Created by Mozilla Research in 2012, the Servo project was the first major Rust codebase other than the compiler itself, and has since been a hallmark for experimental web engine design. Major components of Servo have been incorporated into the Firefox web browser, and several of its parsers and other lower-level libraries have become foundational to the Rust ecosystem.
As a promising, modern, and open web engine for building applications and immersive experiences using web technologies, stewardship of Servo moved from Mozilla Research to the Linux Foundation in 2020. In 2023, Servo experienced renewed activity led by Igalia, a Linux Foundation Europe member that now has a team of engineers working on the project. Today we are pleased to announce that the Servo project has officially joined Linux Foundation Europe.
I’m very curious to see where Servo goes in the future.
It is great to see Servo being actively worked on again. Rust is a great language for something as complicated and security sensitive as a browser. While I was sad to see Mozilla move away from it, they did not necessarily see it as a production platform. Also, a high-quality browser engine free from their corporate interests may be the better outcome.
From what I can tell though, Igalia has no intention of creating an actual browser. It seems they are making Servo easy to embed though so hopefully somebody else will step-up to do that.