These tables compare free software / open-source operating systems . Where not all of the versions support a feature, the first version which supports it is listed.
General information
Name
License
Kernel type
Kernel programming language
Kernel thread support
OS family
Oldest non-EOL version[Note 1]
Forks
Linux
GPL /LGPL
Monolithic with modules
C
1:1
Unix-like
2.6.32.61
No
FreeBSD
BSD ; GPL, LGPL software usually included
Monolithic with modules
C
1:1
BSD , Unix-like
8.4
DragonFly BSD
OpenBSD
BSD
Monolithic with modules[Note 2]
C
1:1
BSD, Unix-like
5.4
MirOS
NetBSD
BSD
Monolithic with modules
C
1:1
BSD, Unix-like
5.0
OpenBSD
DragonFly BSD
BSD
Hybrid
C
1:1
BSD, Unix-like
No
OpenSolaris , OpenIndiana
CDDL
Monolithic with modules
C
1:1, M:N
Unix
No
AuroraUX
BSD/CDDL
Monolithic with modules
C, Ada
1:1, M:N
Unix
No
Darwin , OpenDarwin , PureDarwin
APSL
Hybrid
C, C++ [Note 3]
1:1
BSD, Unix, Unix-like, OS X
No
MINIX
BSD
Microkernel
C
Unix-like
No
FreeDOS
GPL
Monolithic
C
DOS
1.1
Haiku
MIT
Hybrid
C, C++
BeOS
No
TiltOS
House
BSD
Haskell
own/original
No
KolibriOS
GPL
Monolithic
ASM
MenuetOS
No
MenuetOS
Menuet 64 , commerce excluded
Monolithic
ASM
own/original
No
KolibriOS
GNU
GPL
Multiserver Microkernel (Hurd kernel) or Monolithic (Linux-libre kernel, fork of Linux kernel , and other kernels which are not part of the GNU Project )
C
1:1
Unix-like
2.4 on Linux-libre kernel (no on Hurd kernel)
Linux
ReactOS
GPL, LGPL
Hybrid
C, C++
Windows-like
No
L4 , Fiasco , Pistachio
Some GPL, some BSD
Microkernel
C++
L4
No
Plan 9
LPL
Hybrid
C
1:1, 1:M Cothread style.
own, Unix informed
No
Inferno, Plan B
AROS
APL
Exokernel
C
AmigaOS
No
Syllable
GPL
Monolithic with modules
C, C++
1:1
Unix-like, BeOS, AmigaOS, POSIX
No
Inferno
GPL, LGPL; MIT
C
Plan 9
No
OzInferno
FreeRTOS
modified GPL
RTOS
C
RTOS
No
eCos
modified GPL, eCos
RTOS
C, C++
RTOS
No
RTEMS
modified GPL , BSD, Stanford
RTOS
C and ASM with native support for other languages including C++ and Ada
POSIX, RTEID/ORKID, uITRON
RTOS
4.7.1
HelenOS
BSD
Microkernel
C
M:N
own/original
No
E/OS
GPLv2
Monolithic
ASM, C
1:1
BeOS, Unix-like
No
TempleOS
public domain
Monolithic
HolyC, C, C++
Commodore 64 -like
no
Name
License
Kernel type
Kernel programming language
Kernel thread support
OS family
Oldest non-EOL version
Forks
^ No for single line development model.
^ OpenBSD contains support for modules on some architectures. They are used only to add third-party features: extracting existing functions into modules in the same manner as FreeBSD is not possible.
^ For IOKit .
Supported architectures
Name
x86 , i386 , IA-32
x86 SMP
Xen
IA-64
x86-64
PowerPC
PowerPC SMP
SPARC 32
SPARC SMP
Alpha
MIPS
ARM
XScale
M68k
PA-RISC
OpenRISC
other
hosted mode
Linux
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
FR-V , Cell , ETRAX CRIS , M32R , Xtensa , h8 , s390 , SuperH
UML , coLinux , MkLinux , Itanium Linux-on-Linux , wombat
FreeBSD [1]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
PC98
OpenBSD [2]
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No[Note 1] [3]
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
SuperH, VAX , m88k
NetBSD [4]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
SuperH, ns32k , VAX
DragonFly BSD [5]
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
vkernel
OpenSolaris [6]
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
AuroraUX [6]
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes[Note 1]
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes[Note 1]
Yes
No
No
No
No
Darwin , OpenDarwin [7]
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
L4/Darwin
MINIX [8]
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
FreeDOS
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Haiku
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No[Note 1] [9]
No
No
No
No
KolibriOS
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
MenuetOS
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
GNU
Yes
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
Yes[Note 2]
FR-V , Cell , ETRAX CRIS , M32R , Xtensa , h8 , s390 , SuperH [Note 2]
UML , Itanium Linux-on-Linux [Note 3]
ReactOS
Yes
Yes
No[Note 1]
No
Yes
No[Note 1]
No[Note 1]
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
L4 , Pistachio
Yes
No
No
Yes[Note 4]
Yes[Note 4]
Yes[Note 4]
No
No
No
Yes[Note 4]
Yes[Note 4]
Yes
No
No
No
No
Plan 9
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 5]
Yes[Note 5]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 5]
No
No
See[10] [11]
lguest , vx32
AROS
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
i386-linux , i386-freebsd
Syllable
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Inferno
Yes
?
