Electron-compatible app shell that used Gecko instead of Chromium/Node.js/V8. Positron has also been discontinued. https://github.com/mozilla/positron https://github.com/mozilla/positron The developer who was working on Positron went on to develop qbrt, which is a CLI interface to a Gecko app runtime. The project is unstable, and the last commit date is Jun 30, 2018. https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt Another Mozilla developer has a project called servoshell, which is an embeddable version of Servo. It's described as work-in-progress, and the last commit date is Jan 7, 2018. https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell I'm afraid this is it for now, since embedding Gecko is no longer unsupported by Mozilla. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embedding_Mozilla/FAQ/Embedding_Gecko https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embed... Hopefully, Mozilla will continue working on embeddable versions of desktop Gecko after they release the necessary improvements in Firefox.
blahblahblogger 8y ago
As an Android engineer, what would I use this for in my app? Is it something I would embed to use in lieu of Chrome Custom Tabs if I wanted an in-app browser experience (similar to CCT) but that I could customize more or if I wanted more control over the "web browser engine" for some reason?
- commoner 8y ago
  Mozilla's Android components repo describes the project as "A collection of Android libraries to build browsers or browser-like applications." Since this includes an entire browser engine and browser features such as autocomplete and history/bookmark syncing, I don't think this is meant to be a substitute for Chrome Custom Tabs. If you intend to develop a complete browser (e.g. Brave) or an app that uses multiple browser features (e.g. a shopping app with a built-in browser), then Mozilla's Android components might be right for you. https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components The Mozilla Reference Browser appears to be targeted to end users as a way to showcase performance improvements in an upcoming version of Firefox. Right now, Mozilla isn't able to include GeckoView into Firefox Nightly because it doesn't support all of the existing browser features.

28 points by commoner 8y ago

This browser uses the same GeckoView engine as the recently updated Firefox Focus (for Android), which runs much faster than the Gecko engine that's currently being used in Firefox for Android. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox-focus https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox-focus

untog 8y ago

Is there a similar component for the Firefox JS engine? I'd be interested to know if it could be used standalone and how big it would be. (Mozilla also has the Rhino JS engine that works on Android, but this is something different)

commoner 8y ago
Originally, there was XULRunner, which was used in applications including ChatZilla, Google AdWords Editor, Komodo Edit, Pencil, Songbird, and Zotero. XULRunner has been discontinued. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XULRunner https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XUL... Mozilla briefly developed Positron, which was an Electron-compatible app shell that used Gecko instead of Chromium/Node.js/V8. Positron has also been discontinued. https://github.com/mozilla/positron https://github.com/mozilla/positron The developer who was working on Positron went on to develop qbrt, which is a CLI interface to a Gecko app runtime. The project is unstable, and the last commit date is Jun 30, 2018. https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt Another Mozilla developer has a project called servoshell, which is an embeddable version of Servo. It's described as work-in-progress, and the last commit date is Jan 7, 2018. https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell I'm afraid this is it for now, since embedding Gecko is no longer unsupported by Mozilla. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embedding_Mozilla/FAQ/Embedding_Gecko https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embed... Hopefully, Mozilla will continue working on embeddable versions of desktop Gecko after they release the necessary improvements in Firefox.

blahblahblogger 8y ago

As an Android engineer, what would I use this for in my app? Is it something I would embed to use in lieu of Chrome Custom Tabs if I wanted an in-app browser experience (similar to CCT) but that I could customize more or if I wanted more control over the "web browser engine" for some reason?

commoner 8y ago
Mozilla's Android components repo describes the project as "A collection of Android libraries to build browsers or browser-like applications." Since this includes an entire browser engine and browser features such as autocomplete and history/bookmark syncing, I don't think this is meant to be a substitute for Chrome Custom Tabs. If you intend to develop a complete browser (e.g. Brave) or an app that uses multiple browser features (e.g. a shopping app with a built-in browser), then Mozilla's Android components might be right for you. https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components The Mozilla Reference Browser appears to be targeted to end users as a way to showcase performance improvements in an upcoming version of Firefox. Right now, Mozilla isn't able to include GeckoView into Firefox Nightly because it doesn't support all of the existing browser features.