4 ms·

Is it very difficult to ship two versions of it, one "stable" in the OS for embedding, and another in an app?

by mepian 4y ago

illiarian 4y ago
That's what they originally did, and developers complained that in-app browser wasn't getting the same features as the main browser
- babypuncher 4y ago
  Make it an option for developers. They should be able choose between an OS-provided "stable" webkit, or the Safari-provided "evergreen" webkit. You could even make it so that the stable option is automatically used as a fallback if Safari isn't installed, if that ever becomes an option.
  - NegativeLatency 4y ago
    or just ship both at the same time so it's nice and simple
yamtaddle 4y ago
Then you have to have two copies of the program, on disk and, at least at times, in memory. And they behave differently, which might be confusing. And all kinds of handoff scenarios and edge cases get potentially-weird. Meanwhile, how many users would sacrifice any amount of stability or even just disk space to get somewhat-quicker releases of browser features? I'm guessing the percentage may very reasonably be rounded to zero. It's not even close to being urgent enough to be worth any amount of risk or extra resource use, IMO, as someone who conceivably might care about it, and the vast majority of users are even less likely to give a damn than I am. So: why? Maybe I'm unusual, but it's been a really long time since I saw a new browser feature and was like "holy shit, this is amazing and I don't know how I browsed the web without it!" I can wait a few months for a browser update, it's really not a big deal.
- charcircuit 4y ago
  >how many users would sacrifice any amount of stability or even just disk space to get somewhat-quicker releases of browser features? Android does this so I figure quite a lot of users are willing.
  - vetinari 4y ago
    Not only that; Chrome, even when preloaded, is uninstallable like any other app. It's use is not mandatory.
    - charcircuit 4y ago
      >even when preloaded, is uninstallable like any other app Most preloaded apps are installed on a read only partition. Since it is read only you can't uninstall it.
      - vetinari 4y ago
        You can disable them. System then behaves as if it wasn't there, without having to write into read only partition.

Is it very difficult to ship two versions of it, one "stable" in the OS for embedding, and another in an app?

by mepian 4y ago

Is it very difficult to ship two versions of it, one "stable" in the OS for embedding, and another in an app?

That's what they originally did, and developers complained that in-app browser wasn't getting the same features as the main browser

babypuncher 4y ago
Make it an option for developers. They should be able choose between an OS-provided "stable" webkit, or the Safari-provided "evergreen" webkit. You could even make it so that the stable option is automatically used as a fallback if Safari isn't installed, if that ever becomes an option.
- NegativeLatency 4y ago
  or just ship both at the same time so it's nice and simple

yamtaddle 4y ago

Then you have to have two copies of the program, on disk and, at least at times, in memory. And they behave differently, which might be confusing. And all kinds of handoff scenarios and edge cases get potentially-weird. Meanwhile, how many users would sacrifice any amount of stability or even just disk space to get somewhat-quicker releases of browser features? I'm guessing the percentage may very reasonably be rounded to zero. It's not even close to being urgent enough to be worth any amount of risk or extra resource use, IMO, as someone who conceivably might care about it, and the vast majority of users are even less likely to give a damn than I am. So: why? Maybe I'm unusual, but it's been a really long time since I saw a new browser feature and was like "holy shit, this is amazing and I don't know how I browsed the web without it!" I can wait a few months for a browser update, it's really not a big deal.

charcircuit 4y ago
>how many users would sacrifice any amount of stability or even just disk space to get somewhat-quicker releases of browser features? Android does this so I figure quite a lot of users are willing.
- vetinari 4y ago
  Not only that; Chrome, even when preloaded, is uninstallable like any other app. It's use is not mandatory.
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    >even when preloaded, is uninstallable like any other app Most preloaded apps are installed on a read only partition. Since it is read only you can't uninstall it.
    - vetinari 4y ago
      You can disable them. System then behaves as if it wasn't there, without having to write into read only partition.