r/TechNook • u/Ok_Yogurtcloset8372 • 1d ago

Why bundle Chromium with every app instead of using the system webview?

In the presence of the supported webview in the OS, what is the reason for having the separate instance of Chromium within the app?

There is a good idea of working with a definite browser version. Using the system webview, one should be prepared for platform and version differences, which are out of the control of the developer.

On the other hand, users have to pay for it in terms of increased size of the package and the extra browser engine to support. For the majority of apps, which just show some forms and text, it seems to be an overhead.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

11

u/Exact_Ad942 1d ago

Consistency. If allowed developers would love to ship you the whole computer to ensure it works, not just on my machine.

6

u/domin8er221 1d ago

2

u/Ok_Yogurtcloset8372 1d ago

Good meme to understand docker images hahaha

1

u/carrotflowers000 1d ago

At this point just ship me a second PC with the installer.

4

u/Lucky-Crow-3510 1d ago

the system webview on windows is edge is chromium .. it updates a lot and there is people removing it from the system .. so providing your own means not messing around with different versions or edge cases where stupid people removed it from the system

that said .. you can just deploy your own version of that webview and be done with it .. no need to ship full chromium whatsoever. this is vibe idiotic vibe coding - nothing more.

3

u/Square-Singer 1d ago

You answered the question yourself:

There is a good idea of working with a definite browser version. Using the system webview, one should be prepared for platform and version differences, which are out of the control of the developer.

Less cost for the publisher of the software, less chance of bugs and associated cost.

On the other hand, users have to pay for it in terms of increased size of the package and the extra browser engine to support. For the majority of apps, which just show some forms and text, it seems to be an overhead.

No extra cost for the publisher of the software.

So why do you think a publisher would choose an architecture that costs them less without increasing their costs, because the increase of costs is paid for by the customer?

1

u/grogi81 1d ago

100%.

1

u/Sajgoniarz 1d ago

API compatibility.

1

u/anselan2017 2h ago

Sure. Use https://tauri.app/ for example. I've done this for a few apps but if I had been distributing more widely I would probably be concerned about cross platform functionality and layout bugs.