This was one of my hobbies at University (learning how it works, not contributing to it, to be clear). This SuperUser question was basically the culmination of my effort before I ran out of spare time, found a job, etc.<p><a href="https://superuser.com/questions/546151/is-it-possible-to-compile-a-darwin-distro-from-source-like-you-can-a-build-a-li" rel="nofollow">https://superuser.com/questions/546151/is-it-possible-to-com...</a><p>I'm super excited that people are still working on this! I miss having the time to go down rabbit holes, but for those that are there's are people out there watching!
I wish the PureDarwin folks would prioritize clear build instructions. It'd be really great to see something like a "Linux From Scratch" or process to build a bootable disk image using only what's in their git repos. (Maybe it exists but if so it doesn't show up/is linked to from any of the obvious pages of their wiki)<p>That seems like a necessary first step towards eventually getting a bootable ISO that can install a PureDarwin system on a blank machine, physical or virtual.
Apple's Open Source repository has the current version of Catalina's core. <a href="https://opensource.apple.com/release/macos-10145.html" rel="nofollow">https://opensource.apple.com/release/macos-10145.html</a><p>Why is PureDarwin on an older version? Lack of volunteers? Too many hacks required?
Why would I want to use Darwin?<p>macOS has some UI advantages, its the largest reason I use it - but without cocoa, and all of the core foundations that make OSX, OSX, I just dont see the point.
Are there are Darwin hackers lurking on HN? I would pay good money to get a brief summary of the kernel for kernel hackers such as myself who only know how things work in Linux. What are the big architectural differences or cool features not in Linux? Also, how hard is it to upstream changes/get drivers in mainline?
I have to wonder, why does Apple even make Darwin open source?<p>It doesn’t seem like it’s of much use to Apple—there isn't some large community of outside contributors submitting pull requests. So why do they bother?
I'm not really sure how useful it is for most of us -but it doesn't have to be. Not all operating systems are general-purpose.<p>I'm glad to see it continues to be maintained and published though I share the frustration other's have mentioned about how incomplete it is. There is no "more", no "less", no "halt", no "shutdown" -those are just a few of the "wtf" finds that pop up on casual examination.
I am glad someone is keeping up with Darwin and making a version one does not need to compile to be able to use.<p>I wonder if it can run OSX command line programs?