About Legacy OSL

OSL began life inside originOS, a graphical desktop environment where every program was a window and the operating system provided features like a camera, simulated input, inter-window messaging and a permission system.

This documentation covers OSL.go, the standalone compiler. Most of the language carries over unchanged, but some originOS environment features have no equivalent in compiled OSL, because there is no surrounding desktop OS to provide them. Those pages are collected here so the knowledge isn't lost - they describe how things worked in originOS and remain useful if you're reading or porting old originOS programs.

The pages below describe originOS behaviour and generally do not work in compiled OSL.go programs. Where a modern replacement exists, it's noted.

Not available in compiled OSL

originOS feature	Modern replacement
Camera	- (no equivalent)
Mouse cursor control	osl/window input, within a window
Input simulation	- (no equivalent)
Send data between windows	- (use net/serve)
Interfacing with right-click	- (no equivalent)
Permissions	- (the OS sandbox is gone)
OFSF file model - open(), fileGet(), listFiles()	osl/fs
import() as a function	the import statement

Replaced by a package, kept for reference

originOS page	Now use
Desktop notifications	osl/notify
The window system	osl/window
Running other languages	osl/lua
Sound	osl/sound

Preserved originals

Where a general page was rewritten with OSL.go-specific information, a copy of the original is kept under legacy-osl/originals/ so nothing is lost.