Show HN: Kakehashi – Experimental userspace to run macOS binaries on Linux ARM
Kakehashi is an experimental userspace translation layer that allows macOS ARM64 binaries to run on Linux aarch64 systems. It maps Mach-O binaries and translates BSD syscalls without using JIT compilation.
Why it matters
This tool enables cross-platform compatibility for ARM-based software, potentially simplifying development workflows for engineers working across macOS and Linux environments.
Userspace macOS ARM64 → Linux aarch64 translation layer (CLI-first, no JIT).
Load Darwin Mach-O on Linux aarch64, map a freestanding libSystem , translate BSD syscalls, and run real guests (clang probes, 7-Zip 7zz , curl , threads).
Verified on Docker/Colima and UTM (Linux aarch64). Install once:
cargo install kakehashi # or from a checkout: cargo install --path crates/kh-cli --force kh bottle ensure kh install 7zip # Darwin 7zz → guest /usr/local/bin/7zz kh install curl # Darwin curl → guest /usr/local/bin/curl Relative -o / archive paths resolve against the host CWD of the kh process (create parent dirs yourself, or rely on auto-mkdir for O_CREAT ). Through the bottle, /Volumes/linux/… bridges to the host root ( / → host / ).
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