It looks like Google’s long-running project to split up ChromeOS and its Chrome browser will be shipping out to the masses soon. Kevin Tofel’s About Chromebooks has spotted flags that turn on the feature by default for ChromeOS 116 and up. 116 is currently in beta and should be live in the stable channel sometime this month.
The project is called “Lacros” which Google says stands for “Linux And ChRome OS.” This will split ChromeOS’s Linux OS from the Chrome browser, allowing Google to update each one independently. Google documentation on the project says, “On Chrome OS, the system UI (ash window manager, login screen, etc.) and the web browser are the same binary. Lacros separates this functionality into two binaries, henceforth known as ash-chrome (system UI) and lacros-chrome (web browser).” Part of the project involves sprucing up the ChromeOS OS, and Google’s docs say, “Lacros can be imagined as ‘Linux chrome with more Wayland support.’”
Previously ChromeOS was using a homemade graphics stack called “Freon,” but now with Wayland, it’ll be on the new and normal desktop Linux graphic stack. Google’s 2016 move to Freon was at a time when it could have moved from X11 (the old, normal desktop Linux graphics stock) directly to Wayland, but it decided to take this custom detour instead. Google says this represents “more Wayland support” because Wayland was previously used for Android and Linux apps, but now it’ll be used for the native Chrome OS graphics, too.
On the browser side, ChromeOS would stop using the bespoke Chrome browser for ChromeOS and switch to the Chrome browser for Linux. The same browser you get on Ubuntu would now ship on ChromeOS. In the past, turning on Lacros in ChromeOS would show both Chrome browsers, the outgoing ChromeOS one and the new Linux one.
Lacros has been in development for around two years and can be enabled via a Chrome flag. Tofel says his 116 build no longer has that flag since it’s the default now. Google hasn’t officially confirmed this is happening, but so far, the code is headed that way.
Users probably won’t notice anything, but the feature should make it easier to update Chrome OS and might even extend the lifetime of old ChromeOS devices. This should also let Google more directly roll out changes on ChromeOS. Currently, there can be a delay while Google does the extra build work for ChromeOS, so the standalone browsers get security fixes first.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/EG7nc
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This will split ChromeOS’s Linux OS from the Chrome browser, allowing Google to update each one independently.
Google documentation on the project says, "On Chrome OS, the system UI (ash window manager, login screen, etc.)
Lacros separates this functionality into two binaries, henceforth known as ash-chrome (system UI) and lacros-chrome (web browser)."
Part of the project involves sprucing up the ChromeOS OS, and Google’s docs say, “Lacros can be imagined as ‘Linux chrome with more Wayland support.’”
Users probably won’t notice anything, but the feature should make it easier to update Chrome OS and might even extend the lifetime of old ChromeOS devices.
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This is probably one of the better pieces of news I have heard about ChromeOS, it seems like this could make ChromiumOS easier to support and make Chromebooks less useless.
I hear where you’re coming from, and at the same time I’m concerned about how much more data Google will be able to scrape as a result. Would Google have access to my filesystem? Would the OS log every keystroke to send to a data center? I know that privacy is mostly dead, but this to me feels like more nails in the coffin.
I can’t see how this would give google any more data than they already get from ChromeOS?
They already have access to the file system and key events, this changes nothing.
I don’t believe there are good intentions behind this, I think there is a play, maybe preempt violating EU law or decoupling WEI from the OS to draw less ire (for now). but I don’t trust it.
not that I’d use their browser nor os anywayMy dad uses ChromeOS as main and is very limited so getting more Linux from the base (rather than enabling a virtual Linux or Android) would be good for him to support more codecs, Linux apps etc.
On the other hand his laptop (Samsung Chromebook plus) while it has a nice display has terrible performance when I used it in 2023. And had to disable a lot of stuff to make it a bit more bearable. (Like the phone integration between the laptop and the pixel).
I had to buy a netbook last week and I decided against a Chromebook. If this was a few years ago I would have been excited to try ChromeOS, but after their attempts to destroy adblock and force unwanted DRM onto the web I do not trust them. Now I feel like using ChromeOS is just another way to have control of your own system taken away from you and force advertising malware I do not want onto it. I don’t even want the Chrome browser installed on my PC let alone allow it to be the default operating system.
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