Should the base version of Haiku be ready? I mean, they are in beta 4, so Haiku must be finished to be able to have distributions like Linux?
Haiku will hopefully never have distributions.
With both kernel and userland from one team and everything fitting perfectly together,there’s absolutely no reasons to have trillions of different variants where only the preinstalled packages or the desktop background differ.
GNU/Linux has distributions because Linux is only the kernel and other people add more software that’s required to have a fully functional operating system.
This is unique to Linux and Illumos (the kernel from OpenSolaris).
Haiku,FreeBSD,OpenBSD,NetBSD,Windows,MacOS,etc. all don’t have and don’t need distributions because they’re a complete operating system by itself.
6 Likes
Ohh I understand now
Distributions have nothing (or very little) to do with the state of the OS. Linux had distributions very early on, IIRC.
That said, it is theoretically possible to create Haiku distributions (you can`t use the name and the logo, IIRC). There have been announcements (or even attempts?) from people that they want to create distributions (e. g. because they disliked the package management system). None of them went very far.
1 Like
Please, please, please let us not go the Distribution route. The fact that there is ONE Haiku has kept this tiny community together for decades.
Having said that, I think there is room for “flavours” of Haiku once R1 is reached.
- An “End-user” flavour that comes with GIMP, LibreOffice etc.
- A “Developer” flavour with every computer language and IDE
Either one of which can be changed into an “Everything plus the Kitchen Sink” flavour by installing a single meta-package. Who knows, by then a “Gamer” flavour might be feasible.
But we are not there yet, and such a decision should come from this, unified community, NOT by random people grabbing the kernel and doing their own thing.
1 Like
I would love to see a Haiku spinoff.
There are things I don’t like about the current Haiku system. What I would like is a system with installed application packages without a virtual file system (and more like a BeOS file system) and with an extended keymap (with more dead keys).
Also I’d like Haiku with a modded Linux kernel, that would be the easiest way to get better hardware support.
The name of the operating system is just „Haiku“. No OS. OS means „Operating system“
The forum software will even correct you for this.
Regards
1 Like
3 posts were split to a new topic: Haiku name
Counterexample: AROS is a whole OS like Haiku, yet it has several different distributions.
Haiku has no distributions because nobody had a need to make one.
It’s not fully true either, some tried.
I think that they didn’t reach enough audience to get contributors.
To get the interest of few people on a concept is a thing, to make them participate another.
“…don’t need distributions because they’re a complete operating system by itself.”
And thank God for that.
2 Likes
Its power management is from my point of view horrendous and it lacks any hardware acceleration, I can go down a list but why would anyone begin making distibutions of Haiku with such a rocky base
AROS is an ever rockier base yet it does not stop people from making distributions.
There were various distributions over the years:
- TiltOS, which used a custom package manager (before Haiku got one) and ran GIMP and various other Linux ported software on top of an X server,
- Senryu, created from a fork of alpha 4 by someone who really didn’t like the package management system added in later releases
- Discover Haiku, by TuneTracker systems, which package a bunch of extra software including a demo of TuneTracker Systems own software
- Poem OS (am I remembering the name right?), which initially was mainly about a different icon theme, and then I did not keep track of what happened to it.
That last one keeps the core of the system very close to the official distribution, and so it was allowed to use the Haiku name. The other ones took things in different directions, and so they had to pick other names.
While the goal of the Haiku project is to provide a single, unified operating system, nothing prevents anyone from taking it, modifying it, and taking things in another place. That’s what open source is for. However, if there are significant changes, it will be considered a different project with different goals. Which is good for experimentation, and doesn’t prevent collaboration where appropriate.
7 Likes
And SevenOS, really just a BeOS theme on top of Linux
And Blue-Eyed OS, Linux kernel with some attempt to create Haiku app compatibility IIRC.
We’re still around. They are not.
These are not Haiku distributions, but you are right, I forgot Cosmoe (an attenpt to port Haiku userspace on a Linux or BSD kernel) and later V\OS which is a continuation of Cosmoe in a way.
And before all that, the last letter of the Greek alphabet which shall not be mentioned by name in polite company 
Hello @damoklas ,
I have a great news for ya’ !
There are such dream OSes … hundreds of them.
They called Linux distros - all have already a Linux kernel !..
Noone needs to sacrifice extra development time of hundred thousends hours to have been completed for your dreams. They are DONE. You can use them immediately.
If you sacrifice some development time you can port Haiku apps to run on your selected one. That’s much easier. There’s no such blocks you can feel as like/dislike in case Haiku actually.
We just remain on the - khmm : fitting(?) - Haiku kernel in case Haiku, the operating system.
1 Like
Well, yes, after you have ported the file system and the entire inter-app messaging setup
Well - development was started …
DOC.LINK >>>------------> BeOS filesystem (BFS) for Linux
DOC.LINK >>>------------> Haiku compatibility layer for Linux - from trungnt2910