1.1 Our Goals

vortexOS is an effort to create a complete, fully functional, general-purpose operating system with a strong emphasis on safety, freedom, stability, correctness, and practicality. Our goal is to use it without barriers as a full-fledged alternative to Linux/BSD on our computers. It should be capable of running most Linux/BSD programs with minimal modifications.

We are striving to build a complete, stable, and secure Rust ecosystem. This is a deliberate design choice intended to enhance correctness and security (see Why Rust). Our aim is to improve security design compared to other Unix-like operating systems by adopting safe defaults and minimizing insecure configurations wherever possible.

The Non-Goals of vortexOS

We are not trying to be a Linux/BSD clone or POSIX-compliant, nor are we attempting to radically redesign everything. Generally, we adhere to well-tested and proven designs. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

This approach ensures that a significant number of programs and libraries will be compatible with vortexOS. However, some elements that do not align with our design choices may need to be ported. The key here is balancing correctness with compatibility. Ideally, both should be achievable, but unfortunately, this is not always possible.