RISC OS Open Ltd. is a limited company engaged in computer software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

 and IT consulting. It is managing the process of publishing the source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 to RISC OS

RISC OS

RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988...

. Company founders include staff who formerly worked for Pace, the company which acquired RISC OS after Acorn's demise.

The source code publication is facilitated by a shared source initiative (SSI) between ROOL and Castle Technology

Castle Technology

Castle Technology Ltd. is a British limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It produced and sold ARM computers, and sold the Acorn-branded range of desktop computers that run RISC OS. Prior to Acorn's demise, it was the largest of their dealerships...

 (CTL). ROOL hopes that by making the RISC OS source code available for free it will help stimulate development of both the RISC OS source code and the platform as a whole.

A development version of has been available for the BeagleBoard and related hardware since early 2009.

Operations

ROOL set initial goals to make the source code easily available (on the web), and also to establish a wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

, forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

 and bug tracker. These have been available since December 2006.

Operations exist to facilitate tasks related to ROOL's goals. Additionally, staff undertake development work on the code themselves. Since early 2009, ownership, development and sales of the tools were transferred to RISC OS Open. As a development from the initial goals, in 2011 ROOL introduced a bounty

Open source bounty

An open-source bounty is a reward, usually monetary, for making contributions to an open-source project. BountySource and many other websites have been established to advertise such bounties....

 scheme to encourage further development.

Attendance at computer shows is often arranged, with other knowledgeable coders sometimes standing in when ROOL staff are unavailable.