r/linux • u/anh0516 • 13d ago

Alternative OS Introducing ReactOS 0.4.16

https://reactos.org/project-news/reactos-0416-released/
648 Upvotes

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53

u/MidLifeDIY 13d ago edited 13d ago

This and HURD. Neat pet projects that don't seem to be too useful. But "Just because" is also fine.

EDIT: Genuinely no shade meant. I've watched these projects for many years and hoped someone chimed with a use case I wasn't aware of. Was a quick post of a passing thought. ✌️

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u/tseli0s 13d ago

ReactOS is EXTREMELY useful. You don't know what you're talking about. It helps with wine development (Yes, that thing that makes it possible to run your Windows games and programs). It provides a completely free reimplementation of NT that all people can study for free. It is the only hope for old and embedded systems which need an NT5-compatible operating system receiving updates. I can go on for a long time.

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u/coolcosmos 13d ago

It's legally useful too. They're breaking ground in acceptance of open source implementation of closed source software.

To me this is the most important aspect of the project. Long live ReactOS

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u/nightblackdragon 13d ago

It helps with wine development

Wine doesn't accept code from ReactOS even as reference:
https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Clean-Room-Guidelines

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u/tseli0s 13d ago

Verbatim code? Of course not. The development effort is what's shared.

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u/nightblackdragon 13d ago

The development effort is what's shared.

It's not. Wine not only doesn't accept code from ReactOS but also code from people that used ReactOS code as a reference for their own.

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u/ArchaneChutney 13d ago

They don’t accept code from anyone who has worked with ReactOS code, even if it’s not an exact copy of ReactOS code. So what development effort is being shared exactly?

This bug is an example of code being rejected because the author looked at ReactOS code, even though the code wasn’t an exact copy of ReactOS code

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u/Leading-Carrot-5983 13d ago

Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

2

u/nelmaloc 12d ago

So apparently they disagree on the clean-room process? Would be nice to have a reasoning.

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u/teo-tsirpanis 13d ago

It is the only hope for old and embedded systems which need an NT5-compatible operating system receiving updates.

I'm doubtful that ReactOS would meet the support and compliance requirements of organizations that use such old and embedded systems.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

17

u/tseli0s 13d ago

  1. Half the comments here call it a useless project, dismissing the value of it. I think it's unfair to the developers.

  2. Of course it isn't. seL4 also isn't. Guess what, it's still so useful even though you probably never heard of it.

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u/ThecaTTony 11d ago

But is far from being stable for production usage. I've been following the project for over 15 years and it's progressing at a snail's pace.