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OpenSolaris
Company typeOpen source software project
IndustryOperating system software
PredecessorSolaris
Founded2005
FounderSun Microsystems
Defunct2010
FateDiscontinued after Oracle acquisition; forked into OpenIndiana and other illumos-based distributions
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsOpenSolaris operating system
OwnerSun Microsystems (until 2010), then Oracle Corporation (after acquisition)

OpenSolaris () was an open-source operating system designed for both SPARC and x86 architectures, created by Sun Microsystems and derived from Solaris. Its development commenced in the mid-2000s and concluded by 2010.

This operating system integrated multiple components from Solaris 10 that were released as open source, along with various free software packages suitable for desktop and server use. Originating from the UNIX System V Release 4 (SVR4) lineage developed jointly by Sun and AT&T during the late 1980s, OpenSolaris stands out as the sole open-source variant of this System V UNIX derivative.

After Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010, OpenSolaris development was discontinued to prioritize the proprietary Solaris Express platform, now known as Oracle Solaris. In response, former contributors of OpenSolaris created a fork called OpenIndiana, backed by the illumos Foundation, which continues maintaining both the kernel and userland components. Since then, various other illumos-based distributions—both commercial and community-driven—have appeared and remain under active development.

History

OpenSolaris traces its roots back to Solaris, initially launched by Sun Microsystems in 1991. Solaris itself is a derivative of UNIX System V Release 4 (SVR4), developed in collaboration between Sun and AT&T under Novell's license, intended as a successor to SunOS.

The concept of OpenSolaris began taking shape in early 2004 through a pilot initiative involving external community participants. Sun submitted the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) for approval to the Open Source Initiative, which was granted in January 2005.

The first open-source component released was the Solaris Dynamic Tracing facility (DTrace) in January 2005. This was followed by the release of most Solaris system code in June 2005, although certain elements remained proprietary binary files.

A Community Advisory Board was formed in April 2005 to oversee project guidance; this body evolved into the independent OpenSolaris Governing Board by February 2006. The upcoming Solaris operating system generation, internally codenamed 'Nevada', was built upon OpenSolaris codebase snapshots taken biweekly, which also contributed to stable OpenSolaris releases.

Sun’s Solaris Express initiative initially provided distributions that combined OpenSolaris code with proprietary Solaris components. The first standalone OpenSolaris distribution became available in June 2005, followed by several subsequent releases.

In 2007, Sun appointed Ian Murdock—the founder of Debian—to lead Project Indiana. This effort aimed to develop a comprehensive OpenSolaris distribution incorporating GNOME as the desktop environment alongside GNU userland utilities and a network-oriented package management system. The goal was for this distribution to replace Solaris Express as the foundation for future Solaris iterations.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 debuted as a Live CD featuring GNOME as its default interface; later that year, version 2008.11 introduced Time Slider—a graphical tool for managing ZFS snapshots akin to macOS’s Time Machine functionality.

By December 2008, Sun had partnered with Toshiba America Information Systems to provide laptops preloaded with OpenSolaris. Models such as the Tecra M10 and Portégé R600 were launched in April 2009 featuring this OS.

The 2009.06 release extended support to SPARC hardware platforms. However, in January 2010, Sun announced it would discontinue the Solaris Express program; an anticipated OpenSolaris binary release planned for March did not come to fruition.

By August 2010, Oracle had reportedly ceased distributing OpenSolaris binaries to concentrate on Solaris Express builds while continuing contributions to source code and delaying source releases following binary discontinuation. This approach reduced binary release frequency and altered community interaction patterns.

In September 2010, the community introduced OpenIndiana—a fork dedicated to advancing OpenSolaris’s objectives. It strives for System V compatibility with Oracle Solaris 11 but is based on illumos rather than OS/Net consolidation and retains the IPS package management system.

Oracle issued a final OpenSolaris build (134b) in November 2010 intended to facilitate upgrades to Solaris 11 Express. Shortly thereafter, Oracle Solaris 11 Express 2010.11 was released as a preview of Oracle’s post-OpenSolaris distribution.

Version history

Key: Indicates release no longer maintained

Version Build Release date Support termination timeline
General Availability (GA) Post End of Version (EOV) SunSpectrum End of Service Life (SS-EOSL)
2008.05 86 Template:Sort Template:Sort Template:Sort -
2008.11 101b Template:Sort Template:Sort Template:Sort -
2009.06 111b Template:Sort Template:Sort Template:Sort Template:Sort

Release model

OpenSolaris distributed both unstable development and stable production versions.

