Apple Pulls Public Mac OS 10.4.8 Source? [Updated] - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Pulls Public Mac OS 10.4.8 Source? [Updated]

by

Apple appears to have pulled the publicly accessible Mac OS 10.4.8 Source Code (Darwin, the open-source foundation of OS X, and XNU, Darwin's open-source kernel), leaving only developers with ADC log-ins with access to the code (public link, ADC link)

Earlier this week, the OSx86 project released a version of the 10.4.8 kernel that was hailed to be 100% legal according to the APSL and run on any x86 machine.
Prior to this release, Apple's code would only run on Apple's hardware due to various dependencies (such as EFI).

While the released code from OSx86 can run under single-user mode on any x86 machine, it will not boot up into Apple's familiar OS X Aqua interface without Apple's TPM keys which are illegal to distribute (but are reportedly floating around the internet).

The circumstances are reminiscent of when Apple previously stopped releasing the Intel version of the Mac OS X kernel, which some had concluded was due to piracy concerns. Apple finally released the source at WWDC along with an apology for the delay, but did not give an explanation.

Update (moved to page 2): Certain aspects of the story, i.e. the points regarding the history and what exactly happened with the Darwin/XNU source, have been called into doubt.

Kernel coder Semthex made the above claims on his blog, but MacRumors forum member shawnce has called the claims into doubt in this story's thread.

The end-fact that Apple's source does not appear to be publicly accessible does not appear to be in dispute, but rather questions have arisen as to whether it was ever publicly accessible (publicly accessible as defined by not requiring registration with Apple. The source is still free).

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Spotlight

Apple Just Increased Prices on MacBooks, iPads, and More

Thursday June 25, 2026 5:44 am PDT by
Apple today dramatically increased device prices across multiple product lines. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. After temporarily taking it down earlier today, Apple's online store is back up with a series of product price increases. The changes are as follows: HomePod mini: $129, up from $99 (+$30) HomePod: $349, up from $299 (+$50) Apple TV: $199, up from...
Apple Event Logo

Apple to Release These 20 New Products Across Rest of 2026 and 2027

Sunday June 21, 2026 7:42 am PDT by
Apple's annual WWDC developers conference is in the rearview mirror, but there is still a lot to look forward to over the next year and beyond. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman listed around 20 products that he expects Apple to release across the remainder of 2026 and 2027. Now that the more intelligent and personal version of Siri has finally arrived in beta, a...
watchos 27

watchOS 27 Is Wiping Four Apps From Your Apple Watch

Monday June 22, 2026 8:17 am PDT by
Apple's watchOS 27, previewed at this month's WWDC, removes four built-in apps from all supported Apple Watch models, folding three of them into a single Find My app and dropping Walkie-Talkie entirely, based on the first developer beta released this month. The largest change affects Find My. watchOS 27 developer beta 1 replaces the separate Find Devices, Find People, and Find Items apps...