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Project Magenta aims to create open-source iOS clone

Project Magenta aims to create open-source iOS clone

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A developer has created an ARMv7 port of Apple's open-source Darwin OS, with the aim to port iOS to the platform.

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project magenta ios port
project magenta ios port

Developer Christina B is working to recreate iPhone OS 1 for generic hardware with Project Magenta: a port of Apple's open-source Darwin operating system. Darwin is the foundation for iOS, and Christina plans on developing a clone of Apple's mobile platform using open-source alternatives to its proprietary stack. The Darwin port sits atop a standard Linux kernel and will run on any ARMv7-based chip. Christina doesn't plan to implement the necessary high-level frameworks to support running iOS apps, although she says the CoreOS should be 99-100 percent compatible.

There is of course a possibility that another developer could add in the high-level frameworks and thus make the port compatible with iOS apps. Christina B doesn't seem too keen on the idea however, bluntly stating that "if you're interested in this because it will run iOS apps please go away." While this seems to be more of a pet project than anything else at the moment, it's certainly going to be interesting to see how Project Magenta develops now that the source code has been publicly released.