osFree

osFree

osFree 0.0.2 OS/2 Server testing.
Company / developer	osFree Contributors
OS family	OS/2, L4
Working state	Active, Alpha
Source model	Open Source
Latest stable release	0.0.4.7 / August 25, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-08-25)
Kernel type	Microkernel
License	Various open source licenses
Official website	osfree.org

The osFree Project is an open source operating system based around the L4 microkernel that is intended to be binary compatible with application software made for OS/2 version 4. After several false starts in the first decade of the millennium, the project finally gained some traction in 2008.

History

Origins

Users and fans of the OS/2 operating system had discussed the possibility of creating an open source workalike of OS/2 ever since IBM announced that it would not be supplying another client version of the OS in 1996. The name OS/3 was considered, but IBM held a trademark on that name^[1]. The trademark lapsed in 1996, but the project moved forward with the soundalike "osFree".

OS/2 OEM Code release

The project's goal is to replace all of OS/2's closed source subsystems with open source equivalents. The OS/2 API lists the functions that the operating system can perform for software developed for the platform, so programmers can reproduce the functionality of each API call in the same way that the Wine team uses the Windows API to reproduce the functionality of Windows API calls.

Creating a stable kernel is difficult, so using an existing kernel as the basis for the operating system would eliminate a major element of the project's development. Two open source operating systems, Voyager and ReactOS, were considered for osFree, but Voyager turned out to be vaporware. A poll was held in 2005, and ReactOS was the most popular option.

The project ultimately selected L4 as the kernel for osFree, and the first version based on this kernel booted in 2005^[2]. but at that time it was still a module replacement.

Current Status

As of August 2009 in addition work had been completed on making portions of the Open Watcom compiler SOM compatible use the Netlabs Object Model.

References

1. ^ USPTO Trademark 74157588
2. ^ OSNews: osFree Publishes First Screenshot 2005-11-24

External Links

• osFree homepage
• freePM Project