# NEXTSPACE: a NeXTSTEP desktop still packaged for Fedora 31

> NEXTSPACE rebuilds the NeXTSTEP desktop on Linux in Objective-C and packages it for Red Hat platforms. It is a faithful 1990s interface rebuilt by one author, and its finished packages stopped well behind the code.

**trunkmaster/nextspace** — NeXTSTEP-like desktop environment for Linux

- Repository: https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace
- Website: https://trunkmaster.github.io
- Stars: 2,112 · Forks: 85
- Language: Objective-C
- License: GPL-3.0
- Published: 2026-10-14 · Updated: 2026-10-14 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/trunkmaster-nextspace

## A NeXTSTEP desktop with no declared audience

NEXTSPACE is a desktop environment that reproduces the NeXTSTEP look and feel on Linux. It is written in Objective-C and developed against the OpenStep User Interface Guidelines, and that guideline document rather than any current Linux desktop convention is its design authority. The author states the goal as keeping the user experience as close as possible to the original NeXT OS, with applications running with a taste of NeXT's OS.

The unusual part is who it is for. The project says outright that it has not yet defined a target audience, a sentence most desktop projects avoid because it invites the wrong kind of scrutiny. That is concrete, not cosmetic: there is no compatibility promise, no migration path and no support commitment to lean on. The audience that fits is a user who wants NeXTSTEP on Linux for its own sake, or a developer who wants to write applications against its frameworks.

The code sits on GitHub as `trunkmaster/nextspace` with `master` as the default branch, and the project's own page is at https://trunkmaster.github.io.

## A platform in the tree, not a set of themes

Objective-C is the primary language, and the top-level entries are arranged like a platform rather than a theme. `Applications/`, `Frameworks/`, `Libraries/`, `OS/`, `Graphics/` and `Packaging/` sit side by side, with `Documentation/`, `Tests/` and `docs/` carrying the surrounding work. `Applications.md`, `ReleaseNotes.md`, `compile_flags.txt` and `.clang-format` are checked in at the root. Having `.clang-format` next to `compile_flags.txt` is the detail worth pausing on: both are development-time files that only matter if the project expects contributors to format and compile the way the maintainer does.

The separation between `Frameworks/` and `Applications/` is the architecture in one line. The author says NEXTSPACE is a core OS with frameworks, mouse cursors, fonts, colors and animations, and that it is not just a set of applications tightly integrated to each other. Applications are the visible layer. `Frameworks/` and `Libraries/` are the reusable one, which is where an outside application would hook in if it wanted the same panels and controls.

Two topic tags hint at ancestry: `gnustep` and `windowmaker` sit next to `nextstep` and `openstep`. Nothing in the README says how either relates to the code in practice, so read them as history rather than architecture. A separate document, `Documentation/OpenStep%20Confusion.md`, exists to explain why the project is not called NeXTSTEP, which tells you how much the author thinks this naming needs.

## The RPM builds stopped at Fedora 31

Three install routes are documented, and only the first one hands you a finished package. Prebuilt RPMs sit on the project's GitHub download page and cover CentOS 7, CentOS 8 and Fedora31. With CentOS 7 reaching end of life in 2024, no further CentOS builds will be produced, and RPM packages will be built for the latest Fedora instead. A build for a stable Debian distribution packed as a tarball is listed as optional.

Read that against the project's own support line and the gap is plain. The Not planned section says the aim is a fast, accurate and stable version for Red Hat based distributions, naming Fedora, CentOS Stream 9, Rocky Linux 9 and Alma Linux 9. CentOS Stream 9 is on that list, yet the packaged route stops at CentOS 8 and is being wound down, so a named target distribution has no build and no stated plan for one. Fedora31 is the newest Fedora the README gives packages for, well behind the Fedora 39 workflow the badges report.

The second route compounds it. Building your own packages is documented as based on CentOS 7's minimal install, the same distribution the project has just retired for packaged builds. Anyone starting today follows a recipe anchored to a base that reached end of life in 2024.

## Source builds on Debian, Ubuntu LTS and Fedora

The third route has the most current reach. Installing from source with the build scripts is described as tested on Debian, Ubuntu LTS and Fedora, and the badge row above the README names workflows for Fedora 39, Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 12. The commands are not in the README. They live in `Packaging/Sources/README.md`, which is the document to open first if you want to build this.

That sentence also collides with the Not planned list, which puts porting to other Linux distributions and operating systems off the table. Three distributions named in the same README as outside the plan are the three the source build is tested on and the three carrying badges. The author partly answers this, saying NEXTSPACE was designed to be portable so the restriction may change in future. Until it does, treat the distribution policy as intent rather than as a limit the code enforces.

What the README gives you for every route is a destination rather than a command. No shell line to copy appears for any of the three methods, and no package list, dependency name or repository line is named anywhere in it. For the packaged route the work is downloading an RPM and reading the wiki install guide. For the source route it is reading the build instructions and satisfying their prerequisites yourself, which is an unusually high documentation tax for a desktop environment.

