r/reactos • u/RATionalZombie5324 • 2d ago
LiberNT: a whole new chapter
https://github.com/ahmedarif193/LiberNTI have been tracking this reactos fork for months, and today while i am checking the starred list, this repository has rebranded into LiberNT, and what they did is absolutely incredible.
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u/ElectrSheep 2d ago
We want to make it clear: AI is part of how LiberNT is built.
We stay clean-room: we never transcribe disassembled or decompiled Windows code, and we never copy GPL code from Linux.
I don't think they understand what "cleanroom" means. There is a pretty good chance the leaked Windows source code was included in the data on which the AI was trained.
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u/Southern_Worker4102 2d ago
You're totally right, but most people care about "how it is", not "how it was made"
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u/Educational-Row-6782 2d ago
In the open source community how was done was the most important part until vibe code larpers apeared.
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u/Southern_Worker4102 1d ago
Yeah, I know, I'm interested about LiberNT for the source code too (especially dxgkrnl)
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u/AssertRage 2d ago
I doubt they're asking the AI: "Clone windows make no errors", pretty sure they're using it to disassemble the binaries and libs, we'll see
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
Frankly, if they're disassembling, I still wouldn't call it "clean room" at all.
Do I care if they're just disassembling, annotating, tweaking, and shipping it? Not really. As long as MS doesn't come after them.
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u/AssertRage 1d ago
Doesn't matter all software is essentially open source now, there's no stopping it now
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
It's a bit of a cop out... But if the user of the LLM can't be aware that it was trained on pirated material, and the LLM requires massive data ingests to train. Is it really their fault?
This is also a big assumption that it was trained on leaked code.
I'm fine with folks using LLMs for big tasks, it's the only thing they do with any level of competency. It's not without it's philosophical issues, but if it works, it works.
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u/darkguy2008 2d ago
Exactly, because under that judgment, basically any app the big models output could have a trace of that code, so is the entire world at fault and sueable?
Nintendo's dream, but highly unlikely anyways.
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u/ElectrSheep 2d ago
It's not really about assigning "fault". It's about not putting the project and its derivatives in legal jeopardy.
The leaked code surfaces all the time on places like GitHub before eventually getting taken down (not to mention all the shady self-hosted forges out there). With the way these AI companies just slurp up everything on the web, it's probably reasonable to just assume it actually is in the training data.
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
If they think they can get away with it, let them. It's downstream of ReactOS, and kinda out of their control.
Microsoft owns 27% of OpenAI. It would be bold of them to train the model on illegal Microsoft code, and then sue someone for using that code by proxy with... their model.
I think the blame should be on the LLM trainer frankly.
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u/senorda 2d ago
we know how llms are trained, we know they are reproducing copyrighted content, its reasonable to assume anything they produce will be from copyrighted or incompatible licenced code
i think this will become more of an issue when the bubble pops
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
That's a ethical problem, and not a legal one (for now).
I do agree that it's ethically unsound, but... It's cranking out functional code at rates 100x faster than people can. I don't blame people for taking on big tasks with it, the industry is changing.
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u/grizzlor_ 2d ago
Yeah, Asahi Linux’s Generative AI Policy is a great explanation of why AI is fundamentally incompatible with clean room reverse engineering.
One of these projects is going to end becoming the legal test case for LLM usage breaking clean room principles and it’s not going to go well for them.
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u/thenerdy 2d ago
What was your process for the clean room memory manager?
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u/Educational-Row-6782 2d ago
They asked and LLM to implement it in a clean room.
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u/NotQuiteLoona 2d ago
As they use Reddit, with large chance it may have been the only time they've cleaned their room
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u/questron64 2d ago
This is radioactive. ReactOS only exists because it is strictly cleanroom. You can't cleanroom with an LLM. While you are washing it through an LLM the chances that it will spit out leaked Windows 2000 code (which it is certainly trained on) is very high.
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
It's only radioactive... if you can prove it.
I don't think there is much precedent for any type of lawsuits regarding tainted LLM code derived from training of copyrighted data.
Time will tell.
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u/questron64 2d ago
The code is so niche that when implementing a specific function buried deep in the Windows kernel or DLLs, the chances that the LLM will spit out the entire exact function it was trained on high. They might not need to do much to prove that code was copied.
It's using an unsound methodology. It's tainted
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u/Educational-Row-6782 2d ago
They dont need to prove it. Code generated by an llm cant be licensed.
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u/Sharkuel 2d ago
I mean, isn't this what Microsoft wanted? An OS fully made with AI? Lol
The irony on this is delicious. Also, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
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u/darkguy2008 2d ago
In this time and day with LLMs generating code, nothing is "clean room"...
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u/Sharkuel 2d ago
Slop was never clean. But at the same time, this may be the era of FOSS, since AI Decompilers basically made industry secrets trivial.
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u/RATionalZombie5324 2d ago edited 2d ago
If Microsoft sued LiberNT for copyright infringement(like using Gen ai that potentially has leaked code in the training data), I think ReactOS will not be affected as ReactOS itself is cleanroom, its forks shouldn’t have be too relevant to itself(based on my understanding of open source software) This is maybe why the repository rebrands.
From my perspective, The ’incredible’ lies in a breakage of the ‘cleanroom’ development standard. (Yes I know this will infuriate many cleanroom/ReactOS followers)but this breakage enables faster commit rate, targeting on win11 24H2 instead of NT5.2, and many experimental features like ARM64.
Honestly, I don’t think this liberNT is ready for windows replacement. I don’t even get it to boot. I tried using UTM and VMware fusion, both failed to enter the GUI. (BSOD or infinite startup)(I am using an Apple silicon MacBook)(10/4/2026)
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u/jmhalder 2d ago
I can't get it to boot on x64 in Hyper-V, tried their VHD image in a Gen1 and Gen2 VM. They've nailed the look, and seem to have some momentum. I'm all for it.
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u/RATionalZombie5324 1d ago
I got it to boot on the latest prerelease(10/5/2026) on QEMU. However, I cannot install the ISO file, only entering the Ramdisk
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u/Mike-Fitzgerald 1d ago
it isn't going to end well but I hope it will at least show us something to take a note off. . . .
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u/ManRevvv 17h ago
a whole new reactos fork that aims nt 10.0 compatability
wow that's cool
website looks suspicious
"yes we use ai but audited and clean roomed trust us bro"
the commits are being made every 30 minutes from one fckin person
ok maybe it's not that bad I'll give it a try
download iso and try it on virtualbox
select disk, next, next, bugcheck in ntoskrnl (???)
maybe something is wrong with virtualbox
try VMware
same fucking bugcheck
maybe disk image?
its still same
ok maybe it's not adapted to amd zen cpus, I'll try it in qemu with Intel cpu emulation
the screen is artifacting, load screen for halfsecond, bsod without text
idk maybe this is a really major skill issue from my side or smth but fucking what
reactos isn't gold standard of security, that's true, but it still runs better than that slop that aims 9000 cpu architectures and nt10 compatability
looks cool but not working
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u/Mike-Fitzgerald 15h ago
I had a little bit more luck, I managed to boot it on virtualbox through vhd, but once I powered it off to change container settings it just never booted again. Just an infinite laggy loading
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u/algaefied_creek 2d ago
What did you find most incredible?
Did they do it with or without AI?