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The code that would become WebKit began in 1998 as the KDE HTML ( KHTML) layout engine and KDE JavaScript ( KJS) engine. As of March 7, 2013, WebKit is a trademark of Apple, registered with the U.S. WebKit is available under the BSD 2-Clause license with the exception of the WebCore and JavaScriptCore components, which are available under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
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On April 3, 2013, Google announced that it had forked WebCore, a component of WebKit, to be used in future versions of Google Chrome and the Opera web browser, under the name Blink. WebKit supports macOS, Windows, Linux, and various other Unix-like operating systems. WebKit's HTML and JavaScript engine started as a fork of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE, and has since been further developed by KDE contributors, Apple, Google, Nokia, Bitstream, BlackBerry, Sony, Igalia, and others. WebKit's C++ application programming interface (API) provides a set of classes to display Web content in windows, and implements browser features such as following links when clicked by the user, managing a back-forward list, and managing a history of pages recently visited. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, a browser included with the Amazon Kindle e-book reader, and on Nintendo consoles beginning from the 3DS Internet Browser and onward. WebKit (pronounced "web kit") is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as all iOS web browsers. LGPLv2.1 (rendering engine, JavaScript engine), BSD 2-Clause (additional contributions from Apple)
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