GTK NetSurf running under Linux

History

In April 2002, the NetSurf project was started in response to a discussion of the deficiencies of the RISC OS platform's existing web browsers^[1]. Shortly after the project's inception, development versions for RISC OS users were made available for download by the project's autobuilder. NetSurf was voted "Best non-commercial software" in Drobe Launchpad's 2004, 2006 and 2007 awards^[2][3][4].

Ports

Work on a GTK port began in June 2004^[5]. The port, which runs on Unix-like platforms, was initially created to aid the development and debugging process, but has since matured into a full-fledged GTK web browser. It is packaged with small Linux distributions^[6]. NetSurf has attracted attention from several other platforms. A native BeOS/Haiku port is being developed^[7]. Since the GTK version was built for AmigaOS^[8], using Cygnix which provides an X11 environment, a native AmigaOS port has also been developed.^[9]

Releases

After five years of development, the first stable version of the browser was released on 19th May 2007 to coincide with the Wakefield RISC OS show. Version 1.0 was made available for download from the project's web site and the software was sold on CD at the show. Since the release of NetSurf 1.0 there have been two point-releases, which have largely comprised of bug fixes. NetSurf 1.1 was released simultaneously for RISC OS and as a package in the Debian GNU/Linux repository on 15th August 2007^[10]. NetSurf 1.2 was released on 22nd March 2008^[11].

Google Summer of Code

NetSurf was accepted into Google Summer of Code in 2008 as a mentoring organisation^[12]. It has four active projects:

• PDF Plotter and printing improvements for exporting and printing from RISC OS and GTK
• Abstract the Core Functionality to Stand-alone Libraries to enable their use in other projects
• Improved GTK Frontend
• Work on and integrate hubbub - an HTML5 library

Features

NetSurf is written primarily in ANSI C, and implements most of HTML 4 and CSS 2.1 specifications using a bespoke layout engine.^[13] In addition to the ability to render GIF, JPEG, PNG and BMP images, the browser also supports formats native to RISC OS, including Sprite, Draw and ArtWorks files. As of 2007, NetSurf has no support for JavaScript.^[14]

References

External links

• NetSurf website
• NetSurf on Ubuntu Launchpad

fr:NetSurf