  • The development editions included the newest code, cutting-edge features, security patches, and additional applications but were subject to minimal testing.
  • The production versions were created by branching from development snapshots following a code freeze, then subjected to quality assurance processes that incorporated backported fixes and security updates.

Users could install the system using CD-ROM, USB devices, or over the network through the Automated Installer.[1] Both release categories were supported by installation images.[2]

Repositories

Software management and updates in OpenSolaris were handled through the network-capable Image Packaging System (pkg(5)).

Packages for development releases were generally refreshed every two weeks within the /dev repository.[3] Meanwhile, production editions relied on the more stable /release repository, which was updated only with official production releases. Access to these production updates necessitated an active paid support agreement.[4]

Sun offered commercial support through the /support repository hosted at pkg.sun.com, granting customers access to critical security patches and bug fixes for production versions.

Documentation

The hardware compatibility list (HCL) for OpenSolaris serves as a valuable tool for identifying hardware that works seamlessly with the platform. A wealth of comprehensive materials covering administration, usage, and development are accessible online, including contributions from the user community.

License

Sun Microsystems made most of Solaris' source code available under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), which is derived from the Mozilla Public License (MPL) 1.1. This license, endorsed by the Open Source Initiative in 2005, permits the integration of CDDL-licensed components with other open source or proprietary licenses.

When Java was released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Sun executives Jonathan Schwartz and Rich Green expressed potential interest in re-licensing Solaris under the GPL. In 2007, there were reports indicating that OpenSolaris might adopt a dual-license model involving both CDDL and GPLv3; nevertheless, Sun clarified that although dual licensing was seriously considered, it depended on obtaining community consensus.

Conferences

The first OpenSolaris Developer Conference (OSDevCon) was hosted by the German Unix User Group (GUUG) from February 27 to March 2, 2007, at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany. The following year’s conference was a joint effort between GUUG and the Czech OpenSolaris User Group (CZOSUG), held June 25–27 in Prague, Czech Republic. The 2009 OSDevCon took place October 27–30 in Dresden, Germany.

Sun Microsystems organized the inaugural OpenSolaris Developer Summit on October 13, 2007, at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). The 2008 summit returned to UCSC on May 2–3, just before Sun unveiled its new OpenSolaris distribution on May 5 at the CommunityOne conference in San Francisco, California.

The first OpenSolaris Storage Summit, arranged by Sun, occurred on September 21, 2008, in Santa Clara, California, preceding the SNIA Storage Developer Conference (SDC). A second summit followed on February 23, 2009, ahead of the USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST) held in San Francisco.

On November 3, 2009, Sun convened a Solaris/OpenSolaris Security Summit in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, just before the Large Installation System Administration Conference (LISA).

Ports

  • PowerPC Port: Known as Project Polaris, this experimental PowerPC port builds upon earlier initiatives such as Project Pulsar from Sun Labs.
  • OpenSolaris for System z, designed for IBM mainframes: Called Project Sirius and developed by Sine Nomine Associates, its name parallels that of Polaris.
  • OpenSolaris port for the ARM
  • OpenSolaris port for the MIPS

Derivatives

Key derivatives include:

  • illumos, an entirely open source fork initiated in 2010 by former Sun OpenSolaris developers along with NexentaOS support. OpenSolaris itself was not fully open source due to proprietary drivers and libraries licensed by Sun (now Oracle).
  • OpenIndiana, based on illumos, this project strives to serve as the primary OpenSolaris distribution for production environments requiring free updates for security and bug fixes.
  • NexentaStor, tailored for storage-centric workloads and built upon Nexenta OS.
  • OSDyson: Combines the illumos kernel with GNU userland tools and Debian packages, aiming to achieve official Debian port status.
  • SmartOS: A derivative focused on virtualization technologies developed by Joyent.

Discontinued

  • Nexenta OS (ceased development on October 31, 2012), recognized as the initial distribution that integrated an Ubuntu user environment with a kernel derived from Solaris

See also

Further reading

External links

  1. ↑ OpenSolaris 2010.03 Automated Installer Guide, Sun Microsystems
  2. ↑ OpenSolaris distributions and development releases
  3. ↑ Alan McClellan (April 10, 2009). "Additional IPS Repositories". Sun Microsystems.
  4. ↑ "Service Life Status for OpenSolaris Operating System Releases". Sun Microsystems.

Related profiles

OOpenSolarisMMartUXOOracle SolarisIIllumos
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