4 ms·

My understanding (which may be out of date) is that this is the complete OS but without the GUI layer - it is the kernel, init system, shell, and user-space CLI

My understanding (which may be out of date) is that this is the complete OS but without the GUI layer - it is the kernel, init system, shell, and user-space CLI utilities. It does not include the GUI shell (Aqua), the GUI libraries (Frameworks in OS X terminology), or GUI applications (iTunes, Mail, Safari etc.).

pwnna 12y ago
Does this mean if you compile this and get it to work, you can get something like XFCE or KDE running on it?
- coldtea 12y ago
  Sure. People have been doing that since 2000. http://www.puredarwin.org/ http://www.puredarwin.org/
nathanvanfleet 12y ago
Keep in mind that there are a lot more Frameworks other than just GUI related ones that aren't present as well. They have a lot more tools missing than just the "glitter"
comex 12y ago
It would be more accurate to say that it's most of a fairly random subset of the OS that was made open source back in the day - there's very little of newer projects (regardless of what 'layer' of the OS they're at), including ones that replaced older ones, some old stuff is gone, and I'm not sure it ever really counted as complete. Some examples: - The main kernel is open source (although not 100% identical to the version in OS X), but many kernel extensions are closed source, including quite basic stuff like disk image mounting. - In one open source kernel extension I'm interested in, IOUSBFamily, functionality has been randomly disappearing in favor of empty .cpp files. Like several of the opensource releases, it doesn't actually compile... - A version of CoreFoundation (C level API) is available, but not the full thing. The Objective-C runtime is available, but the core Objective-C libraries have never been. - libxpc, which is rather low-level functionality added a few releases ago, was never open sourced; launchd is gone in this release, but before that it didn't compile, thanks to missing xpc headers. - Bootloaders: BootX from PowerPC was open source, but the x86 EFI stuff was always closed source. - libm is gone this release. cctools may be gone. Some libSystem libraries such as malloc and pthread were separated out in a previous release, but not open sourced; they're back now, though.
- simonbyrne 12y ago
  libm has been gone for a while, unfortunately: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502968 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502968
- thelibrarian 12y ago
  Thanks for expanding on that - it is disappointing how Apple are releasing less and less with each iteration.

pwnna 12y ago

Does this mean if you compile this and get it to work, you can get something like XFCE or KDE running on it?

coldtea 12y ago
Sure. People have been doing that since 2000. http://www.puredarwin.org/ http://www.puredarwin.org/

nathanvanfleet 12y ago

Keep in mind that there are a lot more Frameworks other than just GUI related ones that aren't present as well. They have a lot more tools missing than just the "glitter"

comex 12y ago

It would be more accurate to say that it's most of a fairly random subset of the OS that was made open source back in the day - there's very little of newer projects (regardless of what 'layer' of the OS they're at), including ones that replaced older ones, some old stuff is gone, and I'm not sure it ever really counted as complete. Some examples: - The main kernel is open source (although not 100% identical to the version in OS X), but many kernel extensions are closed source, including quite basic stuff like disk image mounting. - In one open source kernel extension I'm interested in, IOUSBFamily, functionality has been randomly disappearing in favor of empty .cpp files. Like several of the opensource releases, it doesn't actually compile... - A version of CoreFoundation (C level API) is available, but not the full thing. The Objective-C runtime is available, but the core Objective-C libraries have never been. - libxpc, which is rather low-level functionality added a few releases ago, was never open sourced; launchd is gone in this release, but before that it didn't compile, thanks to missing xpc headers. - Bootloaders: BootX from PowerPC was open source, but the x86 EFI stuff was always closed source. - libm is gone this release. cctools may be gone. Some libSystem libraries such as malloc and pthread were separated out in a previous release, but not open sourced; they're back now, though.

simonbyrne 12y ago
libm has been gone for a while, unfortunately: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502968 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502968
thelibrarian 12y ago
Thanks for expanding on that - it is disappointing how Apple are releasing less and less with each iteration.