OS family Unix-like Source model Open source | Working state Current | |
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Developer Matthew Whitworth / others Initial release March 20, 2008 (2008-03-20) Latest release 0.2b / March 1, 2009 (2009-03-01) | ||
Whitix /ˈhwɪtᵻks/ is a desktop computer operating system written from scratch for the x86 architecture by Matthew Whitworth and others. The project aims to combine proven system technology (a Unix-like kernel), while "offering a consistent and clear interface and a new way to navigate the desktop." The operating system runs on a custom open source kernel written by Whitworth; new features include IcFs, a dynamic configuration filesystem that replaces ioctl.
Contents
The modular kernel of Whitix is licensed under the GNU General Public License, and is a fully preemptive multitasking kernel with multithreading. It supports a number of filesystems, including the FAT family of filesystems, ext3 (with journaling), Reiserfs and ISO9660. Whitix is available as a live CD for download, and can be installed to the hard drive, beginning with version 0.2.
The userspace comprises a native shell, Burn, and text editor, Fruity, and a range of ported applications. A C-based and BSD-licensed software development kit is available, with bindings for various languages. Whitix contains a POSIX compatibility library (libposix), but does not aim for full POSIX compliance. Whitix's windowing environment is Xynth, a lightweight windowing environment developed by Alper Akcan.
Software
The custom userspace software for Whitix consists of a range of third party applications, Burn (a non-POSIX shell), Fruity (a simple text editor) and several filesystem utilities. Software ported to Whitix includes the Mono runtime environment and C# compiler, Python, the GNU Compiler Collection, Lua, mplayer and other ports. The operating system has been self-hosting since October 2008, when it was built with the GNU build chain. For 0.3, a port of GTK and several Linux applications is planned.
Whitix also adopts a centralized approach to userland configuration, similar to the Windows registry. Although not widely used by Whitix software at the moment, it includes settings for the operating system's software. It will also be linked into the Whitix package management system, which is currently in development.
Programming on Whitix
Whitix supports several programming languages, using utilities ported from other operating systems. The most common collection of utilities for building both Whitix applications and operating system programs is found within the GNU toolchain, which includes the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and the GNU Build System. Amongst others, GCC provides compilers for Ada, C, C++ and Fortran. The Whitix kernel itself is designed to be built with GCC.
Ports for languages such as Python, Lua and other dynamic languages are available as ports. The .NET languages are also supported, as Mono has been ported to the platform. Applications in the planned Blaze platform will be built with managed code.
Releases
The development team issue releases "when it's ready". However, no versions of Whitix have been declared stable for general use. The latest release is 0.2b, which was released on 1 March 2009. The timing of each release depends on the stability of features planned to be included, although a monthly release pattern of minor versions and improvements is an aim for the developers at Whitix.org.