Difference between revisions 274130503 and 274133161 on enwiki

{{Infobox OS
| logo                   = [[Image:Esoteric Taijitu.svg|50px]]
| screenshot             = [[Image:Whitix.png|300px]]
| caption                = Whitix 0.1, with the default desktop.
| website                = [http://www.whitix.org/ www.whitix.org]
| developer              = Matthew Whitworth / others
| family                 = [[Unix-like]]
| source_model           = [[Free Software]] / [[Open source]]
(contracted; show full)ktop computer [[operating system]] written from scratch for the [[x86 architecture]] by Matthew Whitworth and others. The project aim to combine proven system technology (a [[Unix-like]] kernel), while "offering a consistent and clear interface and a new way to navigate the desktop."<ref name="osnews">{{cite web | url = http://www.whitix.org/ | title = Whitix.org - home of Whitix | accessdate = 2008-01-07 | publisher = Whitix.org}}</ref> The operating system runs on a custom
 [[open source]] kernel written by Whitworth; new features include IcFs, a dynamic configuration filesystem that replaces [[ioctl]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.osnews.com/story/20732/ | title=Whitix 0.2 released | accessdate=2008-01-07 | author=Holwerda, Thom | publisher=osnews.com}}</ref>

The modular kernel of Whitix is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License]], and is a fully [[preemption|preemptive]] [[multitasking]] kernel with [[multithreading]]. It supports a number of filesystems, including the [[File Allocation Table|FAT]] family of filesystems, [[ext3]] (with journalling), [[Reiserfs]] and [[ISO9660]]. Whitix is available as a [[live CD]] for download, and can be installed to the hard drive, beginning with version 0.2.

The userspace comprises a native shell, Burn, and text editor, Fruity, and a range of ported applications. A C-based and [[BSD license|BSD-licensed]] [[software development kit]] is available, with bindings for various languages. Whitix contains a [[POSIX]] compatibility library (libposix), but does not aim for full POSIX compliance. Whitix's [[windowing environment]] is [[Xynth]], a lightweight windowing environment developed by Alper Akcan.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.xynth.org | title=Xynth.org | access-date=2009-01-07 | author= Akcan, Alper}}</ref>

==Software==
The custom userspace software for Whitix consists a range of third party applications, Burn (a non-POSIX shell), Fruity (a simple text editor) and several filesystem utilities. Software ported to Whitix includes [[Python (language)|Python]], the [[Mono]] runtime environment and C# compiler, [[GCC]], [[LD]] and the rest of the GCC build-chainPython (language)|Python]], the [[GNU Compiler Collection]], [[Lua (language)|Lua]], [[mplayer]] and other ports. The operating system has been self-hosting since October 2008, when it was built with the GNU build chain. For 0.3, a port of GTK and several Linux applications is planned.

Whitix also adopts a centralized approach to userland configuration, similar to the [[Windows registry]]. Although not widely used by Whitix software at the moment, it includes settings for the operating system's software. It will also be linked into the Whitix package management system, which is currently in development.

===Programming on Whitix===
Whitix supports several programming languages, using utilities ported from other operating systems. The most common collection of utilities for building both Whitix applications and operating system programs is found within the [[GNU toolchain]], which includes the [[GNU Compiler Collection]] (GCC) and the [[GNU build system]]. Amongst others, GCC provides compilers for [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]], [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]] and [[Fortran]]. The Whitix kernel itself is designed to be built with GCC.

Ports for languages such as [[Python (language)|Python]], [[Lua (language)|Lua]] and other dynamic languages are available as ports. The [[.NET runtime]] languages are also supported, as Mono has been ported to the platform. Applications in the planned Blaze platform will be built with managed code.⏎
⏎
==Releases==
The development team issue releases "when it's ready". However, no versions of Whitix have been declared stable for general use. The latest release is 0.2b, which was released on 6 January1 March 2009. The timing of each release depends on the stability of features planned to be included, although a monthly release pattern of minor versions and improvements is an aim for the developers at Whitix.org.
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
!Version
!Release date
!Features added
|-
|0.2b
(contracted; show full){{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.whitix.org Whitix.org]
*[http://www.whitix.org/download Whitix.org - Download]
*[irc://irc.freenode.net/whitix #whitix on irc.freenode.net]

[[Category:Free software operating systems]]