Le dim. 18 oct. 2026 à 09:34, Andreas Røsdal <[email protected]> a écrit :
> Karsten, Carsten, Jérémy, Sebastian, > > *I pray and beg that you please include Northstar Browser (Nordstjernen) > in Debian, in next stable Forky in 2027.* > > *If the Northstar browser is included in Debian Linux, I will do my utmost > to make the browser successful and ensure it works well in Debian,* > *and I will make sure that the Debian project and Debian contributors like > you, and the four of you in particular, will be rewarded* > *and forever honoured for your contributions to Debian, open source > software and for providing diversity of web browser software on the > internet.* > For a young software like this, it might be a better strategy to maintain it in testing, and upload updates to https://backports.debian.org/ to distribute to stable users. When in stable, a package is supposed to only receive patches (bug-fixing, security patches): that might actually hurt your users, because for now your browser is still growing and changing. In any case, once this browser is in debian/sid, it might be a good idea to contact the release team about the best way to deal with it. > We believe the Northstar browser is well suited for Debian Linux, and that > including Northstar browser is in philosophical spirit: > https://www.debian.org/intro/philosophy - "We want to create a free > operating system, freely available for everyone. Now, when we use the word > "free", we're not talking about money, > instead, we are referring to software freedom." > Northstar browser is secure, because the code-base is new, modern C, > written by state-of-the-art technology such as Claude, and we are also many > contributors who review > the generated source code and test the browser continously. The source > code is now *245,000 lines of C code*, which is much more maintainable > and easier to review and audit, > than the source code of Firefox and Chrome where the source code runs > into many millions of lines of source code. > > We have applied for a grant from* NLnet Foundation, the Restack*, with > deadline in November 2026: https://nlnet.nl/restack/ > Northstar fits the goals on NLNet: "Free and *open source software* and > hardware, open standards, open data, open science, and open core internet > infrastructure are democratising innovation and learning, > and are together driving society and industry forward at an unprecedented > pace.". We hope NLnet will fund the Northstar (Nordstjernen) browser > because it is an independent, JIT-free, C-based browser engine > developed in Europe that directly aligns with their Restack mission to > build a secure, open, and sovereign internet stack free from Big Tech > monopolies. > > I suggest we focus on including the Nordstjernen-browser project > <https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/nordstjernen-browser>, instead of > the two other variants, Southstar > <https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/southstar-browser> and Northstar > <https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser>. In the future we > can also include the Rust version when it becomes > mature enough. In Debian I suggest we use the English name Northstar / > northstar-browser, > while actually including Nordstjernen: > https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/nordstjernen-browser > > We can also have discussions about the dependencies and how to package the > application in Debian, > and we will make changes according to your specifications. For *QuickJS *and > *Lexbor *we recommend that we > use our custom versions of these libraries because they are optimized for > our use-case and improved for > security and preformance. > > > Sincerely, > Andreas Røsdal > > > > On Sat, Oct 17, 2026 at 10:11 PM Jérémy Lal <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> Le sam. 17 oct. 2026 à 20:37, Andreas Røsdal <[email protected]> >> a écrit : >> >>> Hello Karsten, Carsten, Jérémy, Sebastian >>> >>> I would like to contact you to request that you please include the web >>> browser (Northstar) >>> we are making into Debian. >>> >> >> First things first, keep the ITP bug in the loop. >> >> >>> >>> There are 3 variants: >>> >>> Nordstjernen browser, main flagship browser, implemented in C: >>> https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/nordstjernen-browser >>> >> >> Debian strives when dependencies are not vendored, so this is interesting >> to analyze: >> https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/nordstjernen-browser#dependencies >> >> Debian is going to favor ffmpeg, for example. (or even gstreamer, if it >> was possible). >> >> That being said, this browser looks good, considering it is so young. >> It is slow, its UI is looking like old browsers, but it can run windy.com >> or youtube.com, >> which is impressive. >> >> >>> Northstar browser, minimalistic, implemented in C: >>> https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser >>> >>> Southstar browser, implemented in Rust, less mature: >>> https://github.com/nordstjernen-web/southstar-browser >>> >> >> I tried that one too, doesn't load anything, as expected for a less >> mature browser. >> >> >>> Website: https://nordstjernen.org/ >>> >>> The browser has GPL 3 license.Have have ca 700 users in Windows store at >>> the moment. >>> >>> I hope we can cooperate on the distribution on this web browser. >>> >>> The Internet needs more web browser engine alternatives than just Chrome >>> and Firefox. >>> >> >>> Northstar (Nordstjernen) browser is an independent, JIT-free, C-based >>> browser engine developed in Europe with a mission to build a secure, open, >>> and sovereign internet stack free from Big Tech monopolies. >>> >> >> These are strong arguments, however, it might be a good idea to not >> target next debian stable, >> given the youngness of this browser. >> >> Jérémy >> >> >> Regards, >>> Andreas Røsdal >>> >>
