CodeWeavers Ports Chromium to Linux and Mac OS X

by Sam Dean - Sep. 15, 2008Comments (10)

We've written about the folks at CodeWeavers before. They make a customized, commercial version of Wine called CrossOverLinux. and have been major contributors to Wine. (Wine allows Linux users to run Windows applications.) This post from the CodeWeavers blog details how the company has succesfully ported versions of Chromium--the open source core of Google's Chrome browser--for Mac and Linux. The ports are free and available here. You won't want to run these ports as your main browser, but as proof-of-concept for cross-platform versions of Chrome, this is good news.

You can read more about the ported versions--dubbed CrossOver Chromium--here. "CrossOver Chromium is a technology proof-of-concept to demonstrate Wine’s capabilities for rapidly migrating Windows software to new marketplaces, such as Linux and Mac," says the CodeWeavers post.

Check out this screenshot of CrossOver Chromium running on Mac OS X. And, check out this version of CrossOver Chromium running on Ubuntu.

I've been predicting that the official versions of Chrome will show up for the Mac and Linux by the end of the year, and this makes me more confident that we'll see that. As we've noted, there is already a developer page for the upcoming Linux version of Chrome. It's good to see energy and ingenuity going on for this new open source browser.

 


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10 Comments
 

I wouldn't call this a "Port" but its interesting all the same.

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Agreed, this isn't a true port at all. They've just improved the compatibility of Wine and changed some source code to make it play together more happily from the sounds of things.

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They have ported it to Wine and not to Linux!

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So they ported a Windows app to... Windows essentially. Man, I could sure go for some rehydrated water right about now.

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Yeah, really, the headline and story are just plain wrong, CodeWeavers have done no such thing. Porting means moving to a different platform, not recompiling on an open source version of the same platform.

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Quit throwing cold water on Codeweavers. I'm typing this out now on their Crossover Chromium, and near as I can tell, it's running flawlessly on my Ubuntu system. No, it's not a true port, but if it works, why the sour grapes? WINE's a good piece of software, brilliant and useful, might as well use it. Google's port of Picasa runs off of wine too. I for one appreciate their work on this. It's not like anyone else has taken the freely available code and turned it into something useful for a linux system (and with all the whining, I would have expected some hacker or two to have attempted it). Well done Codeweavers.

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As I've said it before... It's not worth it!!!!!!

Why even try it? because it's from guugle?? Bahhh...

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Interesting that, since chromium has so liitle chrome, the fact that it's (currently) a WINE app doesn't make it stand out as odd any more than it stands out on Windows.

I wonder if WINE will ever integrate itself better with the native window manager and other desktop libraires (like the file chooser). There's nothing preventing a winelib app from appearing native. Well, not nothing, but it could come a lot closer, no?

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Interesting that, since chromium has so liitle chrome, the fact that it's (currently) a WINE app doesn't make it stand out as odd any more than it stands out on Windows.

I wonder if WINE will ever integrate itself better with the native window manager and other desktop libraires (like the file chooser). There's nothing preventing a winelib app from appearing native. Well, not nothing, but it could come a lot closer, no?

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Thanks for the mention of Chromium, and we're glad it seems to be working for folks. As to the comments about whether it's a "true" Mac port, or a "Wine port," or whatever, please understand that our main goal was to draw the attention of other Windows ISVs to what we had done, so that we might offer them similar services. You can't very well send out a press release that encapsulates what you've done in about 8 words *and* simultaneously capture the subtle nuances of what is a "port" vs. what is "native" vs. what is "emulation" vs. what is whatever. So, it's fine to pick technical nits here, but we'll err on the side of concision any day when sending out our press releases--it's a matter of considering who our audience is. ;-)


The other thing I'd mention (with all due modesty) is that "improv(ing) the compatibility of Wine and chang(ing) some source code to make it play together more happily" sounds easy but is actually a very non-trivial undertaking. Wine is probably the hardest programming gig on the planet, bar none. Pushing Assembler stacks around is child's play compared to trying to figure out why completely undocumented API Call X doesn't do what it's supposed to do in the completely unavailable source code to Application Y while running on operating system flavor Z. It's Black Box torture taken to the extreme. So, while we know that what we're doing isn't exactly the same as serving up "native" Mac or Linux apps to folks, we think it's extremely valuable, and we're very proud of the technical chops it takes to make it happen.


Again, thanks for your mention of CrossOver Chromium; we appreciate it. And have a happy New Year!


Cheers,


-jon parshall-

COO

www.codeweavers.com


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