xombrero

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xombrero
Original author(s)Marco Peereboom
Developer(s)Marco Peereboom, Stevan Andjelkovic, Edd Barrett, Todd T. Fries, Raphael Graf, Michal Mazurek, Josh Rickmar, David Hill
Initial releaseMay 30, 2012 (2012-05-30)
Final release
1.6.4[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 17 February 2015
Repository
Written inC, JavaScript
EngineWebKit
Operating systemUnix-like, Windows
PlatformCross-platform
Size0.2 MB
Available inEnglish
TypeWeb browser
LicenseISC license
Websitegithub.com/conformal/xombrero
xombrero showing the Acid3 test results

xombrero (until 2012 known as xxxterm) is a discontinued[2][3] open-source web browser developed with a goal to be a lightweight and secure replacement for full featured browsers like Firefox.[4] The browser has found a niche among minimalist browsers for heavy keyboard users by balancing minimalism with usability.

xombrero is based on GTK+ 3.[5]

Features[edit]

xombrero is based on the WebKit engine[6] and provides an ability to control cookies, plug-ins and JavaScript policies on per-website basis. The user can define the whitelists of trusted websites for each of those security risks.[7][8]

xombrero was designed for experienced command-line interface users, so it includes the features typically requested by such an audience: mouseless browsing, no URL prefetch, vi-like user interface and navigation (including command mode), plain text file configuration, and link hinting.[8][9][10]

User interface[edit]

xombrero provides a command mode (designed after vi) for entering commands for the common tasks, including tabs (buffers) switching, entering URLs, following links and navigating through browser history and bookmarks.[6] The same functionality can be accessed with keyboard shortcuts.

By default xombrero window contains two panels, providing the ordinary layout of a web browser window. The first one (on the top) – "fancy bar" – provides URL entry, backward, forward, stop and white-list toggle buttons and optional search string entry. Another panel (on the bottom) – "status bar" – reports the current URL (or page title), zoom level and position in page. With these panels enabled and a mouse attached, the user may operate xombrero like Firefox or Midori.

History[edit]

The development of the browser began in February 2010 under the name "xxxterm" by several OpenBSD users specifically for that operating system.[7][11] Initially the releases of the browsers were identified by CVS revision numbers, though more common "X.Y.Z" version numbering scheme was introduced as development moved to Git.[12]

In the release announcement for version 1.11.2, Peereboom revealed the plan to rename xxxterm to xombrero, though an emergency release under the old name happened later the same day.[13][14] Later it was revealed that the version numbers for the browser under the new name would start again from 1.0.[15]

In early 2017, it appeared the project was likely to be discontinued, as xombrero depended on an old version of WebKit which had multiple security vulnerabilities, and a port to a modern version of WebKit would be difficult.[16][2] Due to these issues,[3] OpenBSD removed xombrero from its ports tree on 1 February 2017.[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "XOMBRERO_1_6_4". Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "WebKit2". GitHub. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "rm -rf Xombrero". MARC. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  4. ^ Peereboom, Marco (2011-11-04), Why does the world need yet another browser?, archived from the original on September 30, 2012, retrieved 2011-11-27
  5. ^ "Xombrero Major Features". GitHub.
  6. ^ a b Vervloesem, Koen (2011-12-15), "Xxxterm: Surfing like a Vim pro", LWN.net, retrieved 2011-12-16
  7. ^ a b Czarkoff, Dmitrij (2011-12-05), "Introduction: xxxterm Web Browser", OSNews, retrieved 2011-12-05
  8. ^ a b Rapenne, Charles (2012-10-08), "Browse the Internet Differently", BSD Magazine, vol. 6, no. 10, ISSN 1898-9144
  9. ^ Uemura, Mark T. (2010-09-07), "[c2k10] Interview with Marco Peereboom (marco@) Part 8", OpenBSD Journal, retrieved 2011-11-27
  10. ^ Bělka, Jiří (2010-02-25), "XXXTerm: nový prohlížeč postavený na jádře WebKit" [XXXTerm: new browser built on WebKit engine], Root.cz (in Czech), retrieved 2011-12-07
  11. ^ "xxxterm: Commit 4b6598", xxxterm git tree, 2010-02-10, retrieved 2012-06-26
  12. ^ Peereboom, Marco (2011-10-12), xxxterm 1.6.1 released!, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved 2011-10-12
  13. ^ Peereboom, Marco (2012-03-01), xxxterm 1.11.2 released!, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved 2012-06-26
  14. ^ Peereboom, Marco (2012-03-01), xxxterm 1.11.3 released!, archived from the original on July 9, 2015, retrieved 2012-06-26
  15. ^ Peereboom, Marco (2012-05-17), xombrero is here!, archived from the original on March 17, 2016, retrieved 2012-06-05
  16. ^ "maximum webkitgtk version?". GitHub. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Bye Xombrero". GitHub. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.

External links[edit]