# xv6

Xv6 for RISC-V

Repository: https://github.com/mit-pdos/xv6-riscv
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/xv6
Homepage: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.1810
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-24T00:51:02+00:00
Link (homepage): https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.1810

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2564, "days_push": 10, "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 10267, forks 4167 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:41.388372+00:00)

## What it is
Xv6 is a small re-implementation of Unix Version 6 written in ANSI C for a modern RISC-V multiprocessor, maintained by MIT PDOS. It serves as the teaching operating system for MIT's 6.1810 operating systems engineering course.

## Use cases
- learn how an operating system kernel works
- study a simple Unix-like kernel source code
- teach an operating systems course
- experiment with syscalls, page tables, and file systems in a kernel
- run a minimal OS in QEMU for OS development practice

## When to choose
- you want a small, readable codebase for learning OS internals
- you are following MIT 6.1810 or a similar OS course
- you want to modify a real kernel without Linux's complexity

## When to avoid
- you need a production or general-purpose operating system
- you need broad hardware support or modern OS features
- you want a non-RISC-V target without porting effort

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, developer-tools
- domain: operating-systems, education, tutorials
- platform: cross-platform, cpp
- tags: teaching-os, unix-v6, risc-v, qemu, kernel, educational, operating-systems, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- mit-pdos/xv6-riscv (main) score 77
- mit-pdos/xv6-public (mirror) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:41.388372+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 2026-08-29T17:19:22.641141+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mit-pdos/xv6-riscv (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:41.388372+00:00, sha 62e7b5718d95)
  - homepage: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.1810 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:18:46.819976+00:00, sha 8756edc997a4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.