# apple-oss-distributions/xnu

Repository: https://github.com/apple-oss-distributions/xnu
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/xnu
Homepage: https://opensource.apple.com/releases
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-06-18T03:58:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 72/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 88, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1794, "days_push": 76, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3539, forks 404 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:09.038068+00:00)

## What it is
The XNU kernel source code, the core of Apple's Darwin operating system used in macOS and iOS. It is a hybrid kernel combining the Mach microkernel, FreeBSD components, and the C++-based IOKit driver framework.

## Use cases
- study how the macOS and iOS kernel works
- build a custom Darwin kernel for research
- debug kernel panics with full source and symbols
- develop or audit kernel extensions and drivers
- research XNU security internals like MAC policies
- port or experiment with Darwin on ARM64 or x86_64

## When to choose
- you need the authoritative source for the Apple/Darwin kernel
- you are doing kernel-level security research or reverse engineering on macOS/iOS
- you want to build debug, development, or release kernel variants with Apple's make system

## When to avoid
- you want to run a general-purpose Unix-like OS on commodity hardware - use Linux or a BSD instead
- you need to modify and boot a kernel on production Apple devices, which is largely impractical
- you are looking for a driver framework for third-party hardware rather than kernel source study

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: security
- domain: operating-systems, apple-ecosystem, security, developer-tools
- platform: c
- tags: xnu-kernel, darwin, mach, bsd, iokit, apple-open-source, hybrid-kernel, kernel-source, operating-systems, kernel, driver-development, macos, ios, x86_64, arm64

## Member repositories
- apple-oss-distributions/xnu (main) score 72

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:09.038068+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 2026-08-29T18:34:36.527821+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/apple-oss-distributions/xnu (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:09.038068+00:00, sha 943667d0a9a9)
  - homepage: https://opensource.apple.com/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T09:28:41.839130+00:00, sha 153ce41f23ad)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.