1.

3 Free and Open source

operating system
P.VIJAYA PRABA
AP/IT
1.3 Free and Open source operating
system
 History
 Free Operating Systems
 GNU/Linux
 BSD Unix
 Solaris
 Open-source systems as learning tools
• Both free operating systems and open-source operating systems are available in source-code
format rather than as compiled binary code. Note, though, that free software and open-source
software are two different ideas.
• Free software (sometimes referred to as free/libre software) not only makes source code
available but also is licensed to allow no-cost use, redistribution, and modification.
• Open-source software does not necessarily offer such licensing.
• Thus, although all free software is open source, some open-source software is not “free.”
GNU/Linux is the most famous open-source operating system, with some distributions free
and others open source only (http://www.gnu.org/distros/).
• Microsoft Windows is a well-known example of the opposite closed-source approach.
Windows is proprietary software—Microsoft owns it, restricts its use, and carefully protects its
source code. Apple’s macOS operating system comprises a hybrid approach. It contains an
open-source kernel named Darwin but includes proprietary, closed-source components as well.
• Starting with the source code allows the programmer to produce binary code that
can be executed on a system. Doing the opposite—reverse engineering the source
code from the binaries—is quite a lot of work, and useful items such as comments
are never recovered.
• There are many benefits to open-source operating systems, including a community
of interested (and usually unpaid) programmers who contribute to the code by
helping to write it, debug it, analyze it, provide support, and suggest changes.
• Arguably, open-source code is more secure than closed-source code because many
more eyes are viewing the code. Certainly, open-source code has bugs, but open-
source advocates argue that bugs tend to be found and fixed faster owing to the
number of people using and viewing the code.
 1.3.1 History
• In the early days of modern computing (that is, the 1950s), software generally came with source
code.
• The Company specific user groups, such as Digital Equipment Corporation’s DECUS, accepted
contributions of source-code programs, collected them onto tapes, and distributed the tapes to
interested members. In 1970, Digital’s operating systems were distributed as source code with
no restrictions or copyright notice.
• Computer and software companies eventually sought to limit the use of their software to
authorized computers and paying customers.
• Releasing only the binary files compiled from the source code, rather than the source code
itself, helped them to achieve this goal, as well as protecting their code and their ideas from
their competitors.
• Although the Homebrew user groups of the 1970s exchanged code during their meetings, the
operating systems for hobbyist machines (such as CPM) were proprietary. By 1980, proprietary
software was the usual case.
 1.3.2 Free Operating Systems
• To counter the move to limit software use and redistribution, Richard Stallman in 1984
started developing a free, UNIX-compatible operating system called GNU.
• To Stallman, “free” refers to freedom of use, not price. The free-software movement
does not object to trading a copy for an amount of money but holds that users are entitled
to four certain freedoms:
(1) to freely run the program,
(2) to study and change the source code, and to give or sell copies either
(3) with or
(4)without changes.
 1.3.2 Free Operating Systems
• Stallman formed the Free Software Foundation (FSF) with the goal of
encouraging the use and development of free software.
• The FSF uses the copyrights on its programs to implement “copyleft,” a form of
licensing invented by Stallman.
• The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a common license under which free
software is released. Fundamentally, the GPL requires that the source code be
distributed with any binaries and that all copies (including modified versions) be
released under the same GPL license
 1.3.3 GNU / Linux
• As an example of a free and open-source operating system, consider GNU/Linux. By
1991, the GNU operating system was nearly complete.
• The GNU Project had developed compilers, editors, utilities, libraries, and games —
whatever parts it could not find elsewhere.
• In 1991, a student in Finland, Linus Torvalds, released a rudimentary UNIX-like
kernel using the GNU compilers and tools and invited contributions worldwide.
• The advent of the Internet meant that anyone interested could download the source
code, modify it, and submit changes to Torvalds.
