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Top 23 Rust operating-system Projects
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There's not one answer to your question, but here's mine: kubelet and AWS SSM (which, to the best of my knowledge will work on non-AWS infra it just needs to be provided creds). Bottlerocket <https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket#setup> comes batteries included with both of those things, and is cheaply provisioned with (ahem) TOML user-data <https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket#description-...>
In that specific case, one can also have "systemd for normal people" via its support for static Pod definitions, so one can run containerized toys on boot even without being a formal member of a kubernetes cluster
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Project mention: Pebble smartwatch firmware released as open-source | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-27
TL;DR: No. Maybe? Depends.
It's probably reasonable to make a distinction between "Real Time" desktop/server OS (on CPUs) vs "Real Time" embedded hardware OS (on MCUs).
(Even aside from any hard-/soft- real time distinction.)
On the embedded side, in addition to FreeRTOS (upon which Pebble OS is built), I'm aware of others with reasonably high profile such as:
* Zephyr (Linux Foundation, C): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(operating_system)
* NuttX (Apache Software Foundation, C & C++): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NuttX
In addition, there's also some "up & coming" Rust language projects which fall somewhere along the "framework" to "OS" spectrum (in part, via https://arewertosyet.com):
* Tock: https://github.com/tock/tock
* Embassy: https://github.com/embassy-rs/embassy
* Hubris: https://hubris.oxide.computer
On the desktop side, I seem to recall in the past, OS such as BeOS & QNX have been presented as a possible future for real time desktop OS that hasn't arrived.
As someone else already mentioned, PREEMPT_RT being merged for Linux is a recent development somewhat in this space which could have impact on both desktop & "embedded" situations but suitability varies dependent on, say, whether you're wanting to use it for audio production versus controlling some 10 tonne robot operating next to humans.
Hope this at least goes some way to answering your question. :)
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Project mention: Asterinas: OS kernel written in Rust and providing Linux-compatible ABI | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-10-15
There was also the similar project Kerlaยน but development stalled. Recently people argued that instead of focusing on Rust-for-Linux it would be easier to create a drop-in replacement like these two. I wonder if there are enough people interested to make this happen as a sustained project.
ยน https://github.com/nuta/kerla/
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Theseus
Theseus is a modern OS written from scratch in Rust that explores ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง: closing the semantic gap between compiler and hardware by maximally leveraging the power of language safety and affine types. Theseus aims to shift OS responsibilities like resource management into the compiler.
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
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aero
Aero is a new modern, experimental, UNIX-like operating system following the monolithic kernel design. Supporting modern PC features such as long mode, 5-level paging, and SMP (multicore), to name a few.
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Project mention: Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)? | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-09-29
I'm working on my hobby operating system written in Rust. It is completely text-based, but the console was lacking a scrollback buffer until this week. It's a simple feature, really, but having to redirect anything that outputs more than one screen to a file to read it was a pain. I'm happy to finally have it!
This weekend, I also made good progress on user-space memory and found a workaround for some issues I had. I still need to implement it the right way, though. After a few years on the project, the thing that is giving me the most trouble is grokking the concept of page tables.
https://moros.cc
https://github.com/vinc/moros
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Project mention: K23 โ Experimental WASM Microkernel Operating System | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-06-13
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ariel-os
Ariel OS is a library operating system for secure, memory-safe, low-power Internet of Things, written in Rust
Project mention: Show HN: Ariel OS โ an embedded Rust library OS for small MCUs | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-03-31 -
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Project mention: Snowdrop OS โ a homebrew operating system from scratch, in assembly language | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-24
It's "quietly public" but I've been working on a novel kernel design for about a year now.
https://github.com/oro-os/kernel
It's a user-less, capability-less microkernel design that enforces access control via the kernel's entity hierarchy. Shared memory ports with various levels of safety are the primary form of IPC, typed at the kernel level.
Currently undergoing later stages of the kernel efficacy stage; if I can prove the design I'll do a more formal writeup. It's been a project in my head for about 8 years and in the editor for about 4 now.
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
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A note from our sponsor - InfluxDB
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Index
What are some of the best open-source operating-system projects in Rust? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rust-raspberrypi-OS-tutorials | 14,133 |
| 2 | bottlerocket | 9,204 |
| 3 | tock | 5,863 |
| 4 | kerla | 3,408 |
| 5 | Theseus | 3,025 |
| 6 | hermit-rs | 1,795 |
| 7 | kernel | 1,307 |
| 8 | aero | 1,229 |
| 9 | moros | 994 |
| 10 | k23 | 499 |
| 11 | ariel-os | 450 |
| 12 | felix | 397 |
| 13 | fltr | 379 |
| 14 | kernel | 285 |
| 15 | Pop_OS-Guide | 272 |
| 16 | poplar | 259 |
| 17 | rust-kernel-riscv | 98 |
| 18 | vesper | 81 |
| 19 | kernel | 67 |
| 20 | lpm | 65 |
| 21 | rust_os | 44 |
| 22 | slides | 29 |
| 23 | FOMOSv2-CL | 24 |
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