All organizations · GSoC 2026 · Operating systems, End user applications

Haiku

Operating system that targets personal computing.

Haiku is a fast, efficient, easy to use and lean open source operating system inspired by the BeOS that specifically targets personal computing. Haiku is not a Linux distribution, nor does it use the Linux kernel. Haiku is the spiritual successor to BeOS and it is derived from the NewOS kernel, which was authored by Travis Geiselbrecht (geist), who was formerly employed by Be Inc. — the developers of BeOS. Linux-based distributions stack up software – the Linux kernel, the X Window System, and various DEs with disparate toolkits such as GTK+ and Qt – that do not necessarily share the same guidelines and/or goals. This lack of consistency and overall vision manifests itself in increased complexity, insufficient integration, and inefficient solutions, making the use of your computer more complicated than it should actually be. Instead, Haiku has a single focus on personal computing and is driven by a unified vision for the whole OS. That, we believe, enables Haiku to provide a leaner, cleaner and more efficient system capable of providing a better user experience that is simple and uniform throughout.

  • c++
  • posix
  • unix
  • desktop
  • kernel
  • network
  • media
  • gui

Project ideas

20 ideas on its 2026 ideas page; of the 18 that state a difficulty: 5 easy, 8 medium, 5 hard. Sizes: 12 medium, 6 large. 7 mentors named.

  1. Improving Haiku's WebKit video and audio support medium medium
  2. Improving Haiku's WebKit2 port medium medium
  3. Better XMPP instant messaging client for Haiku medium easy
  4. Kexec system feature large hard
  5. Sleep/suspend to RAM support large hard
  6. Devices preferences/Hardware manager large easy
  7. Other applications medium easy
  8. eMMC storage support medium medium
  9. FreeBSD compatibility layer for FDT attached network devices medium medium
  10. Universal Flash Storage support medium medium
  11. GPU acceleration support large hard
  12. Improving the btrfs filesystem medium medium
  13. Adding write support for more filesystems medium medium
  14. Filesystems benchmarking and stress-test medium easy
  15. Bluetooth Stack Improvements medium medium
  16. Modular edit view (BIG) large hard
  17. Improvements to Haiku-format coding style checker
  18. Improve automated test coverage and system documentation
  19. Multiple monitors output in appserver large hard
  20. Complex font rendering in appserver medium easy

Read the ideas page. Ideas are for scope reference; never copy one into a proposal.

History

In GSoC since 2017, 9 years. Projects per year: '17: 5, '18: 2, '19: 1, '20: 4, '21: 3, '22: 3, '23: 3, '24: 5, '26: 3.

On GitHub

No GitHub organization found in its official listing.

Links and channels

go deeper in your terminal
git-into-gsoc org "Haiku" --shortlist
git-into-gsoc repos "Haiku"
git-into-gsoc issues --org "Haiku"
or ask your assistant:
"Which Haiku repositories merge
newcomers' pull requests, and which beginner
issues are still free?"

Those commands read live data: which repositories merge outside pull requests, and which beginner issues nobody has claimed. Install in two minutes.