The Genode project has released the version 9.02 of their Genode OS Framework. This open-source framework allows for creating custom microkernel-based operating systems for executing dynamic application workload while maintaining high security. In addition to the already supported base platforms 32-bit Linux and L4/Fiasco, this release introduces support for the L4ka::Pistachio microkernel. This high-performance kernel implements the latest L4 kernel API and supports a number of advanced features such as multi-processor support and virtualization support. By bringing Genode to this base platform, we will be able to leverage these features in the future. On the functional side, the new release brings two major additions, a basic networking facility and the native port of the Qt4 application framework. Read on about the new features described in the release notes, and download the release 9.02 of the Genode OS Framework.
I like Genode and its ideas, but i have a question. is the Pistacio kernel still on version 0.4 ( https://lists.ira.uni-karlsruhe.de/pipermail/l4ka/2004-June/000905.h… )? or that was released years ago. If thats right then it appears they release even more infrequesntly the SkyOS (Don’t worry Robert, I am just kidding around).
. but does anyone know if this is really developed more than just here and there frmo time to time?
The version 0.4 of Pistachio is rather old. We use the Mercurial repository http://hg.l4ka.org/l4ka-pistachio/, which is updated (as you stated) every now and then. Also, interesting work on top of Pistachio like Afterburner Linux and an experimental x86 virtualization support attracted our attention.
From our point of view, Pistachio is also an intermediate step to OKL4.
Ah, thank you for clearing that up for me, and great job on Genode. Keep up the good work. Also, have you ever thought about using the QNX kernel as a base now that its liecening is more permissive?
Thanks for the hint, we will investigate this further.
It’s nice to see them making progress. I have high hopes for Genode and I wish them to succeed. Unfortunately I’m more of an application level programmer and there’s little I can do now to help. 🙁
I say maybe.. They can co-operate with GNU-HURD. It is nice to see both becoming mainstream. A nice thing in QNX is that they use posix in their device drivers and I mean pthreads+signals. It could be beneficial for GenodeOS. No kernel specific structures for user-land tasks.