No
No
?
Yes
?
Yes
?
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 5]
No
No
AMD Am29000 ,[Note 5] Texas Instruments OMAP
Microsoft Windows , Linux, FreeBSD, Plan 9, OS X , Solaris , Irix , UnixWare ,[Note 5] HP-UX ,[Note 5] Internet Explorer
FreeRTOS
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
AVR , PIC , MSP430 , HCS12 , 8052 , MicroBlaze , Cortex-M3, H8S
eCos
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
CalmRISC , ColdFire , FR-V , h8 , Matsushita AM3x , Nios II , NEC V8xx , SuperH
Microsoft Windows, Linux
RTEMS
Yes
No
Xen
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blackfin , Nios II, Coldfire , Texas Instruments C3x/C4x , SuperH, H8S
Linux, Solaris, Cygwin , FreeBSD, multiple CPU simulators
HelenOS
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
E/OS
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
TempleOS
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
QEMU, VirtualBox, etc.
Name
x86, i386, IA-32
x86 SMP
Xen
IA-64
x86-64
PowerPC
PowerPC SMP
SPARC32
SPARC SMP
Alpha
MIPS
ARM
XScale
M68k
PA-RISC
OpenRISC
other
hosted mode
Supported hardware
General
Name
ATA
SATA
SCSI
USB 3.0
USB 2.0
USB 1.1
FireWire
PCMCIA/PC card
AGP
Nvidia official driver IA-32
Nvidia official driver IA-64
Nvidia official driver AMD64
ATI official driver x86
ATI official driver x86-64
ATI r200 free software driver
ATI r300 free software driver
Nvidia free software driver
Audio
TV tuner , video editing , or webcam
Linux
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes 2.6.31+[17]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes,nv(2d only), nouveau (3d with mesa)
OSS , ALSA
V4L ,V4L2
FreeBSD
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes 8.2+
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
OpenBSD
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes 5.7+
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes[18]
2d only[18]
2d only[19]
Yes
Yes
NetBSD
Yes
Yes
Yes
No 7.0[20]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
DragonFly BSD
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[21]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
OpenSolaris
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
V4L2
AuroraUX
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Darwin , OpenDarwin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
MINIX
No
No
No
No
No
FreeDOS
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No[22]
No[22]
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Haiku
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
KolibriOS
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
MenuetOS
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
GNU
Yes
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes
No[Note 2]
No[Note 2]
No[Note 2]
No[Note 2]
No[Note 2]
No[Note 3]
No[Note 3]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 1]
ReactOS
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[23]
Yes[23]
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
L4 , Fiasco , Pistachio
No
No
No
No
No
Plan 9
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
AROS
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
own
No
2D only
Syllable
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Inferno
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
FreeRTOS
No
No
No
No
No
eCos
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
RTEMS
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
HelenOS
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
E/OS
Yes
Yes
Yes
No[6]
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Name
ATA
SATA
SCSI
USB 3.0
USB 2.0
USB 1.1
FireWire
PCMCIA/PC card
AGP
Nvidia official driver IA-32
Nvidia official driver IA-64
Nvidia official driver AMD64
ATI official driver x86
ATI official driver x86-64
ATI r200 free software driver
ATI r300 free software driver
Nvidia free software driver
Audio
TV tuner, video editing, or webcam
Networking
Network technologies
Supported file systems
Name
FAT16, dosfs ; FAT32, vfat
NTFS
Ext2
Ext3
XFS
ReiserFS
UFS
UFS2
HFS
HFS+
MINIXfs
BFS
ISO 9660
UDF
NFS
SMBFS
RAM disk , tmpfs
ZFS
Other special file systems
Linux
Yes
Yes[Note 1] [Note 2]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[32]
Yes
Yes[Note 4]
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
9P ,[Note 5] FUSE ,[Note 5] sysfs ,[Note 5] configfs ,[Note 5] Reiser4 ,[Note 5] [Note 6] JFS , Btrfs , UnionFS , Ext4
FreeBSD
Yes
Yes[Note 3] [Note 2]
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 1]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
FUSE, nullfs , UnionFS
