4 ms·

If there's bugs you care about, then you patch them. WebKit is open source, so anyone can fork it and build their own version with any fixes or changes they lik

If there's bugs you care about, then you patch them. WebKit is open source, so anyone can fork it and build their own version with any fixes or changes they like. I don't see anything but positive news from this.

quadhome 14y ago
That doesn't mean those patches will be accepted upstream.
kibwen 14y ago
> WebKit is open source, so anyone can fork it and build > their own version with any fixes or changes they like. You're committing an error here. Say you find a bug in Webkit. You patch it, but Apple declines to accept it upstream. You fork the project. Now how do you get your fork into the hands of your users? Unless you're secretly Google in disguise, you're SOL.
gcp 14y ago
If there's bugs you care about, then you patch them. So now you have a fixed WebKit that nobody else uses.
pooriaazimi 14y ago
But it's not that easy. It's one thing to add a missing feature to a Ruby gem or event to jQuery, but WebKit is a much bigger beast. Most geeks can't realistically patch things in a big heap of C++ code like that...
- nanidin 14y ago
  The codebase is pretty big... and I think you're right that someone can pop in and contribute to smaller projects much more easily. But I've poked around in it and it's not that bad. If you put a week into understanding it, it's not nearly as daunting. It's about the same as when you start at a company with a large existing codebase. You're not going to get much done until you've read and understand the chunks of the code that relate to what you need to do. This spinup time is definitely bigger than the hour it can take to fix a bug in a small project that you previously had no experience with, but it's definitely within the realm of the possible.
ctz 14y ago
Please explain how I can patch webkit bugs on my iPhone.

4 ms·

If there's bugs you care about, then you patch them. WebKit is open source, so anyone can fork it and build their own version with any fixes or changes they lik

by marcedwards 14y ago

quadhome 14y ago
That doesn't mean those patches will be accepted upstream.
kibwen 14y ago
> WebKit is open source, so anyone can fork it and build > their own version with any fixes or changes they like. You're committing an error here. Say you find a bug in Webkit. You patch it, but Apple declines to accept it upstream. You fork the project. Now how do you get your fork into the hands of your users? Unless you're secretly Google in disguise, you're SOL.
gcp 14y ago
If there's bugs you care about, then you patch them. So now you have a fixed WebKit that nobody else uses.
pooriaazimi 14y ago
But it's not that easy. It's one thing to add a missing feature to a Ruby gem or event to jQuery, but WebKit is a much bigger beast. Most geeks can't realistically patch things in a big heap of C++ code like that...
- nanidin 14y ago
  The codebase is pretty big... and I think you're right that someone can pop in and contribute to smaller projects much more easily. But I've poked around in it and it's not that bad. If you put a week into understanding it, it's not nearly as daunting. It's about the same as when you start at a company with a large existing codebase. You're not going to get much done until you've read and understand the chunks of the code that relate to what you need to do. This spinup time is definitely bigger than the hour it can take to fix a bug in a small project that you previously had no experience with, but it's definitely within the realm of the possible.
ctz 14y ago
Please explain how I can patch webkit bugs on my iPhone.