ungoogled-chromium
ungoogled-chromium is a free and open-source variant of the Chromium web browser that removes all Google-specific web services.[4][5][6] It achieves this with a series of patches applied to the Chromium codebase during the compilation process. The result is functionally similar to regular Chromium.[7][8]
Developer(s) | Eloston and other hobbyists[1] |
---|---|
Initial release | December 14, 2015 |
Stable release | 118.0.5993.88-1[2] (19 October 2023 )
|
Repository | https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium |
Engine | V8, Blink |
Operating system | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, BSD |
Platform | x86_64, ARMv8, ARMv7, IA-32 |
License | 3-clause BSD License[3] |
Website | github |
Features
- Disabling functionality that requires Google domains, including Google Safe Browsing.[9]
- Replacing Google web domains in the Chromium source code with non-existent web domains and blocking internal requests to those domains.[9]
- Removing binary blobs from the Chromium source code and replacing them with custom alternatives.[9]
The browser also adds smaller non-essential features such as flags protecting against fingerprinting and borrows features from other projects such as Debian. Some Chromium features do not work on ungoogled-chromium, a notable one being installing extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store.[9]
History
The ungoogled-chromium project was founded by a hobbyist with the user name Eloston in 2015. It was first developed for Linux, then for other operating systems.[10][11] Eloston used to release builds, but eventually he stopped doing so and allowed others to provide builds with his patches.[12]
Starting in 2019, Eloston greatly reduced his involvement in the project, and other hobbyists have continued to maintain the patches.[1] In 2022, the GitHub repository was transferred from Eloston's personal account to a new "ungoogled-software" account.[13]
References
- "Contributors to ungoogled-software/Ungoogled-chromium". GitHub. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- "Release 118.0.5993.88-1 · ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium (English)". 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- "ungoogled-chromium/LICENSE". Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- Cimpanu, Catalin (16 October 2016). "UnGoogled Chromium Removes All the Googley Parts from Chromium". Softpedia. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
- Tim Anderson. "When open source isn't enough: Fancy a de-Googled Chromium? How about some Microsoft-free VS Code?". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- Duino, Justin (30 September 2016). "'Ungoogled' is the Chrome browser you love minus the Google". 9to5Google. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- Github Readme Objectives, ungoogled-software, 4 October 2022, retrieved 4 October 2022
- "Ungoogled Chromium". TechSpot. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- "GitHub Readme Feature Overview". GitHub. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- "Release 51.0.2704.106-2 · ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium". GitHub. First official binary for Windows. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - "Release 51.0.2704.106-3 · ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium". GitHub. First official binary for macOS. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ungoogled-chromium-binaries, ungoogled-software, 15 September 2022, retrieved 4 October 2022
- "GitHub discussion". GitHub.
This repo is now part of ungoogled-software