NetBSD
Yes
Yes[Note 3] [Note 2]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
PUFFS , LFS , EFS
OpenBSD
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
AFS
DragonFly BSD
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes[Note 7]
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
HAMMER , nullfs, PUFFS
OpenSolaris
Yes
Yes [Note 2] [Note 8]
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
CIFS (native), QFS
AuroraUX
Yes
Yes [Note 2] [Note 8]
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
CIFS (native), QFS
Darwin , OpenDarwin
Yes
Yes[Note 3] [Note 2]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
MINIX
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
FreeDOS
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Haiku
Yes
Yes [Note 2]
Yes [Note 9]
Yes [Note 9]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No[Note 10]
KolibriOS
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes
MenuetOS
Yes
GNU
Yes
Yes
Yes[Note 11]
Yes[Note 12]
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
ReactOS
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
L4 , Fiasco , Pistachio
Yes
No
Plan 9
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Fossil , Venti , most system services
AROS
Yes
Yes
SFS , AFFS
Syllable
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
Yes
Yes
AFS
Inferno
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
kfs, most system services
FreeRTOS
No
eCos
Yes
Yes[Note 3]
Yes
MMFS, ROMfs, JFFS2 , YAFFS
RTEMS
Yes
Yes
Yes
TarFS, TFTP FS, IMFS, miniIMFS
HelenOS
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
locfs, exFAT
E/OS
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes[Note 13]
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Name
FAT16, dosfs; FAT32, vfat
NTFS
Ext2
Ext3
XFS
ReiserFS
UFS
UFS2
HFS
HFS+
MINIXfs
BFS
ISO 9660
UDF
NFS
SMBFS
RAM disk, tmpfs
ZFS
Other special file systems
^ a b Experimental.
^ a b c d e f g Read/Write support via NTFS-3G .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Read only kernel driver.
^ read/write access without journaling; HFS+ with journal either be opened read-only or be written with journal ignored (potentially corrupting the file system).
^ a b c d e 2.6 and later.
^ With patch [1] .
^ Read only.
^ a b OpenSolaris also has an in-kernel, native CIFS server built directly on the ZFS DMU.
^ a b Ext2/3 read and write support for Haiku (jvff's blog ).
^ The GSoC 2009 project assignment was never completed (Obaro Ogbo's blog ).
^ Ext3/4 is not supported on Hurd kernel for now
^ UFS support is dropped on Hurd kernel for now
^ Default in series 028.
Supported file system features
Name
RAID
quota
Resource access control
encryption
other special file system features
Linux
Yes
Yes
Unix , ACL , MAC
Yes
LVM , EVMS
FreeBSD
Yes
Yes
Unix, ACL, MAC
Yes
GEOM , snapshots, background fsck , user-mountable file systems
OpenBSD
Yes
Yes
Unix
Yes
NetBSD
Yes
Yes
Unix, Veriexec
Yes
DragonFly BSD
Yes
Yes
Unix
Yes
HAMMER , Snapshots, Checksumming, Deduplication
OpenSolaris
Yes
Yes
Unix, ACL, MAC
Yes
Solaris Volume Manager , ZFS , snapshots , transparent data repair
AuroraUX
Yes
Yes
Unix, ACL, MAC
Solaris Volume Manager, ZFS, snapshots, transparent data repair
Darwin , OpenDarwin
Yes
Unix, ACL
Yes
MINIX
Unix
FreeDOS
No
KolibriOS
No
MenuetOS
No
GNU
Unix
ReactOS
No
L4 , Fiasco , Pistachio
Plan 9
No
No
Unix-like , no root
No
snapshots, venti archival storage, per-process namespace, user-mountable file systems
AROS
Syllable
Unix
64-bit , journaling , extended file attributes
Inferno
No
No
Unix-like, no root
No
per-process namespace, user-mountable file systems
FreeRTOS
eCos
RTEMS
HelenOS
No
No
No
No
No
E/OS
Yes
Yes
Unix
Yes
No
Name
RAID
quota
Resource access control
encryption
other special file system features
Security features
Operating system
Mandatory access control
Software executable space protection
Operating system-level virtualization
Virtualisation
Userspace protection
Others
Linux
SELinux , AppArmor [Note 1]
Exec Shield ,[Note 1] PaX [Note 1]
Chroot , namespace and cgroups,[Note 2] Linux-VServer ,[Note 1] OpenVZ [Note 1]
KVM
IPFilter , Iptables
grsecurity ,[Note 1] RSBAC [Note 1]
FreeBSD
SeBSD ,[Note 3] [Note 4] TrustedBSD
ProPolice/SSP [Note 5]
jail
IPFW , PF
Darwin
SEDarwin , TrustedBSD
jail
IPFW
OpenBSD
W^X , ProPolice/SSP [Note 6]
PF
OpenSolaris
TrustedBSD
Solaris Containers
KVM [46]
IPFilter
RBAC[47]
AuroraUX
TrustedBSD
Solaris Containers
IPFilter
Plan 9
No
No
per-process namespaces
Inferno
No
No
per-process namespaces
See also
References
External links
Emulator images
Software and packages