Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Delays Release of LGPL WebKit Code

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hey-now-wait-a-minute dept.

jfruhlinger writes "Ever since Apple forked the KHTML project to create WebKit, the rendering engine at the core of Safari, the company has been a good open source citizen, releasing the code back to the community after updates. But that suddenly stopped in March, with no code releases for the last two updates to the iOS version of the browser, for reasons unknown. This might remind you of Google's failure to release the Honeycomb source code. But at least Google announced that it was holding the code back, and Android is under a license that allows for a delay; the LGPL'd WebKit isn't." Update: 05/09 21:21 GMT by S : Reader Shin-LaC points out that Apple has now released the relevant source code.

8 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's right here by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, no it's not. That's WebKit, not Apple's version of WebKit.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  2. Re:download page by Pieroxy · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, it doesn't matter. Legally, under the GPL, they are required to distribute (upon request)....

    Has anyone requested it?

    --
    Write boring code, not shiny code!
  3. Note to Apple fanboys: by Beelzebud · · Score: 3, Informative

    Saying "Google does it too!", doesn't make it right.

  4. Re:It's right here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you read the article this is about WebCore not WebKit. Apples version of webkit is webkit. Webcore is licensed under BSD and LGPL. If apples changes where to the parts that are BSD licensed then they are under no obligation to release anything.

  5. Re:Make no mistake about it: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Why have they bothered with all this then? http://opensource.apple.com/

    Most of the packages for Mac OS X are not even GPLed, so Apple would not need to release any of the code for them.

  6. Re:download page by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 4, Informative

    One of the big issues companies have with FOSS is software patients.

    Patents are not relevant here. If there were a patent issue, they couldn't use it at all, closing the source has no effect.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  7. Found it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.opensource.apple.com/tarballs/WebCore/WebCore-955.66.tar.gz
    Also see:
    http://www.opensource.apple.com/tarballs/

  8. Re:Simple Explanation and Jumping to Conclusions by Jonner · · Score: 3, Informative

    Am I the only to see a very simple explanation that the author has missed?

    Apple's own iOS 4.3 source download page references the unreleased sources of JavaScriptCore and WebCore.