MidnightBSD
Encyclopedia
MidnightBSD is a free Unix-like
, desktop-oriented operating system
based on FreeBSD
6.1. It borrows heavily from the NEXTSTEP
graphical user interface
.
in 2005. The founder of the project, Lucas Holt, wished to create a BSD derived desktop operating system. He was familiar with several live CD projects, but not the work on PC-BSD
or DesktopBSD
. At the same time, he also had an interest in GNUstep
. The two ideas were folded into a plan to create a user friendly desktop environment.
MidnightBSD 0.1 was released based on the efforts of Lucas Holt, Caryn Holt, D. Adam Karim, Phil Pereira of bsdnexus, and Christian Reinhardt. This release features a modified version of the FreeBSD ports system. The ports system evolved into "mports" which includes fake support, generation of packages before installation, license tagging, and strict rules about package list generation and modification of files outside the destination. Many of these features were introduced in MidnightBSD 0.1.1.
Christian Reinhardt replaced Phil Pereira as the lead "mports" maintainer prior to the release of MidnightBSD 0.1. D. Adam Karim acted as the security officer for the first release. All release engineering
is handled by Lucas Holt.
0.2 introduced a refined mports system with over 2000 packages. The Portable C Compiler
was added on i386 in addition to the GNU Compiler Collection
. Other changes include enabling ipfw and sound card detection on startup, newer versions of many software packages including Bind, GCC, OpenSSH, and Sendmail, as well as a Live CD creation system.
Currently, the project is focusing on finishing the Magus build cluster software, creating a new installer, finishing the new package installation and management tools called mport, and beginning work on the 0.3 release. The next release will feature some enhancements found in FreeBSD
7.0 and DragonFly BSD
.
.
, LGPL
, ISC, and Beerware
licenses, along with three- and four-clause BSD licenses.
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
, desktop-oriented operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
based on FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
6.1. It borrows heavily from the NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
.
History and development
MidnightBSD began as a fork from FreeBSDFreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
in 2005. The founder of the project, Lucas Holt, wished to create a BSD derived desktop operating system. He was familiar with several live CD projects, but not the work on PC-BSD
PC-BSD
PC-BSD is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and easy and ready-to-use immediately by providing KDE SC as the pre-installed graphical user interface. PC-BSD provides official binary nVidia and...
or DesktopBSD
DesktopBSD
DesktopBSD is a Unix-derivative, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. Its goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD with the ease-of-use of KDE, which is the default graphical user interface.- History and development :...
. At the same time, he also had an interest in GNUstep
GNUstep
GNUstep is a free software implementation of Cocoa Objective-C libraries , widget toolkit, and application development tools not only for Unix-like operating systems, but also for Microsoft Windows. It is part of the GNU Project.GNUstep features a cross-platform, object-oriented development...
. The two ideas were folded into a plan to create a user friendly desktop environment.
MidnightBSD 0.1 was released based on the efforts of Lucas Holt, Caryn Holt, D. Adam Karim, Phil Pereira of bsdnexus, and Christian Reinhardt. This release features a modified version of the FreeBSD ports system. The ports system evolved into "mports" which includes fake support, generation of packages before installation, license tagging, and strict rules about package list generation and modification of files outside the destination. Many of these features were introduced in MidnightBSD 0.1.1.
Christian Reinhardt replaced Phil Pereira as the lead "mports" maintainer prior to the release of MidnightBSD 0.1. D. Adam Karim acted as the security officer for the first release. All release engineering
Release engineering
Release engineering, frequently abbreviated as "releng", is a sub-discipline in software engineering concerned with the compilation, assembly, and delivery of source code into finished products or other software components. Associated with the software release life cycle, it is often said that...
is handled by Lucas Holt.
0.2 introduced a refined mports system with over 2000 packages. The Portable C Compiler
Portable C Compiler
The Portable C Compiler is an early compiler for the C programming language written by Stephen C...
was added on i386 in addition to the GNU Compiler Collection
GNU Compiler Collection
The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...
. Other changes include enabling ipfw and sound card detection on startup, newer versions of many software packages including Bind, GCC, OpenSSH, and Sendmail, as well as a Live CD creation system.
Currently, the project is focusing on finishing the Magus build cluster software, creating a new installer, finishing the new package installation and management tools called mport, and beginning work on the 0.3 release. The next release will feature some enhancements found in FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
7.0 and DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD is a free Unix-like operating system created as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began work on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on July...
.
Etymology
MidnightBSD is named after Lucas and Caryn Holt's cat, Midnight. Midnight is a ten pound black Turkish AngoraTurkish Angora
The Turkish Angora is a breed of domestic cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the ancient, naturally occurring cat breeds, having originated in central Turkey, in the Ankara region...
.
License
MidnightBSD is released under several licenses. The kernel code and most newly created code is released under the two-clause BSD license. There are parts under the GPLGNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
, LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
, ISC, and Beerware
Beerware
Beerware is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek term for software released under a very relaxed license. It provides the end user with the right to use a particular program .-Description:...
licenses, along with three- and four-clause BSD licenses.