Editing Open Sound System (section)

== Adoption status ==

=== Code ===
OSS4 now exists mostly as a standalone piece of software, not integrated into the kernel source code. The exception is [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] and [[OpenSolaris]], which use a fork of OSS4 called Boomer. It combines the OSS4 framework (audio and mixer) together with Sun's earlier SADA ([[/dev/audio]]) API.<ref>{{citation |url=http://4front-tech.com/hannublog/?page_id=17 |title=Hannu's Blog » Boomer |publisher=4front-tech.com |access-date=2012-01-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316022034/http://4front-tech.com/hannublog/?page_id=17 |archive-date=2012-03-16 }}</ref>

Although Linux distributions such as [[Ubuntu]] made OSS4 available as a software package after it was made free software, they have chosen to ignore any bugs filed against these packages.<ref>{{citation |url=https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenSound |title=Ubuntu Documentation: OpenSound |publisher=ubuntu.com |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref>

=== API ===
The OSS API has remained influential despite the obscurity of the original library. NetBSD's documentation describes it as "the preferred API in FreeBSD and Solaris".<ref name="NetBSDman">{{cite web |title=ossaudio(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages |url=https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-10.0-STABLE/ossaudio.3 |website=man.netbsd.org}}</ref>

[[FreeBSD]] contains an independently developed implementation of the OSS API, which includes, among other things, in-kernel resampling, [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing]] (vchans), equalizer, surround sound, and independent volume control for each application. It also supports bit-perfect mode.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?sound |title=sound |publisher=Freebsd.org |date=2009-07-13 |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref> It gradually evolved from the "newpcm" replacement written in 1999 and caught up with OSS4 API around 2005.<ref name=fbsd/>

[[NetBSD]] supports a compatibility mode for the OSS API, by providing the <code>soundcard.h</code> header file and the <code>libossaudio</code> library, which internally operate using the native Sun-like audio interface. The replacement was first seen in NetBSD 1.3 of 1998.<ref name="NetBSDman"/>

Linux had, as aforementioned, switched to [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture]] since 2003 (kernel 2.6). ALSA provides an optional, in-kernel, OSS emulation mode that appears to programs as if it were OSS.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.alsa-project.org/~tiwai/OSS-Emulation.html|title=OSS Emulation|access-date=2012-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605094307/http://www.alsa-project.org/~tiwai/OSS-Emulation.html|archive-date=2012-06-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> ALSA also has a ''aoss'' userspace program that works by intercepting systems calls directed to the OSS device files.<ref>{{cite web |title=aoss(1) — Arch manual pages |url=https://man.archlinux.org/man/extra/alsa-oss/aoss.1.en |website=man.archlinux.org}}</ref>