epiphany

What the project is

GNOME Web, codenamed Epiphany, is a GNOME web browser based on the WebKit rendering engine, and the GitHub repository is a read only mirror of the project hosted on GNOME's GitLab. The codename means a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature of something. The README states plainly that Epiphany is opinionated, and it frames a web browser as more than an application, calling it a way of thinking and seeing the world. The principles laid out are simplicity, standards compliance and software freedom. The project is designed for Linux systems, and the recommended installation path is Flatpak, with the README warning that operating system package manager versions are often outdated and insecure.

Installation and building

For users, the README points to Flathub for the latest stable version, a technology preview flatpak for those who want to test tomorrow's Epiphany, and a Canary flavor built directly from WebKit's and Epiphany's development branches for the most adventurous testers, with a warning that Canary is likely very unstable. For developers, the easy build path uses the flatpak builder manifest with GNOME Builder, which provides all required dependencies. A manual Meson build is also documented with the standard mkdir, meson, ninja and install steps, and the README shows how to resolve missing pkg config dependencies on Fedora and Debian based systems. Rebuilding WebKit or other dependencies is described as a more complicated setup using Toolbox or JHBuild.

Design stance and licensing

The manifesto section argues that feature bloat and interface clutter are evil, and that Epiphany aims for the simplest possible browser interface without being less powerful, contrasting with today's browsers that are too big, buggy and bloated. It explicitly says the browser is for the web and not for mail, newsgroups, file management, instant messaging or coffee making, echoing the UNIX philosophy of small tools. The repository carries 395 stars and 61 forks with no GitHub issues because issues live on GitLab, the default branch is main, and the license is GPL 3.0. As with Nautilus, this GitHub copy is a mirror, and GitLab remains the source of truth for development and bug reports.

Editorial conclusion

Epiphany is a GPL 3.0 read only GitHub mirror of the GNOME Web browser with 395 stars, built on WebKit and distributed mainly through Flathub, with an opinionated stance favoring simplicity, standards compliance and software freedom, and its real issues and merges live on GNOME's GitLab.