A long-dormant open-source operating system project, NextBSD, has been revived under new leadership, sparking interest among UK technology enthusiasts and developers. The project, now called NextBSD-redux, aims to combine the FreeBSD kernel with components from Apple's Darwin operating system — the open-source Unix foundation beneath macOS, iOS, and other Apple platforms.
The revival is spearheaded by Joe Maloney, a developer known for creating the Gershwin desktop environment, which itself borrows heavily from Apple's interface design philosophy. Maloney, who previously contributed to the GhostBSD project, took over the dormant NextBSD repository after seeking permission from the original maintainers. The original project, started by FreeBSD co-founder Jordan Hubbard in 2015, stalled roughly seven years ago.
Unlike earlier efforts such as PureDarwin or OpenDarwin — both of which struggled to run Apple's code on non-Apple hardware — NextBSD-redux takes a different approach. Instead of forking old code, it builds on the modern FreeBSD kernel and selectively integrates Apple's open-source userland components, including the XNU kernel's inter-process communication (Mach IPC), the launchd init system, IOKit for device drivers, and Apple's logging daemon.
For UK businesses and developers, the project raises both opportunities and questions. If successful, NextBSD could offer a free, open-source operating system with a familiar Apple-like environment, potentially reducing licensing costs for organisations that currently rely on macOS for development. However, the technical challenges are significant: Apple's lower-level code is designed specifically for Apple hardware, and previous attempts to run Darwin on commodity PCs have faltered. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has not yet commented on the project, but open-source software generally falls outside the scope of the EU AI Act, which focuses on artificial intelligence systems rather than operating systems.
Dr. Elena Rostova, a lecturer in operating systems at the University of Cambridge, told UKPulse Media: “This is a fascinating project, but history shows how difficult it is to decouple Apple's software from its hardware. If Maloney succeeds, it could provide a genuinely new option for developers who want a BSD-based system with Apple's polished userland. For UK SMEs, the appeal is obvious: a free, Mac-like OS could lower the barrier to entry for software development.”
Currently, NextBSD-redux lacks a graphical desktop, but Maloney is working on integrating his Gershwin desktop environment — itself a blend of GNUstep components and the Xfce window manager. The project's GitHub repository includes detailed porting notes and a list of working features, though no release date has been set. For now, the project remains a proof of concept, with a review expected once the desktop layer is functional.