NextBSD is a

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...

of the

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. As of 2019 the website seems defunct, and the later commits on GitHub date from October 2019. The Wayback Machine captures of the website after 2016-12-15 are domain squatter pages and as of 2021-03-17 the site is redirecting to a fake "Apple Support" page.

Features

The basic features of ''

launchd launchd is an init and operating system service management daemon created by Apple Inc. as part of macOS to replace its BSD-style init and SystemStarter. There have been efforts to port launchd to FreeBSD and derived systems. Components Th ...

'', ''notifyd'', ''asld'', and ''libdispatch'' work. These can be installed by cloning the NextBSD

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...

from

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

, building GENERIC or MACHTEST

kernels Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

, installing a new world on an existing 10.x or CURRENT system, and then following the instructions in the README. ''Launchd'' will start the initial jobs that are part of the repo now.

Planned Features

The project refers to an installer as the first planned milestone on their website. Future plans include convert to rc and tying notifyd in to potential consumers.

History

NeXTBSD was announced by

Jordan Hubbard Jordan K. Hubbard (born April 8, 1963) is an open source software developer, authoring software such as the Ardent Window Manager and various other open source tools and libraries before co-founding the FreeBSD project with Nate Williams and Rod ...

and Kip Macy in August 2015 at the Bay Area FreeBSD Users Group (BAFUG).

Relationship to FreeBSD

NeXTBSD is based on the FreeBSD-CURRENT kernel while adding in Mach IPC, Libdispatch, notifyd, asld, launchd, and other components derived from Darwin, Apple's open-source code for

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Technology

Basic Architecture

* FreeBSD-current kernel + Mach IPC * Common Object Runtime (create/delete/retain/release) * Libdispatch / ASL / Libnotify * launchd ** launchctl *** json config files ** legacy rc system ** cooperating daemons

Mach Kernel Abstractions

Tasks

The units of resource ownership; each task consists of a virtual address space, a port right namespace, and one or more threads. (Implemented as an extension to a process.)

Threads

The units of CPU execution within a task. Simple extension to kthreads.

Address space

In conjunction with memory managers, Mach implements the notion of a sparse virtual address space and shared memory. (No modifications)

Memory objects

The internal units of memory management. Memory objects include named entries and regions; they are representations of potentially persistent data that may be mapped into address spaces. (Unsupported)

Ports

Secure, simplex communication channels, accessible only via send and receive capabilities (known as port rights).

IPC

Message queues, remote procedure calls, notifications, semaphores, and lock sets. (Mach semaphores and lock sets are not supported).

Time

Clocks, timers, and waiting - (rudimentary shims).

Standards adherence

Current BSD operating system variants support many of the common

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

, and

POSIX The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX; ) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines application programming interfaces (APIs), along with comm ...

standards, while retaining most of the traditional BSD behavior. Like

AT&T Unix Unix System V (pronounced: "System Five") is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, an ...

, the BSD kernel is

monolithic A monolith is a monument or natural feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Monolith or monolithic may also refer to: Architecture * Monolithic architecture, a style of construction in which a building is carved, cast or excavated f ...

, meaning that device drivers in the kernel run in

privileged mode In computer science, hierarchical protection domains, often called protection rings, are mechanisms to protect data and functionality from faults (by improving fault tolerance) and malicious behavior (by providing computer security). Computer ...

, as part of the core of the operating system. A selection of significant Unix versions and

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

operating systems that descend from BSD includes: *

, an open source general purpose operating system. **

NeXT NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

NEXTSTEP NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its ...

and

OPENSTEP OpenStep is an object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification developed by NeXT. It provides a framework for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and developing software applications. OpenStep was designed to be plat ...

, based on the

Mach kernel Mach () is an operating system kernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University by Richard Rashid and Avie Tevanian to support operating system research, primarily distributed and parallel computing. Mach is often considered one of the earliest ...

and 4BSD; the ancestor of

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

(macOS) ***

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

's Darwin, the core of

and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

; built on the XNU kernel (part

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

, part FreeBSD, part Apple-derived code) and a userland much of which comes from FreeBSD

References

NextBSD website - Archive.Org capture of 2016-12-15

PDF Slide Presentation of the NextBSD basic architecture

Article about NextBSD y by Michael Larabel in Phoronix magazine

NextBSD GitHub source repository

Bibliography

* Marshall K. McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels, John S. Quartermain, ''The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System'' (Addison Wesley, 1996; ) * Marshall K. McKusick, George V. Neville-Neil, ''The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System'' (Addison Wesley, August 2, 2004; ) * Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall K. McKusick, Michael J. Karels, John S. Quarterman, ''The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System'' (Addison Wesley, November 1989; ) * * Peter H. Salus, ''The Daemon, the GNU & The Penguin'' (Reed Media Services, September 1, 2008; ) * Peter H. Salus, ''A Quarter Century of UNIX'' (Addison Wesley, June 1, 1994; ) * Peter H. Salus, ''Casting the Net'' (Addison-Wesley, March 1995; {{ISBN, 978-0-201-87674-1)

External links

FreeBSD GitHub source repository

A timeline of BSD and Research UNIX

UNIX History
– History of UNIX and BSD using diagrams
The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System

The Unix Tree: Source code and manuals for old versions of Unix

EuroBSDCon
an annual event in Europe in September, October or November
founded
in 2001
BSDCan
a conference in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, Canada, held annually in May since 2004, in June since 2015
AsiaBSDCon
a conference in Tokyo, held annually in March of each year, since 2007
mdoc.su — short manual page URLs for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and DragonFly BSD
a web-servic
written
in

nginx (pronounced "engine x" , stylized as NGINX or nginx) is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. The software was created by Russian developer Igor Sysoev and publicly released in 20 ...

BXR.SU — Super User's BSD Cross Reference
a userland and kernel source code search engine based on

OpenGrok OpenGrok is a source code cross-reference and search engine. It helps programmers search, cross-reference, and navigate source code trees to aid program comprehension. It can read program file formats and version control histories such as M ...

and

FreeBSD Berkeley Software Distribution