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The kernel is open source... but you cant have a full blown Mac OS by just compiling it.. a lot of core pieces are missing.. So the OS looks pretty closed sour

The kernel is open source... but you cant have a full blown Mac OS by just compiling it.. a lot of core pieces are missing.. So the OS looks pretty closed source to me..

yellowapple 12y ago
You can't have a full-blown Mac OS, true, but you can have a pretty good chunk of it. It's enough to be a good starting point for entirely-FOSS implementations like PureDarwin. Basically, from the open-source components alone, you have a kernel (XNU), userland (based on FreeBSD), init system (launchd), print server (CUPS), and X11 support, among various other things. One of the key missing pieces is Cocoa, along with the other miscellaneous pieces accompanying it in the transition from NeXTSTEP/OpenStep to OS X. However, much of it is implemented already by GNUStep, and while GNUStep isn't advertised as being binary-compatible with Cocoa, it is advertised as being source-compatible, and therefore still useful (with XNU and the BSD-based userland, I wouldn't be surprised if binary-compatibility could be achieved, but I don't think the GNU devs are prioritizing that right now). The other significant missing piece is Aqua/Quartz. Quartz is replaceable with X11 or Wayland, and Aqua can likely be replaced by X11 WMs / Wayland compositors with good theme support. Given the sheer number of Aqua lookalike themes floating around for the major DEs/WMs, that's probably not a big problem (not to mention DEs like Étoilé that are designed specifically to mimic OS X; Étoilé in particular is designed to integrate well with GNUStep).
- oscargrouch 12y ago
  Well at least once they pick some open source project, they contribute back the incremental iterations they do.. at least is better than companies that use and do not contribute back.. I think Xnu is a mix of the CMU kernel + Freebsd kernel stuff + apple specific things like graphical drivers interfaces, etc.. They keep it open the things they borrow and even improve.. im sure X11 improved a lot after apple started using it.. But it still debatable to defend the OS as open source.. just to elaborate a little bit more on my point

The kernel is open source... but you cant have a full blown Mac OS by just compiling it.. a lot of core pieces are missing.. So the OS looks pretty closed source to me..

yellowapple 12y ago

You can't have a full-blown Mac OS, true, but you can have a pretty good chunk of it. It's enough to be a good starting point for entirely-FOSS implementations like PureDarwin. Basically, from the open-source components alone, you have a kernel (XNU), userland (based on FreeBSD), init system (launchd), print server (CUPS), and X11 support, among various other things. One of the key missing pieces is Cocoa, along with the other miscellaneous pieces accompanying it in the transition from NeXTSTEP/OpenStep to OS X. However, much of it is implemented already by GNUStep, and while GNUStep isn't advertised as being binary-compatible with Cocoa, it is advertised as being source-compatible, and therefore still useful (with XNU and the BSD-based userland, I wouldn't be surprised if binary-compatibility could be achieved, but I don't think the GNU devs are prioritizing that right now). The other significant missing piece is Aqua/Quartz. Quartz is replaceable with X11 or Wayland, and Aqua can likely be replaced by X11 WMs / Wayland compositors with good theme support. Given the sheer number of Aqua lookalike themes floating around for the major DEs/WMs, that's probably not a big problem (not to mention DEs like Étoilé that are designed specifically to mimic OS X; Étoilé in particular is designed to integrate well with GNUStep).

oscargrouch 12y ago
Well at least once they pick some open source project, they contribute back the incremental iterations they do.. at least is better than companies that use and do not contribute back.. I think Xnu is a mix of the CMU kernel + Freebsd kernel stuff + apple specific things like graphical drivers interfaces, etc.. They keep it open the things they borrow and even improve.. im sure X11 improved a lot after apple started using it.. But it still debatable to defend the OS as open source.. just to elaborate a little bit more on my point