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The Truth About OS X’s Kernel: It’s Not Unix

Started by Daniel Miessler · 7 months ago

OS X’s kernel isn’t strictly Unix-based. It’s called XNU, and it’s a monolithic (non micro) hybrid of both Mach And BSD kernel components. What’s quite interesting is how many people (including myself up until a little while a ... Continue reading »

5 comments

  • frijole

    2 years ago

    yup. solid reporting there chap. just like GNU's Not Unix too.

    And Apple's already announced that Leopard is UNIX compliant and will no longer be "UNIX-based" (as the advertising to date has always been) and will be "a UNIX variant" certified by The Open Group.
    reply
  • Rick

    2 years ago

    Lay off the sauce during business hours!
    ;-)
    reply
  • cji

    2 years ago

    This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Blue Mach, Kentucky BSD, I/O Kit , and Reality Distorting Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff.
    -- Carl Spackler (sort of)

    I swear every time I hear "hybrid" I'm reminded of Caddyshack...
    reply
  • Daniel Miessler

    2 years ago

    > Lay off the sauce during business hours! ;-)

    Indeed. Score one for Rick. :)
    reply
  • Brandon Paddock

    2 years ago

    cji - it's a "hybrid" because it's actually, well, two kernels. At least from what I remember when I last looked at the OS X architecture. As I recall, it's the Mach microkernel (which actually shares a lot of history / influence with the Windows NT microkernel that powers modern Windows OSes) with a FreeBSD kernel running on top of it in some Frankensteining arrangement. As I understand it, the convoluted threading model that arises from this design is one of the more annoying things about programming on OS X.
    reply

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