Revived by Joe Maloney, NextBSD returns with a fresh codebase that combines Apple’s open-source Darwin userland with the FreeBSD kernel, reviving an ambitious FOSS operating system initiative.
NextBSD has returned after years of inactivity under the stewardship of Joe Maloney (pkgdemon), reviving an ambitious open-source effort to combine Apple’s open-source Darwin userland with the FreeBSD kernel. Rather than continuing the original repository, the project has been rebuilt from scratch in a new GitHub repository while retaining the original vision.
Originally launched in 2015 by FreeBSD co-founder Jordan Hubbard, NextBSD sought to port components of Apple’s Darwin operating system to FreeBSD. The revived project continues that goal by integrating publicly available Apple technologies such as launchd, IOKit components, Apple System Log, syslogd and other Darwin userland components with FreeBSD’s kernel.
Unlike the original implementation, the new NextBSD reflects advances made by both FreeBSD and Darwin over the past decade. Development is already underway with porting work, modular repositories, cross-building through GitHub, detailed documentation and automated testing. A graphical desktop is also in development through Maloney’s Gershwin desktop project, which aims to deliver a macOS-like experience.
The project also reuses components from several open-source initiatives, including ravynOS, GhostBSD, GNUstep, Xfce, helloSystem and PureDarwin. Libraries such as libxpc have been carried forward through ravynOS, preserving parts of the original NextBSD work.
Maloney is also using Anthropic’s Claude Code to assist with planning, research, implementation, testing and review, while emphasising that human oversight remains central to development.
“From my perspective, AI is a force multiplier here. It is my team of developers, but I am steering the entire thing,” said Joe Maloney, NextBSD maintainer.
