Darling is a free, open-source translation layer that allows users to run macOS software directly on Linux without hardware emulation. Developed openly on GitHub and distributed under the GNU GPL v3, it implements a complete Darwin environment, including Mach, dyld, and launchd. The project aims to fully integrate macOS applications into the Linux desktop experience, making them behave like native Linux software.

Similar to Wine for Windows, Darling supports basic experimental GUI apps after significant development effort. The developers confirm the tool does not violate Apple's EULA, as it only uses fully free parts of Darwin. The name combines "Darwin" and "Linux." Users can run Darling on Windows via WSL 2.

The team welcomes contributions from those with macOS or iOS development experience, though it is not required. The initiative is largely based on original Apple Darwin source code and utilizes The Cocotron for Cocoa implementation.