Filed under: OS, Software, UNIX / BSD
Apple releases Intel Mac OS X kernel
A lot of speculation has been slowly building this year as to why Apple didn't have the Intel Mac OS X kernel source openly available like it is for the PowerPC version. For those who aren't quite up to speed on all this: Darwin, the kernel software at the center of Mac OS X, is open source. There are a number of reasons this is helpful to individuals and organizations who want or need to customize Mac OS X for one reason or another, but for the most part, this doesn't really concern the typical Mac user like you and me.However, to those who do customize and specialize the Mac OS X kernel for their specific uses the fact that the Intel version of Mac OS X's kernel hasn't been made available has been a source of discussion within their respective communities. Fortunately, as of yesterday, these kernel-lovin' folk have something more to talk about, as their wishes have finally been answered: a post in one of Apple's developer mailing lists yesterday announced that Apple has indeed finally released the kernel based on the latest version 10.4.7. Not much of an explanation for the holdup is offered, but an apology for the wait is. Either way, this is good news for those concerned about Apple's stance on open source software.
[via digg]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jh said 5:48PM on 8-08-2006
It's not good news to us. It's mediocre news. It's acceptable news. Calling it good news is like being told by your neighbor who borrowed your powersaw months ago that you should be grateful you got it back. Let's be real. Apple has been VERY poor open source community members. VERY poor.
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Brad said 6:07PM on 8-08-2006
Just be happy you got the kernel now. That's all that matters. Granted, it took some time, but now you've got it.
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Milk said 6:18PM on 8-08-2006
"Apple has been VERY poor open source community members. VERY poor."
Because there was a delay in them releasing the source? Is the entire Open Source community this impatient and bratty, unable to accept that delays do occur in life? And to think that Apple could have simply not released the source at all without much complaint from anybody except a tiny minority that expects Apple to be the FSF.
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superjeff said 6:20PM on 8-08-2006
jh,
I think a more apt analogy would be if your neighbor was letting you borrow his power saw and then bought a new power saw that that he wuoldn't let you borrow for a few months until he got it working just right.
Regardless of how good an open source community member Apple has been, its not a community that have to be in at all. Be happy we get what we do.
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kmgeorge said 6:32PM on 8-08-2006
What does this mean to the Windows Intel community? Are we going to see people start porting Mac OS X over to non-mac Intel machines?! Probably not... but just thought I would think outloud.
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Mr Lizard said 6:34PM on 8-08-2006
Indeed, Apple is a commercial entity. It will release the kernal if it makes good business sence.
In this case, they have decided it does.
They are not Mozilla. Or a Linux distro.
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michel said 7:12PM on 8-08-2006
ho hey slow down
apple made some talks years ago about opensource, they love it and all the stuff
OS X kernel is mostly totally coming from opensource stuff (not all linux software, you know ? ) : some bsd, mach and others works.
so it's NORMAL to expect that from Apple. not imposed but expected.
that is the right of apple to keep the source and STOP TO confound "opensource community" with the first guy speaking here or ME. you speak about many people and enterprises with MANY different goals and project.
(and why do you think the FSF should care ? is it GPL source code here ? NO, so the FSF even give a crap about os x kernel. but if you want to know if ASPL code is useable under a Gnu public licence, well.. you can ask the FSF. but mostly : forget the FSF. )
I just would like to know what is the difference in darwin intel 10.4.7 xnu and the kernel in real Mac os X intel 10.4.7. what is the kernel extensions needed ?
why the source code is different ? (drm ? mac intel specific chipset ? protection ? licensed code from thirds parties ? )
you have to understand than Sun and IBM are a LOT OF more hopeful than apple about their own opensource software.
with apple , we are often in a kind of weird state or plain amateurism.
but yeah, we have to thank the effort and works from Apple.
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bsth said 7:16PM on 8-08-2006
"Darwin, the kernel software at the center of Mac OS X, is open source." Darwin is not the kernel. Darwin is the UNIX underlying Mac OS X. It's kernel is named XNU. I don't know why I keep seeing this mistake on less-knowledgable Mac sites.
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Serious.Business said 7:59PM on 8-08-2006
Great. first comment is a whine.
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digitalintrigue said 8:37PM on 8-08-2006
Where is the darwin source? I don't see it in the normal place:
http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/
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flashboy said 4:12AM on 8-09-2006
The source is here:
http://kernel.macosforge.org/
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gerrynjr said 8:13AM on 8-09-2006
Anyone else notice what is included in the list of binary drivers you need to run?
Dont_Steal_MacOS_X.kext
Looks like you wont be able to run this release on regular x86 systems, like you could run darwin on before. In any case, it looks like they talk to the TPM chip using the SMBus to verify if it is an actual "mac". Should be interesting to see where this goes 8)
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