An update to my post on Asahi Linux dropping MIT for GPL. Asahi’s Linux 7.3 progress report says all of its code will move to GPL-2.0-or-later after people lifted in-development code from personal forks, sometimes “lazily rewritten with LLM assistance to obfuscate its origin.” The report doesn’t name anyone, and it doesn’t mention Omarchy.
What’s new
DHH replied on X on Nov. 8: “Asahi changing to GPLv2 changes nothing, btw. The Linux kernel is already GPLv2! We make all the source changes we have against the Linux kernel available, as we do with anything based on Asahi. Omarchy itself is MIT.” He also said Omarchy has been extending Asahi’s work (TouchID, M3 GPU, DisplayPort over USB-C, deep sleep), but “thanks to agent acceleration, Asahi rejects upstreaming.” That’s his characterization. Asahi hasn’t responded to it.
My take
License-wise he’s right: kernel work was always GPL, and Omarchy’s own scripts stay MIT. The upstreaming fight over AI-written code is the real story to watch. I’d love to see those Apple Silicon fixes land upstream in a form Asahi will accept.
God Bless, and Happy hacking!
