From AuroraUX

Our goal is to make a compact, tight, highly integrated, high integrity, fully POSIX/SUS compliant Operating System, that others can wrap into their own distribution and use as a base. However, the system itself, can be used as a complete minimal OS in its own right.

Focus on the User

End Users

• Enable running popular software
• Provide a stable and secure system
• Require no tweaking

Developers

• Provide *excellent* documentation
• Be a friendly development community
• Focus on a stable and not troublesome toolchain

What our users can expect?

• That an update won't kill his software and configuration files.
• That all updates of upstream software were extensively tested.
• That a kernel update doesn't suddenly remove hardware support.
• That security and stability patches will be backported even for upstream software - the user will never be forced into a next version to resolve a security/stability issue.

Packages

• The kernel will be delivered with a 'useful for everyone' modern userland yet minimal, only containing a common set of packages found in almost any *useful* system.

• A common one is that some think Xorg should not be bundled with the system, this is silly for anything but the embedded space. It's quite easy to switch it off if need be:

# pfexec svcadm disable xserver

• Also, the whole GUI desktop can be easily stripped from the release by use of the Hydra package manager solution, for example:

# pfexec hydra
hydra > remove supernova;
...
hydra > commit ; quit;

Rest on my shoulder

• Make it 'easy' for distributions to be based off us;
  • Don't make assumptions about the package set they may use.
  • Don't make assumptions about the package manager they may use. Hydra should supply easy to understand and use APIs for other package managers to be ported onto and sit on top of Hydra.
  • In general, don't make assumptions!

Unchain my source

• Provide all system components under the BSD license

Squash'em bugs

• Provide *essential* bug fixes and security updates in the form of patches through Hydra. Do NOT force users to upgrade versions of already installed software unless deemed essential and safe to do so.

Heading towards the source

• Become as upstream as possible in the spirit of open source software. This will shrink the patch sets we may have to maintain thus increasing our productivity, time and thus freeing resources to innovate more.

What's up Doc?

• Provide excellent system documentation, both for the user and developer communities.

I can't give you what I don't have Captain!

• Provide tools to help trace down power efficiency problems such as PowerTOP.
• Extend battery life on mobile devices as much as possible.
• Generally be a more power efficient operating system.

Cheers,

Evocallaghan & YazzY