Back in 2003 Relic decided to release the Homeworld source code to the gaming community (article). I’ve recently been doing some research into open source projects/free distributions for the Homeworld series and have found a few things of interest that I’d like to share (forgive me if I’m a few years late to the party).
Homeworld 1 Source Code (http://homesource.nekomimicon.net/downloads/ ||https://github.com/aheadley/homeworld)
First of all the Homeworld 1 source code has been released, conditional of you accepting the Relic EULA. The Relic EULA agreement is bundled with the source extractor. Keep in mind you will have to build the source files in order to play the game, which requires a little bit a lot of know-how and the correct compilers. Also it appears that the DATA files (big, sound, video) are NOT included with the source code and must be pulled from your own Homeworld 1 installation or from the disc (bummer).
Homeworld 1 SDL (http://www.homeworldsdl.org/)
Homeworld SDL is a (semi) open source project with the intent of enhancing Homeworld 1 source and allowing for cross platform compatibility. You (may) need a Relic Developer Network account to access the source code. To download the Homeworld SDL source you’ll have to request SVN access to their source code repo. Full steps of how to do this can be found on the project’s homepage. This project appears to be under continual development. You can view bug/feature activity via the bug tracker.
Homeworld 1 for Linux (http://www.homesource.nekomimicon.net/)
Homesource hosts a Linux compatible binary for Homeworld 1. The project is built off of the Homeworld SDL project. Like the other project in this article, it still needs your DATA files copied over from the game disc. For full installation instructions see the project homepage.
Homeworld 1 for Mac (http://www.machomeworld.com/hw.html)
The machomeworld project hosts their Mac OSX compatible Homeworld 1 binary. Like the other project in this article, it still needs your DATA files copied over from the game disc. For full installation instructions see the project homepage.
Sources: link 1