RISC OS Open Celebrates 20 Years of Open-Source OS Development
Original: Twenty Years of RISC OS Open
Why This Matters
The Apache 2.0 re-licensing of RISC OS marks a significant milestone in legacy OS preservation and open-source accessibility.
RISC OS Open Ltd marked its 20th anniversary on June 20, 2026, having incorporated on June 20, 2006, with the goal of open-sourcing the proprietary RISC OS. Over two decades, the project transitioned the OS to an Apache 2.0 license and expanded support to platforms including Raspberry Pi.
RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL) was incorporated on June 20, 2006, with the stated goal of opening up the proprietary RISC OS to community contribution. In a retrospective post by Steve Revill, the organization outlined one milestone per year across its first two decades. Early years saw source code released batch-by-batch in partnership with Castle, followed by nightly autobuilds and Jeffrey Lee's port to the BeagleBoard. Year 7 (2012-13) proved pivotal when RISC OS Pi brought the OS to the Raspberry Pi, dramatically increasing web traffic and user reach. Year 8 saw the first stable ROM release in years — RISC OS 5.20 — along with Pico, a stripped-down build booting directly to BBC BASIC. A community Bounty Scheme introduced in Year 5 remains active today. The landmark achievement came in Year 13 (2018-19), when Castle was acquired by RISC OS Developments and RISC OS was re-licensed under Apache 2.0, making it freely usable, shareable, and commercially buildable for the first time in its history. ROOL credited contributors including coders, bug filers, bounty funders, forum participants, and testers for making the project possible.