Mac OS is based on a BSD code base, while Linux is an independent development of a unix-like system. This means that these systems are similar, but not binary compatible. Furthermore, Mac OS has lots of applications that are not open source and are build on libraries that are not open source.

Is macOS based on UNIX or Linux?

macOS is a UNIX 03-compliant operating system certified by The Open Group. It has been since 2007, starting with MAC OS X 10.5. The only exception was Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, but compliance was regained with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Is macOS based on Linux?

You may have heard that Macintosh OSX is just Linux with a prettier interface. That’s not actually true. But OSX is built in part on an open source Unix derivative called FreeBSD. … It was built atop UNIX, the operating system originally created over 30 years ago by researchers at AT&T’s Bell Labs.