The Linux Foundation announced Thursday a fund to support and organize open projects to build Chromium-based browsers. The supporters of Chromium-based browsers are now accepting new members.
“With the launch of the support of Chromium-based browsers, we are taking another step forward in strengthening the open source community,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, in a press release. “This project will provide much-needed funding and development support for the open development of projects within the Chromium ecosystem.”
Many browsers, including Arc, Microsoft Edge and Opera, use Google’s Chromium as their underlying infrastructure.
Interested potential partners can apply to the Linux Foundation.
What is the Supporters of Chromium-based Browsers group?
The goal of the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers group is to “provide a neutral space where industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community can work together to support projects within the Chromium ecosystem,” the Linux Foundation wrote . As such, the group will “remove barriers to innovation, expand adoption, and ensure that projects within the Chromium ecosystem receive the resources they need to thrive.”
Google, Meta, Microsoft and Opera have supported supporters of Chromium-based browsers. The initiative will be a “neutral space” for “industry leaders, academia, developers and the broader open source community,” the Linux Foundation said.
Nothing will change with existing Chromium products as a result of this announcement, according to the Linux Foundation. Instead, the proponents of Chromium-based browsers will be a new group within the Linux Foundation, following an “open governance model,” the foundation said. In addition, a technical advisory committee will shape the development of the initiative and adapt it to the needs of the larger Chromium community.
“This initiative aligns with our commitment to the web platform through meaningful and positive contributions, commitment to collaborative construction, and partnerships with the community to achieve the best outcome for everyone who uses the Internet,” Meghan Perez, vice president of Microsoft Edge, said in the press release.
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“With the incredible support of the Linux Foundation, we believe that supporters of Chromium-based browsers are an important opportunity to create a sustainable platform to support industry leaders, academia, developers and the wider open source community in its continued development and innovation of the Chromium ecosystem,” Parisa Tabriz, vice president of Chrome, said in the press release.
Google will continue to contribute to Chromium
Chromium was released alongside the proprietary browser Chrome in 2008 as an open source framework option.
The creation of Supporters of Chrome-based browsers comes within months of the US government ordering Google to divest Chrome to prevent a monopoly. Although the Supporters initiative is not directly linked to the divestiture, it provides some structure for Chromium going forward.
Google provides the majority (about 94 percent) of the contributions to Chromium, according to a Jan. 9 Chrome blog. “Others” and the open source cooperative Igalia are distant second and third top contributors.
“While we have no intention of reducing this investment, we continue to welcome others who step up to invest more,” the blog said.
Those contributions include running thousands of servers and responding to hundreds of bugs a day, Chrome said.