Darnix – Darwin Built with Nix
The Darwin kernel (XNU) has been open source since 1999. But "open source" and "you can actually build and boot it" are very different things. XNU depends on proprietary tooling, kexts, and a bunch of open source projects published without a build system. Darnix builds the whole thing with Nix. The kernel, the filesystem, the boot image, all the way to a running QEMU instance. We patched XNU to run on QEMU without kexts, ported HFS+ from a kernel extension into the kernel itself, fixed GRUB's Mach-O loader, and wired it all together as a flake. The build is fully sandboxed. No root, no…
Darnix – Darwin Built with Nix launched on May 22, 2026 with 13 votes, #1,061 of 20,538 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Darnix makes the Darwin kernel (XNU) buildable and bootable from source using Nix, addressing the gap between open-source code and actually running it. The project patches XNU for QEMU compatibility, integrates HFS+ filesystem support, and automates the complete build process from kernel through boot image in a sandboxed environment. It targets developers interested in understanding or modifying macOS's underlying architecture, or exploring a Unix-like OS built entirely with reproducible Nix tooling.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Darwin system built with Nix. Contribute to jonhermansen/darnix development by creating an account on GitHub.
Boot a fully open-source Darwin system using Nix. One command, no macOS install required (beyond the build host). $ nix run github:jonhermansen/darnix Boots XNU (macOS 26.4 / xnu-12377.101.15) in QEMU with an HFS+ root filesystem and serial console — all from a single Nix flake. The entire build runs under Nix's strict sandbox ( sandbox = true ) — no network access, no /dev access, no DMG mounting or hdiutil , no system side effects. Darnix is a revival of the PureDarwin idea: run Apple's open-source XNU kernel with an entirely open userland managed by Nix. The long-term goal is a NixOS-style system on a Darwin kernel. Current status: The kernel boots in QEMU (x86_64 emulated via TCG on…from github.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
The Darwin kernel (XNU) has been open source since 1999. But "open source" and "you can actually build and boot it" are very different things. XNU depends on proprietary tooling, kexts, and a bunch of open source projects published without a build system. Darnix builds the whole thing with Nix. The kernel, the…
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