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Apple Limits Intel OS X Source Code Access to Thwart Hackers

by , 3:40 PM EST, February 24th, 2006

"With the release of Mac OS X for x86 processors, Apple has chosen to not release source to key components of the OS, such as the kernel and all drivers," Rob Braun recently wrote for Daemon News. As fellow developer Peter O'Gorman noted, Apple likely did this to thwart the efforts of those who want to hack the Intel version of Mac OS X and get it running on non-Apple hardware.

" I can understand and applaud the goal, but not the methods," said Mr. O'Gorman. "By limiting published source code to that which is 'infected' by the GPL [GNU General Public License -- editor], Apple is, in my honest opinion, scoring an own goal," he added, referring to the soccer term that describes a team scoring a goal in its own net.

"We are going through yet another cycle of losing access that we once had," said Mr. Braun. "This means Darwin/x86 is dead in the water; Darwin/ppc has many closed source components and is a deprecated architecture.

" One has to wonder why Apple even bothers to release non-GPL'd source at all, if it is unwilling to cooperate with external developers to increase their return on investment and accept external bug fixes and features."

An article at PC Pro offers more background on the situation.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:ReggaeFire Posts: 8 Joined: 24 Mar 2003
Subject: Wasn't this debunked?

If this is the same story that was running on /. yesterday, it's already been debunked. It was a case where part of a file wasn't uploaded, not even the first time such a thing happened.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: No debunking, sorry

The story has NOT been debunked. The kernel (xnu) is not being made available by Apple, as making it available would either a. require Apple to publicize its TCPA chip keys, or allow an enterprising programmer to remove any TCPA checks and create a kernel that can run on non-Apple x86 hardware.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: see what happens

Well, there are a lot of contributions Apple makes all over the place, not just GLP stuff, and there's a lot of return from that for Apple.

So I think they and the community will figure something out.

I understand the frustration of the Darwin team though, and really can't see why anybody would run darwin without the rest of the juice.

If that's your thing, I'd think it's better to just go with BSD. Lots of Apple interaction there too.

Close Name:Bosco Posts: 1002 Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Subject: Scoring an own goal?

Well, at least Apple isn't scoring an own sister, referring to the soccer term that describes someone scoring with his own sister.

BTW, this was partially debunked. And another BTW, when a "developer" whines, the best thing to do is wait a week, because developers who whine are whiney and whiney developers tend to have premature whining problems, if you know what I mean. Oh, and so what if "developers" can't build the latest x86 version of the Darwin kernel. Rumor has is that if 3 people died in a plane crash, Apple wouldn't be able to either.

Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Subject:

Well its pretty easy to get a definitive answer. Just go over to ADC and download the source! They have 10.4.5 source available so I guess someone just has to check and see if it compiles. I personally would think that Darwin would never include any TPM stuff, so the Darwin source obviously wouldn't either. So if they are continuing to release Darwin I see no reason they would not release all the Darwin source.

Are we sure this isn't just some whiney developer who was stupid enough to think Apple was going to release the source to the software pieces of the TPM implementation in Intel OS X and now is making a fuss because they aren't?

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Mac OS X is going to be cracked anyway

it is inevitible yet Apple persists in trying to protect something that it will not be able to control. This is actually VERY humerous and will accomplish NOTHING for Apple. Changing over to Intel chips while making Apple mainstream will cause it to be cracked WIDE open. ANYthing Apple makes can and will be built cheaper and better AND you can stretch the money you need to spend over months of parts buying.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: It's a valid concern

If you check, XNU is available for ppc, but not for intel. I for one am very annoyed at this, and it may just sway me to go away from apple on this one.

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