Illumos
free software implementation of the Solaris kernel
Illumos (stylized as "illumos") is a partly free and open-source Unix operating system. It has been developed since 2010 and is based on OpenSolaris, after the discontinuation of that product by Oracle. It comprises a kernel, device drivers, system libraries, and utility software for system administration. Its core has become the base for many different open-sourced Illumos distributions, in a way similar to how the Linux kernel is used in different Linux distributions.
Name
The maintainers write illumos in lowercase, since some computer fonts do not clearly distinguish a lowercase L from an uppercase i: Il (see homoglyph). The project name is a combination of words illuminare from the Latin for to light, and OS for Operating System.
History and development
Illumos was announced via webinar on 3 August 2010, as a community effort of a group of core Solaris engineers to create a truly open source Solaris, by swapping closed source bits of OpenSolaris with open implementations. OpenSolaris itself is based on System V Release 4 (SVR4) and the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD).
The original plan explicitly stated that Illumos would not be a distribution or a fork. However, after Oracle announced the discontinuation of OpenSolaris, plans were made to fork the final version of the Solaris ON kernel, allowing Illumos to evolve into a kernel of its own.
“Illumos” enters the record as free software implementation of the Solaris kernel. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Illumos, free and software can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Illumos” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Illumos, free and software provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2274332. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Illumos” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.