# linux-noah/noah

Bash on Ubuntu on macOS

Repository: https://github.com/linux-noah/noah
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/noah
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2020-06-09T10:30:59+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3800, "days_push": 2276, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1940, forks 91 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:57.313451+00:00)

## What it is
Noah is a Darwin subsystem for Linux that runs Linux binaries directly on macOS by trapping Linux system calls and translating them into Darwin system calls. It acts as a hypervisor with an ELF interpreter, enabling unmodified Linux executables (with an Ubuntu userland) to run on macOS, similar to WSL for Windows.

## Use cases
- run Linux command-line tools on macOS without a VM
- execute unmodified Linux ELF binaries on a Mac
- use Ubuntu packages and apt on macOS
- run Bash on Ubuntu on macOS like WSL
- test Linux software on macOS without Docker
- translate Linux syscalls to Darwin syscalls

## When to avoid
- you need full Linux compatibility - many system calls are missing and most Linux apps don't work well
- you are on the latest macOS versions - the project is not actively maintained and may not run
- you need a production-grade or supported solution - Noah is explicitly experimental
- you need GUI Linux applications or modern kernel features

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: abandoned
- function: interpreter, compiler, developer-tools, cli
- domain: operating-systems, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: cli
- tags: linux-emulation, hypervisor, syscall-translation, elf-interpreter, ubuntu-on-macos, wsl-alternative, command-line, macos

## Member repositories
- linux-noah/noah (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.313451+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:08:09.721186+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/linux-noah/noah (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.313451+00:00, sha c2a1f101454f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.