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That's what the Purism laptops have. But they're linux-based (although I hear Mac OS is based on linux kernel).



The kernel is not BSD, it's based on the Mach microkernel [1] with a BSD compatibility layer implemented on top. The whole thing collectively is called XNU [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_(kernel)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XNU


It was developed from something that was based on Mach. However, it is also based on BSD, as your second link states.

> The BSD code present in XNU came from the FreeBSD kernel. Although much of it has been significantly modified, code sharing still occurs between Apple and the FreeBSD Project.


The description of "Mach with a BSD layer on top" was nonetheless accurate. When you look at actual BSD you will see it is rather un-Mac-like, so I don't think it is a highly relevant comparison. (The path drawn here from the Purism laptop to XNU is very dubious.)


macOS is based upon XNU, which was based upon the Mach kernel (with bits of BSD userspace), not Linux.


Mac OS is in no way based on the Linux kernel.


Perhaps it would be if the license was different.


They began development at NeXT in 1985, 6 years before Linux.


Unlikely. The Apple kernel guys are purists and would probably use the BSD kernel even if Linux were MIT licensed.


In the 90s they had a project called MkLinux that had Linux combined with Mach in a similar position to where BSD is in XNU. This was shortly after the NeXT acquisition.

I bet they were considering it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux


The Pinebook too.




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