Companies naturally focus on code that offers them a competitive edge, which often leads to the neglect of essential but less glamorous infrastructure work like bug triaging and code reviews. For Chromium to stay healthy and innovative, this shared maintenance is critical.
To address the need to fund work that benefits the ecosystem as a whole, four major organizations (Microsoft, Meta, Opera, and Google) came together to fund the “Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers” (SoCBB) initiative, now managed by the Linux Foundation.
How does the SoCBB initiative work?
The initiative focuses on the “Chromium commons,” with priorities centred on areas where Chromium lags behind other browser engines:
- Code health
- Test suites
- Bug fixes
- Interoperability issues
Projects must have empirical evidence in the form of surveys or research which demonstrates that developers actually want and care about them. A rolling project pipeline will be maintained, ensuring that projects are completed based on the available skill sets in the workforce rather than a priority list.
The project pipeline is maintained by a Technical Steering Committee while the Governing Board manages the budget.
How does the initiative impact contributors and governance?
The aim of the initiative is to empower developers who love working on Chromium but need financial backing to justify dedicating more hours away from their day jobs.
As such, the SoCBB initiative functions purely as a means to fund the work, not a structural shift in how the software is built. The code contribution pipeline remains completely unchanged. Code governance, design reviews, and landing mechanics will follow standard Chromium protocols.
Get paid to fix Chromium
There are two parts to the initiative – The Bug Bounty Program and the RFP Program.
The Bug Bounty Program rewards Developers who fix bugs on the approved hotlist. If you are a Developer interested in fixing real, user-facing bugs in Chromium, learn more here.
The RFP Program awards contracts to Vendors with expertise in Chromium. If you are looking for your next big-impact RFP, learn more here.