Add the power of the Web to your embedded devices with WPE WebKit
Channel: Igalia
Date: 17/04/2024

The Web engine is the most important component of a Web Browser: it makes it
possible to fetch and interpret web content, allowing users to interact with
it. WebKit, the Open Source Web engine used in Web browsers like Safari,
provides an architecture particularly well-designed for embedded platforms,
making it popular not just for Apple devices, but for all sorts of Linux-based
environments too (e.g. set-top-boxes, smart home appliances..). However, a Web
engine is a complex piece of software and often not optimized for low-power
computers.

This is where WPE, a Linux-based Open Source “port” of WebKit for embedded
devices, comes in. Its low memory footprint and focus on simplicity,
flexibility, and performance allows for the kind of customization needed to run
on bespoke hardware and integrate with a wide variety of requirements. WPE is
also developed upstream as part of the WebKit project and regularly published
every 6 months via stable releases, guaranteeing that it’s up-to-date with the
latest developments in the WebKit community.

In this talk, we will explore WPE in detail, see how the project has evolved,
and look at where it’s heading next, highlighting some of its most popular use
cases and some experiments that open up brand-new possibilities for this port
of WebKit.

Slides available at: https://people.igalia.com/msanchez/talks/202309-EmbeddedRecipes-WPE/


(c) Embedded Recipes 2023
28-29 September, 2023
Paris / Fondation Biermans Lapotre
https://embedded-recipes.org/2023/