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SerenityOS
Hobbyist desktop computing operating system

SerenityOS is a free and open source desktop operating system featuring a preemptive kernel and support for x86-64, ARM, and RISC-V architectures. It includes several complex applications such as its own web browser and integrated development environment (IDE). Developed since 2018 by Swedish programmer Andreas Kling, SerenityOS is maintained by a community of hobbyists on GitHub where it is described as "a love letter to '90s user interfaces with a custom Unix-like core" that "does not cater to non-technical users."

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History

Andreas Kling previously worked at Nokia and later at Apple on the WebKit team.7 He began developing the project in part to aid his recovery from addiction, and as such the name of the project derives from the Serenity Prayer.8 Starting in 2021, Kling began working full-time on SerenityOS, supported by community donations.9 On June 3rd, 2024, he stepped down as a project lead from the project (keeping his role as a maintainer) to work on the Ladybird browser.10 Three months later, on October 4th, 2024, he removed himself from a maintainer list in the SerenityOS repository,11 and updated his mail mapping alias from kling at serenityos.org to andreas at ladybird.org in the forked Ladybird repository.12

Features and development

SerenityOS aims to be a modern Unix-like operating system, with a look and feel that emulates 1990s operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.13 Incorporating third-party code into the system is discouraged. The web browser, for instance, does not use a pre-existing web engine such as WebKit, instead using its own Browser (built on LibWeb engine). There is a collection of ported software, such as GCC, Git and Doom, with varying levels of functionality.14

Development does not adhere to a release cycle; as such, there are no releases.15 Additionally, no binary distributions are provided and prospects are expected to build the system from source.16 The system is written in what the authors call "Serenity C++",17 a C++ coding style that avoids exceptions and features its own standard library.18

The relative popularity of SerenityOS compared to other hobbyist systems is in part due to the modest success of Kling's YouTube channel, where he uploaded videos of himself developing parts of the system alongside demos and monthly progress updates (until April 2024, where the last update was hosted by Andrew Kaster, project’s core developer).19

Work is currently at the early stages to support AArch64 and RISC-V based processors.20

Web browser

Main article: Ladybird (web browser)

SerenityOS includes a version of the Ladybird web browser, built from the ground up using its internal libraries LibWeb, LibJS and LibWasm.212223 Andreas Kling develops it alongside paid and volunteer contributors.24 On June 3rd, 2024, Kling announced his plans to fork Ladybird and begin development on the browser as a separate project.25 On July 1, 2024, in collaboration with Chris Wanstrath, Kling announced the founding of the Ladybird Browser Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to support the development of the browser.2627

As of July 2024, development of Ladybird mostly occurs in its own repository, with changes actively synced to the SerenityOS version.28

Reception

Jim Salter of Ars Technica regarded the use of the ext2 file system as his least favorite feature of the operating system. Compared to TempleOS (another operating system well known in the hobbyist community), he considered it more accessible.29 For less technical users that are looking for a mid–to–late 90s reminiscent visual style, the Xfce Chicago95 theme or the Redmond Project has been recommended instead.30

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SerenityOS.

References

  1. "SerenityOS update (December 2022)". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3PyN2Ctrpg ↩

  2. "serenity/README.md at master · SerenityOS/serenity". GitHub. Retrieved 2025-01-29. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/master/README.md ↩

  3. Kling, Andreas. "SerenityOS". Retrieved 2021-08-26. https://www.serenityos.org/ ↩

  4. Salter, Jim (2021-08-18). "Not-a-Linux distro review: SerenityOS is a Unix-y love letter to the '90s". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-08-21. Retrieved 2021-08-18. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/not-a-linux-distro-review-serenityos-is-a-unix-y-love-letter-to-the-90s/ ↩

  5. "The Serenity Operating System 🐞". GitHub.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity?tab=readme-ov-file#about ↩

  6. "serenity/Documentation/FAQ.md at master · SerenityOS/serenity". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-12-04. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/master/Documentation/FAQ.md ↩

  7. Proven, Liam. "SerenityOS: A remarkable achievement for a small project". The Register. Retrieved 2023-05-19. https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/31/serenityos/ ↩

  8. Kling, Andreas (2021-05-28). "I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time". https://awesomekling.github.io/I-quit-my-job-to-focus-on-SerenityOS-full-time/ ↩

  9. Kling, Andreas (2021-05-28). "I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time". https://awesomekling.github.io/I-quit-my-job-to-focus-on-SerenityOS-full-time/ ↩

