44BSDLite

44BSDLite, commonly referred to as 4.4BSD-Lite, is a historical Unix-like operating system in the BSD family. It is a simplified, license-compliant variant of 4.4BSD, produced to provide a freely redistributable base by removing or replacing AT&T-owned components with BSD-licensed code.

Origins and development: The project was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1990s as part of the effort to make BSD code available under a more permissive license. 4.4BSD-Lite was released in two major editions, including 4.4BSD-Lite and 4.4BSD-Lite2, serving as a bridge between the earlier 4.4BSD releases and later BSD-family systems.

Design and features: The system preserves the 4.4BSD kernel and userland while emphasizing portability and a permissive license. It provides the standard BSD features of the era, including a monolithic kernel, the Fast File System (FFS), TCP/IP networking via BSD sockets, and a POSIX-compliant userland.

Influence and legacy: 4.4BSD-Lite influenced the direction of BSD-derived operating systems, including FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, by demonstrating that a fully BSD-licensed distribution could be released widely. It remains of historical interest for BSD history and licensing debates.

Current status: Not actively maintained; archived sources and historical documentation exist. Naming: 44BSDLite is a stylized form of 4.4BSD-Lite.