Igalia and the Chromium project

Our contributions to the Chromium project have been numerous over the years. We have comprehensive experience in implementing new features, designing new web runtimes and browsers, adapting and customizing Chromium to our clients’ needs, and keeping Chromium forks up-to-date.

Lead developer and collaborator of the Chromium project

Igalia leads the development of many big features, such as the implementation of web standards like the CSS grid layout and MathML specifications, or the Ozone’s new Wayland backend. We are also involved with other multi-year upstream efforts such as the implementation of accessibility support for Linux and the collaboration with the Blink Onion Soup project, which are all aligned with the long-term development goals of the Chromium community.

Native support for Chromium on Wayland

In addition to windowing system support and the GPU rendering pipeline integration into the Wayland backend, we have also been leading the migration of the legacy X11 backend towards Ozone, which is crucial to be able to officially ship and support Chromium on Wayland. Ultimately, this will allow Chromium to run natively on Wayland-enabled environments like those that can be found not only on desktop systems but also on many embedded devices (e.g. domestic appliances, In-Vehicle Infotainment…), where performance is critical.

Automotive Grade Linux and Web Runtimes

We also work to adapt Chromium to the needs of specific devices and software platforms. For instance, we have ported Chromium to Renesas R-Car boards and integrated it with software stacks like Automotive Grade Linux and the GENIVI Development Platform.

In the area of web runtimes and the design of new Chromium browsers, our team has contributed to WAM, the LG webOS web runtime, which is used in smart TVs, wearables, and even home appliances. The team is now working on expanding its usage to other industries, such as the automotive sector.

Implementation of JavaScript features

We have also worked on related projects such as V8, Chromium’s JavaScript engine, where our compilers team has been working on many JavaScript language features.

Maintenance of downstream forks

For years, Igalia has been helping our customers to maintain their Chromium forks by executing frequent rebases over new Chromium releases. Igalia also assists clients in best practices to reduce their codebase’s delta by upstreaming some of their customizations, upon reaching agreements with the web browsers community. Our extensive knowledge of the codebase, excellent relationship with key actors of the Chromium Community and close following of Chromium release channels make us the right partner to keep up-to-date with upstream evolution.

Active contributors to upstream Chromium

Igalia works closely with upstream open source projects. Many project members are trusted members of the community with several years’ experience contributing to the Chromium project as Committers, Owners and even Blink API Owners .

We can be responsible for implementing new features directly upstream, or for helping to move third-party downstream changes into the Chromium project. For this purpose, we either can work hand-in-hand with your browsers development team to reduce the delta, or we can do it on our own, depending on the specific situation.

All in all, Igalia is the foremost consultancy in Chromium and we can help in aligning your browser strategy with Chromium upstream. In this regard, our long trajectory of contributions and excellent relationships with the Chromium community, demonstrated by our regular participation in BlinkOn and other browsers events, vouch for us.