  10. Kling, Andreas (2024-06-03). "I'm forking Ladybird and stepping down as SerenityOS BDFL". Andreas Kling. Retrieved 2024-06-04. https://awesomekling.substack.com/p/forking-ladybird-and-stepping-down-serenityos ↩

  11. Kling, Andreas (2024-10-04). "Meta: Remove myself from maintainer list". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-10-10. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/commit/44c9fafbe4356966569c5d8ee8061e923e5c5515 ↩

  12. Kling, Andreas (2024-10-04). "Meta: Update my e-mail address everywhere". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-10-10. https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird/commit/cc4b3cbaccdaa8f89c492f3fa3a4e909fb839fd9 ↩

  13. TIVI. "Ohjelmoija kehitti c++:lla uuden käyttöjärjestelmän, joka jäljittelee 1990-lukua". Tivi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2020-05-16. Retrieved 2021-08-18. https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/ohjelmoija-kehitti-clla-uuden-kayttojarjestelman-joka-jaljittelee-1990-lukua/4c5511d2-0dc5-4a0a-a0b6-ec6d12f83b7c ↩

  14. "serenity/Ports at master · SerenityOS/serenity". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-10-07. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity ↩

  15. "Releases · SerenityOS/serenity". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-10-07. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity ↩

  16. "Where are the ISO images?" in: serenity/FAQ.md, SerenityOS, 2021-10-07, retrieved 2021-10-07 https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/350c5a751dfaa36a5f67cb32472da32c2842572a/Documentation/FAQ.md ↩

  17. Documentation/CodingStyle.md, SerenityOS, 2021-10-07, retrieved 2021-10-07 https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/49259777efd6e1db22ee9ff6a89f373fa5f8b5d6/Documentation/CodingStyle.md ↩

  18. Kazakova, Anastasia (2021-11-12). "Talking to SerenityOS Contributors About a Scratch-built C++ Developer's Playground in Modern C++". blog.jetbrains.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2024-01-13. https://blog.jetbrains.com/clion/2021/11/talking-to-serenityos-contributors/ ↩

  19. Gregori, Sven (2020-02-24). "Reaching Serenity: Porting Git To A Homebrew Operating System". Hackaday. Archived from the original on 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2021-08-18. https://hackaday.com/2020/02/23/reaching-serenity-porting-git-to-a-homebrew-operating-system/ ↩

  20. "SerenityOS update (April 2024)". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWjAxNHXd_8 ↩

  21. Proven, Liam. "Serenity OS browser, Ladybird, now cross-platform". The Register. Retrieved 2024-04-06. https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/serenity_os_turns_five/ ↩

  22. By (2023-10-10). "Jenny's Daily Drivers: SerenityOS, And In Particular, Ladybird". Hackaday. Retrieved 2024-04-06. https://hackaday.com/2023/10/10/jennys-daily-drivers-serenityos-and-in-particular-ladybird/ ↩

  23. LadybirdBrowser/ladybird, Ladybird, 2024-07-17, retrieved 2024-07-17 https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird?tab=readme-ov-file#features ↩

  24. "Ladybird". ladybird.org. Retrieved 2024-07-17. https://ladybird.org/ ↩

  25. Kling, Andreas (2024-06-03). "I'm forking Ladybird and stepping down as SerenityOS BDFL". Andreas Kling. Retrieved 2024-06-04. https://awesomekling.substack.com/p/forking-ladybird-and-stepping-down-serenityos ↩

  26. "Announcing the Ladybird Browser Initiative". ladybird.org. Retrieved 2024-07-01. https://ladybird.org/announcement.html ↩

  27. Andreas Kling (2024-07-01). Ladybird announcement. Retrieved 2024-07-01 – via YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9edTqPMX_k ↩

  28. "Pull requests · SerenityOS/serenity". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-07-17. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/pulls?q=is%3Apr+Cherry-pick ↩

  29. Salter, Jim (2021-08-18). "Not-a-Linux distro review: SerenityOS is a Unix-y love letter to the '90s". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-08-21. Retrieved 2021-08-18. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/not-a-linux-distro-review-serenityos-is-a-unix-y-love-letter-to-the-90s/ ↩

  30. Beschizza, Rob (2021-08-17). "A refined 90s-style operating system you can actually use". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on 2021-08-21. Retrieved 2021-08-18. https://boingboing.net/2021/08/17/a-refined-90s-style-operating-system-you-can-actually-use.html ↩