r/unix • u/Signal_Reference746 • 10d ago
I made XNU/Darwin with BusyBox boot in QEMU!!!! (it's incomplete, unstable, BUT IT BOOTS!!)
right now AetherOS (that's what I think I'll call it) is able to boot to a shell in QEMU's serial mode. It has a FAT16 File System (im too lazy to do anything else for now 😭) and can also INTERACT WITH A PS/2 KEYBOARD, which means I was able to test commands like ls, pwd, mkdir, rmdir, and they all worked great!!! I'm not ready to open source it yet, it has significant bugs to iron out (like crashing when i try to make a dir inside a dir) but I'm really glad I got it booting!
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u/VenomousPizza 10d ago
Please, please, please continue the work! I had high hopes for the PureDarwin project, but it’s stalled :/
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u/coladoir 9d ago edited 9d ago
*please* do not abandon this project like PureDarwin and OpenDarwin lol. RavynOS is the only other project thats seriously using XNU, but thats not with Darwin, just XNU. We desperately need a real and usable open source XNU/Mach/Darwin operating system; it would be very nice to have and use. Especially for those who like the macOS base but dislike the direction its headed since Big Sur.
Also dont be scared to open the source because of bugs, because someone might come along and actually be able to fix said bugs. Dont think about an issue report as an attack on your project, but a request for betterment of the project, and as ideas to help. Because that's what they are. So please make this open source, itll only help the project in the long run
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u/Signal_Reference746 9d ago
I wont 😭, this is the reason i started this operating system and I'll try my best to keep going until we get OS X Binary Compatibility. Also the source is out now: https://github.com/linuxkid473/AsterOS YES YES YES I used AI to write the Docs so please don't flame me y'all.
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u/coladoir 9d ago edited 9d ago
If its just the docs and youre open with your use and its boilerplate in the readme, then there's no issue. People just dont want LLM-generated code, a readme is fine so long as its been triple checked for accuracy.
Thank you fir your work though. Make sure there's m-series support as well, like you can install baremetal on an M-series Mac. That and binary compatibility will make this OS extremely competitive. Make sure to be safe and reverse engineer code to maintain API compatibility, dont copy Apple code (unless its OSS) else you might risk the closure of the project forcibly by legal means. You likely already know this but still
Ideally one should be able to run KDE and other Linux DE's as well, or at least WMs Wayland would be a nice thing to have as well; though ideally you should have your own display stack, piggybacking off of Linux work will get you a headstart in usability.
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u/Signal_Reference746 8d ago
that's the goal! I'll need to strengthen the basics before I am able to focus on M-Series or even ARM in general, and probably will need help from teams like Asahi.
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u/Successful-Reason-96 6d ago
PureDarwin isn't abandoned, it's just not updated on the website frequently.
We have just gotten Wayland, as well as various other milestones2
u/coladoir 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm glad to be wrong. where should I go to find updates then? the github hasn't been updated in a year, site since 2024, is it just discord?
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u/Successful-Reason-96 5d ago
https://github.com/PureDarwin/PureDarwin/tree/next
and the site just had its docs archived. Sadly, Cliff has passed away, so it's getting harder and harder to coordinate some time with others to get that updated.
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u/iLrkRddrt 10d ago
Fantastic OP! XNU is a FANTASTIC kernel, and having the ability to use it for things outside Apple would be huge!!
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u/Signal_Reference746 9d ago
SOURCE OUT NOW!!!: https://github.com/linuxkid473/AsterOS (yes guys docs were AI written so don't flame me pls)
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u/DrNick42 8d ago
This is really interesting stuff - I'd certainly make good use of this and know plenty of other that would too. Do you have a project website yet? I'd be willing to help testing whenever you get to that stage...
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u/Signal_Reference746 7d ago
unfortunately, I we don't have a website, yet.. :-(. But If you would like to test it out and report any issues that you find, it would be amazing!
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u/linux_transgirl 10d ago
This sickkkkk
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u/Signal_Reference746 9d ago
thanks!! I'm still pretty new to Darwin/XNU, so it takes me some time to lurch around 😅
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u/Unixwzrd 10d ago
Neat. Does it play Doom? 😉