SerenityOS

File:Buggie-SerenityOS.png

Andreas Kling previously worked at Nokia and later at Apple on the WebKit team.{{Cite web |last=Proven |first=Liam |title=SerenityOS: A remarkable achievement for a small project |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/31/serenityos/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=The Register |language=en}} He began developing the project in part to aid his recovery from addiction, and as such the name of the project derives from the Serenity Prayer. Starting in 2021, Kling began working full-time on SerenityOS, supported by community donations.{{Cite web|last=Kling|first=Andreas|date=2021-05-28|title=I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time|url=https://awesomekling.github.io/I-quit-my-job-to-focus-on-SerenityOS-full-time/|language=en-GB}} On June 3rd, 2024, he stepped down as a project lead from the project (keeping his role as a maintainer) to work on the Ladybird browser.{{Cite web |last=Kling |first=Andreas |date=2024-06-03 |title=I'm forking Ladybird and stepping down as SerenityOS BDFL |url=https://awesomekling.substack.com/p/forking-ladybird-and-stepping-down-serenityos |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Andreas Kling}} Three months later, on October 4th, 2024, he removed himself from a maintainer list in the SerenityOS repository,{{Cite web |last=Kling |first=Andreas |date=2024-10-04 |title=Meta: Remove myself from maintainer list |url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/commit/44c9fafbe4356966569c5d8ee8061e923e5c5515 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=GitHub}} and updated his mail mapping alias from kling at serenityos.org to andreas at ladybird.org in the forked Ladybird repository.{{Cite web |last=Kling |first=Andreas |date=2024-10-04 |title=Meta: Update my e-mail address everywhere |url=https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird/commit/cc4b3cbaccdaa8f89c492f3fa3a4e909fb839fd9 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=GitHub}}

SerenityOS aims to be a modern Unix-like operating system, with a look and feel that emulates 1990s operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.

{{Cite web|last=TIVI|title=Ohjelmoija kehitti c++:lla uuden käyttöjärjestelmän, joka jäljittelee 1990-lukua|url=https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/ohjelmoija-kehitti-clla-uuden-kayttojarjestelman-joka-jaljittelee-1990-lukua/4c5511d2-0dc5-4a0a-a0b6-ec6d12f83b7c|access-date=2021-08-18|website=Tivi|language=fi|archive-date=2020-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516163131/https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/ohjelmoija-kehitti-clla-uuden-kayttojarjestelman-joka-jaljittelee-1990-lukua/4c5511d2-0dc5-4a0a-a0b6-ec6d12f83b7c|url-status=live}}

Incorporating third-party code into the system is discouraged. The web browser, for instance, does not use a pre-existing web engine such as WebKit, instead using its own Browser (built on LibWeb engine). There is a collection of ported software, such as GCC, Git and Doom, with varying levels of functionality.{{Cite web|title=serenity/Ports at master · SerenityOS/serenity|url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity|access-date=2021-10-07|website=GitHub|language=en}}

Development does not adhere to a release cycle; as such, there are no releases.{{Cite web|title=Releases · SerenityOS/serenity|url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity|access-date=2021-10-07|website=GitHub|language=en}} Additionally, no binary distributions are provided and prospects are expected to build the system from source.{{Citation|title="Where are the ISO images?" in: serenity/FAQ.md|date=2021-10-07|url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/350c5a751dfaa36a5f67cb32472da32c2842572a/Documentation/FAQ.md|publisher=SerenityOS|access-date=2021-10-07}} The system is written in what the authors call "Serenity C++",{{Citation|title=Documentation/CodingStyle.md|date=2021-10-07|url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/49259777efd6e1db22ee9ff6a89f373fa5f8b5d6/Documentation/CodingStyle.md|publisher=SerenityOS|access-date=2021-10-07}} a C++ coding style that avoids exceptions and features its own standard library.{{cite web |url=https://blog.jetbrains.com/clion/2021/11/talking-to-serenityos-contributors/ |date=2021-11-12 |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=blog.jetbrains.com |title=Talking to SerenityOS Contributors About a Scratch-built C++ Developer’s Playground in Modern C++|language=en |last=Kazakova |first=Anastasia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222105349/https://blog.jetbrains.com/clion/2021/11/talking-to-serenityos-contributors/ |archive-date=2023-12-22 |url-status=live}}

The relative popularity of SerenityOS compared to other hobbyist systems is in part due to the modest success of Kling's YouTube channel, where he uploaded videos of himself developing parts of the system alongside demos and monthly progress updates (until April 2024, where the last update was hosted by Andrew Kaster, project’s core developer).