• Releasing updates once a week allowed this so-called “Linux” operating system to
grow rapidly, enhanced by several thousand programmers. In 1991, Linux was not
free software, as its license permitted only non commercial redistribution. In 1992,
however, Torvalds rereleased Linux under the GPL, making it free software.
• The resulting GNU/Linux operating system (with the kernel properly called Linux
but the full operating system including GNU tools called GNU/Linux) has
generated hundreds of unique distributions, or custom builds, of the system.
• Major distributions include Red Hat, SUSE, Fedora, Debian, Slackware, and
Ubuntu.
• PCLinuxOS is a live CD—an operating system that can be booted and run from a CD-
ROM without being installed on a system’s boot disk. A variant of PCLinuxOS—called
PCLinuxOS Supergamer DVD—is a live DVD that includes graphics drivers and games.
• A gamer can run it on any compatible system simply by booting from the DVD. When
the gamer is finished, a reboot of the system resets it to its installed operating system.
You can run Linux on a Windows (or other) system using the following simple, free
approach:
1. Download the free Virtualbox VMM tool from https://www.virtualbox.org/ and install
it on your system.
2. Choose to install an operating system from scratch, based on an installation image like
a CD, or choose pre-built operating-system images that can be installed and run more
quickly from a site like http://virtualboxes.org/images/ .These images are preinstalled
with operating systems and applications and include many flavors of GNU/Linux.
3. Boot the virtual machine within Virtualbox.
• An alternative to using Virtualbox is to use the free program Qemu
(http://wiki.qemu.org/Download/), which includes the qemu-img command for
converting Virtualbox images to Qemu images to easily import them.
 1.3.4 BSD UNIX
• BSD UNIX has a longer and more complicated history than Linux. It started in 1978 as a
derivative of AT&T’s UNIX. Releases from the University of California at Berkeley
(UCB) came in source and binary form, but they were not open source because a license
from AT&T was required.
• An open-source version, 4.4BSD-lite, was released in 1994.
• Just as with Linux, there are many distributions of BSD UNIX, including FreeBSD,
NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonflyBSD.
• As with many open-source projects, this source code is contained in and controlled by a
version control system—in this case, “subversion”
(https://subversion.apache.org/source-code ).
• Version control systems allow a user to “pull” an entire source code tree to his computer
and “push” any changes back into the repository for others to then pull.
• Another version control system is git, which is used for GNU/Linux, as well as other
programs (http://www.git-scm.com).
• Darwin, the core kernel component of macOS, is based on BSD UNIX and is open-
sourced as well. That source code is available from http://www.opensource.apple.com/.
 1.3.5 Solaris
• Solaris is the commercial UNIX-based operating system of Sun Microsystems.
Originally, Sun’s SunOS operating system was based on BSD UNIX.
• Sun moved to AT&T’s System V UNIX as its base in 1991. In 2005, Sun open-sourced
most of the Solaris code as the OpenSolaris project.
• The purchase of Sun by Oracle in 2009, however, left the state of this project unclear.
Several groups interested in using OpenSolaris have expanded its features, and their
working set is Project Illumos, which has expanded from the Open-Solaris base to
include more features and to be the basis for several products.
• Illumos is available at http://wiki.illumos.org.
 1.3.6 Open-source systems as
Learning Tools
• The free-software movement is driving legions of programmers to create thousands of
open-source projects, including operating systems. Sites like http://freshmeat.net/ and
http://distrowatch.com/ provide portals to many of these projects.
• Open-source projects enable students to use source code as a learning tool. They can
modify programs and test them, help find and fix bugs, and otherwise explore mature,
full-featured operating systems, compilers, tools, user interfaces, and other types of
programs. The availability of source code for historic projects, such as Multics, can help
students to understand those projects and to build knowledge that will help in the
implementation of new projects.
• Another advantage of working with open-source operating systems is their diversity.
GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX are both open-source operating systems, for instance, but
each has its own goals, utility, licensing, and purpose.
• The advantages of free software and open sourcing are likely to increase the number and
quality of open-source projects, leading to an increase in the number of individuals and
companies that use these projects.