## Login, Workspace and Preferences as the app blueprint

Three core applications carry the project: Login, Workspace and Preferences. The author positions them as the base for future application development and as examples of visual style and application integration methods. That describes intent rather than coverage, which is worth knowing before you plan around them. `Applications.md` carries a short introduction to those core applications with details and screenshots, and it is where the breadth of what exists becomes visible.

For a developer the reusable half matters more than the visible half. `Frameworks/` and `Libraries/` hold the shared layer, and the claim that NEXTSPACE is a core OS with frameworks rather than a bundle of programs is the claim to test if you intend to build on it. Nothing in the repository states how stable those framework interfaces are, or what compatibility you get from one version to the next.

Licence is the part to settle before writing code against them: NEXTSPACE is GPL-3.0, so a modified version you distribute has to be offered under the same terms, and a product that embeds the frameworks inherits an obligation a machine merely running the desktop does not.

## The visual line drawn against GNOME, KDE and macOS

Visual ambition is where this project sets hard limits on itself, and the list is specific. Modern UI design trends were intentionally left aside: fancy animations, shadows, gray blurry lines, flat controls, acid colors and transparency. What the author wants instead is an accurate, clear, grayish interface, described in his own word as boring, that helps rather than hinders.

Competing with GNOME, KDE or macOS on visual effects, modern design principles, look and feel is listed as not planned. That is narrower than it sounds, because NeXTSTEP's look is fixed by the OpenStep User Interface Guidelines the project follows, so the target is fidelity to a specification from the 1990s rather than novelty.

One real alternative is named, and the difference is about scope rather than quality. For a macOS-like desktop paradigm the README points to Étoilé at etoileos.com, which is where to look if the Aqua shape is what you want. The README says nothing about Étoilé's internals, so this is a pointer rather than a comparison, but the division of labour is stated: NEXTSPACE declines the macOS paradigm on purpose and sends people elsewhere for it.

## Documentation gaps a new user hits first

Here is what a new user cannot get from the README. There are no shell commands for any install route, no list of required packages, no statement of hardware needs, no instructions for the display manager or session entry, and no rollback procedure. Development tasks, goals, solutions, implementation details and build instructions are all delegated to the project wiki, and that is where the answers live.

Activity on the code and activity on the packages have drifted apart. The last push was on 2026-05-27, while the newest published build is 0.95 dated 2024-06-25, following 0.90 in 2020 and 0.85 in 2019. The default branch has therefore moved well past what the RPMs contain, and anyone on a packaged install runs code that predates the current tree by a wide margin. That also settles the upgrade path: for a current checkout the source build is the way forward, not the package feed.

Two verification steps follow from this. Read the wiki install guide before you start, since it holds the packaging detail the README drops, and read `Packaging/Sources/README.md` if you intend to build from source, because it is the only place the prerequisites and steps are written down. If your distribution is not one of the Fedora, CentOS Stream, Rocky and Alma targets the README names, plan on the source path from the start rather than discovering that later.

## Conclusion

Pick this if you want a NeXTSTEP desktop on Linux and can accept thin packaging, thin documentation and no compatibility promise. Leave it alone if you need a current package, an upgrade path or someone to call when a session fails to start, because neither the built packages nor the docs will hand you either. Start by reading the wiki install guide and Packaging/Sources/README.md, then check what your own distribution actually carries before promising a team anything. On Fedora that check takes a minute, and anywhere else it settles the question for you.

## FAQ

### What is NEXTSPACE and what is it built on?

It is a NeXTSTEP-like desktop environment for Linux, written in Objective-C and developed according to the OpenStep User Interface Guidelines. The repository keeps frameworks and libraries separate from the core applications, which are Login, Workspace and Preferences.

### Which Linux distributions does NEXTSPACE target?

The stated targets are Red Hat based distributions: Fedora, CentOS Stream 9, Rocky Linux 9 and Alma Linux 9. Its source build path is described as tested on Debian, Ubuntu LTS and Fedora, even though porting to other distributions appears on the not-planned list.

### How do I install NEXTSPACE on Linux?

Three routes are documented: download prebuilt RPMs from the project's GitHub download page, build your own packages following the wiki install guide, or build from source with the scripts described in Packaging/Sources/README.md. The README carries no shell commands for any of them, so the exact steps live in those two documents.

### What are the core applications that ship with NEXTSPACE?

Login, Workspace and Preferences, which the author presents as the base for future application work and as examples of visual style and integration. Applications.md in the repository root introduces them with details and screenshots.

### Does NEXTSPACE aim to compete with GNOME or KDE?

No. Rivaling GNOME, KDE or macOS on visual effects and modern design principles is listed as not planned, and the author prefers an accurate, grayish interface over animations, shadows and transparency. For a macOS-like paradigm he points readers to Étoilé instead.

## Sources

- [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace/blob/master/LICENSE)
- [Project website](https://trunkmaster.github.io)
- [README](https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace/blob/master/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace/releases)
- [trunkmaster/nextspace on GitHub](https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/trunkmaster-nextspace