A new version of Genode OS is here.
It brings an improved L4ka::Pistachio kernel, the QT4 toolkit port and numerous improvements to the networking stack.
QT4 tetris screenshot
Announcement | Download | Roadmap
From the announcement
Whereas the focus of the previous release 8.11 was the refinement of Genode's base API and the creation of the infrastructure needed to build real-world applications, the release 9.02 is focused on functional enhancements in two directions. The first direction is broadening the number of possible base platforms for the framework. At present, most microkernels bring along a custom user land, which is closely tied to the particular kernel. Our vision is to establish Genode as a common ground for developing applications, protocol stacks, and device drivers in such a way that the software becomes easily portable among different kernels. This release makes Genode available on the L4ka::Pistachio kernel. Hence, software developed with the Genode API can now run unmodified on Linux/x86, L4/Fiasco, and L4ka::Pistachio. In the second direction, we are steadily advancing the functionality available on top of Genode. With this release, we introduce a basic networking facility and support for native Qt4 applications as major new features. Thanks to Genode's portability, these features become automatically available on all supported base platforms.
Our original plan for the release 9.02 also comprised the support of a Linux-on-Genode (para-)virtualization solution. Initially, we intended to make L4Linux available on the L4/Fiasco version of Genode. However, we identified several downsides with this approach. Apparently, the development of the officially available version of L4/Fiasco has become slow and long-known issues remain unfixed. L4Linux, however, is closely tied to L4/Fiasco and the L4 environment. For us at Genode Labs, maintaining both a custom port of L4Linux for Genode and L4/Fiasco by ourself in addition to developing Genode is unfeasible. In contrast, the Pistachio kernel features more advanced options for virtualization (Afterburner and VT support) that we want to explore. Furthermore, there exists another version of L4Linux called OKLinux for the OKL4 kernel developed at OK-Labs, which is very interesting as well. Therefore, we decided against an ad-hoc solution and deferred this feature to the next release.