{{Cite web|last=Gregori|first=Sven|date=2020-02-24|title=Reaching Serenity: Porting Git To A Homebrew Operating System|url=https://hackaday.com/2020/02/23/reaching-serenity-porting-git-to-a-homebrew-operating-system/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-18|website=Hackaday|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224150611/https://hackaday.com/2020/02/23/reaching-serenity-porting-git-to-a-homebrew-operating-system/}}

Work is currently at the early stages to support AArch64 and RISC-V based processors.{{cite web |title=SerenityOS update (April 2024) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWjAxNHXd_8 |website=YouTube}}

{{Main|Ladybird (web browser)}}

SerenityOS includes a version of the Ladybird web browser, built from the ground up using its internal libraries LibWeb, LibJS and LibWasm.{{Cite web |last=Proven |first=Liam |title=Serenity OS browser, Ladybird, now cross-platform |url=https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/serenity_os_turns_five/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=The Register |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=By |date=2023-10-10 |title=Jenny’s Daily Drivers: SerenityOS, And In Particular, Ladybird |url=https://hackaday.com/2023/10/10/jennys-daily-drivers-serenityos-and-in-particular-ladybird/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=Hackaday |language=en-US}}{{Citation |title=LadybirdBrowser/ladybird |date=2024-07-17 |url=https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird?tab=readme-ov-file#features |access-date=2024-07-17 |publisher=Ladybird}} Andreas Kling develops it alongside paid and volunteer contributors.{{Cite web |title=Ladybird |url=https://ladybird.org/ |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=ladybird.org |language=en}} On June 3rd, 2024, Kling announced his plans to fork Ladybird and begin development on the browser as a separate project. On July 1, 2024, in collaboration with Chris Wanstrath, Kling announced the founding of the Ladybird Browser Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to support the development of the browser.{{Cite web |title=Announcing the Ladybird Browser Initiative |url=https://ladybird.org/announcement.html |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=ladybird.org |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9edTqPMX_k |title=Ladybird announcement |date=2024-07-01 |last=Andreas Kling |access-date=2024-07-01 |via=YouTube}}

As of July 2024, development of Ladybird mostly occurs in its own repository, with changes actively synced to the SerenityOS version.{{Cite web |title=Pull requests · SerenityOS/serenity |url=https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/pulls?q=is%3Apr+Cherry-pick |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=GitHub |language=en}}

Jim Salter of Ars Technica regarded the use of the ext2 file system as his least favorite feature of the operating system. Compared to TempleOS (another operating system well known in the hobbyist community), he considered it more accessible. For less technical users that are looking for a mid–to–late 90s reminiscent visual style, the Xfce Chicago95 theme or the Redmond Project has been recommended instead.{{Cite web|last=Beschizza|first=Rob|date=2021-08-17|title=A refined 90s-style operating system you can actually use|url=https://boingboing.net/2021/08/17/a-refined-90s-style-operating-system-you-can-actually-use.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-18|website=Boing Boing|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821122700/https://boingboing.net/2021/08/17/a-refined-90s-style-operating-system-you-can-actually-use.html}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|SerenityOS}}

• {{Official website|https://www.serenityos.org}}

{{Hobbyist operating systems}}

{{Unix}}

Category:Hobbyist operating systems

Category:Unix variants

Category:Free software programmed in C++

Category:Free software operating systems

Category:Software using the BSD license

Category:2018 software

Category:X86-64 operating systems