QNX has published the initial release of its Self-Hosted Developer Desktop, introducing a native development environment that runs directly on QNX 8.0. The new setup is designed to eliminate the long-standing reliance on cross-compilation by enabling developers to build and test software entirely within QNX.

At the core of the release is a full desktop environment based on XFCE running on Wayland. The desktop is intended to lower the entry barrier for new QNX developers while also simplifying the process of porting existing Linux applications and libraries to QNX 8.0.

The environment comes preloaded with a broad set of development tools, including GCC, Clang, Python, Make, CMake, and Git, as well as a selection of commonly used editors and IDEs such as Geany, Emacs, Neovim, and Vim.

QNX Developer Desktop

A web browser, a terminal, and the Thunar file manager are included, along with sample projects covering C, C++, Python, GTK, and OpenGL ES. Together, these components form a complete, self-contained workspace for native QNX development.

This initial release is distributed as a QEMU image and is currently supported on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 hosts. With a free QNX license, developers can access the image through QNX Software Center by installing the QNX SDP 8.0 Quick Start Target Image for QEMU.

Finally, while this first release focuses on core functionality, the devs say that the roadmap already includes expanded platform support, with planned QEMU images for Windows and macOS, native images for x86 systems, and a dedicated build for Raspberry Pi.

For more information, see the announcement.

Image credits: QNX

Bobby Borisov

Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies.