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Lisa OS Open-source?

CC_333

Well-known member
Since we're on the topic of Mac OS 7.1 source, here's something that I have never heard of before:

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/34323-sfos

Is this real, I wonder? If so, it represents a very interesting "what-if" that shows us what a possible Mac OS-BeOS hybrid would've looked like had Apple not gone with NeXT to create what came to be Mac OS X.

c
 

joshc

Well-known member
Found a supposed System 7.1 source on https://www.macintoshrepository.org/
Won't link it here in case it breaks any rules (doubt it does, but just in case), just google it.
Unfortunately the copies of System 7 source code that float around on the net are not complete.

Would be neat if they open sourced 9.2.2
We might have to wait until its 40th anniversary, so that would be December 2041.

One of the complexities of releasing the source code is that there is non-Apple code involved, so other license agreements and whatnot have to be honoured.

As for 9.2.2 though, it won't be massively different to System 7. Most of the visible additions along the way between 7 and 9 were introduced by way of control panels and extensions rather than lower level changes. The 68k code was dropped along the way so there will be some big differences but a lot of the fundamentals never changed.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Thanks for the info, guess it's not the full thing. Stinks how much is involved in releasing code like this.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
The System 1.x source, I would think, would be the easiest to open up, since it was pretty much developed completely by Apple (as far as I know).

I don't know if this extends to a version as recent as System 7, but it should at least apply to the core of the OS (System, Finder, a handful of basic Extensions and Control Panels, and a set of Enablers for whichever machines shipped with System 7), so *maybe* we'll see a partial open sourcing of that at some point?

c
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
They’d probably pick the original Mac’s 40th over the system 7 release date, so that would be next year, but I doubt that.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Perhaps they will now because of this thread. It wasn't really obviously named. 🤣
It seems that was intentional.

I somehow doubt they'd see this thread as a threat, given that it's ostensibly related to the discussion of a (now) perfectly legal release of the Lisa OS source code.

On the surface, "BuildCubeE" source could appear to be little more than another legitimate open source project ;)

c
 
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