CatBSD Darwin Utilities Toolkit

Version: 0.1.0-alpha
Status: Proof of Concept / Alpha
License: Mixed (BSD/APSL - see individual components)

What is This?

A proof-of-concept toolkit demonstrating Darwin API compatibility on FreeBSD. This is an alpha release showing that macOS-style utilities can run on FreeBSD using compatibility shims.

⚠️ Alpha Software: This is experimental. Not production-ready. APIs may change.

The Essential 15

A collection of 15 Darwin-compatible command-line utilities:

System & Configuration

• sw_vers - System version information
• scutil - System configuration
• networksetup - Network management

File Operations

• plutil - Property list utility
• xattr - Extended attributes
• ditto - File copying with metadata
• open - File/URL opener

Clipboard

• pbcopy - Copy to clipboard
• pbpaste - Paste from clipboard

Media & Output

• say - Text-to-speech
• afplay - Audio player
• screencapture - Screenshots

Management

• launchd - Service management
• defaults - User preferences
• caffeinate - Power management

Quick Start

# Build all utilities
cd src/darwin-compat
./build-all.sh

# Run demo
./demo-essential-15.sh

# Try individual utilities
cd sw_vers-demo && ./sw_vers-demo
cd plutil-demo && ./plutil-demo -help

What Works

✅ All 15 utilities compile and run on macOS
✅ Compatibility shim library (Mach ports → kqueue)
✅ Darwin-compatible command-line interfaces
✅ Comprehensive test suites

What Doesn't Work (Yet)

❌ FreeBSD integration (currently macOS-only demos)
❌ Binary plist support
❌ Full framework implementations
❌ Bootable system
❌ Package management

Architecture

Utilities
    ↓
Compatibility Shims (mach_port, darwin_syscalls)
    ↓
FreeBSD/macOS Native APIs

Installation (Alpha)

Current: Manual build only

cd src/darwin-compat
./build-all.sh
# Binaries in each *-demo/ directory

Future: Package manager integration

Roadmap

v0.2.0-alpha

• More utilities (20+ total)
• FreeBSD VM testing
• Improved shim library

v0.5.0-beta

• FreeBSD boot integration
• Package system
• Basic GUI exploration

v1.0.0 (Future)

• Bootable FreeBSD system
• Stable Darwin compatibility layer
• Full userland integration

Contributing

This is an experimental proof-of-concept. Contributions welcome but expect breaking changes.

License

Mixed licensing:

• CatBSD code: BSD-2-Clause
• Darwin components: Apple Public Source License (APSL)
• See individual files for details

Acknowledgments

Inspired by ravynOS and the FreeBSD community.

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CatBSD: Where FreeBSD meets Darwin 🐾

Alpha Release - Proof of Concept - Not Production Ready