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title = "Redox OS 0.9.0"
author = "Jeremy Soller and Ron Williams"
date = "2024-04-18"
author = "Ron Williams, Ribbon and Jeremy Soller"
date = "2024-09-9"
+++
![Programs running in Redox 0.9.0](/img/screenshot/programs1.png)
![Orbital in Redox 0.9.0](/img/screenshot/orbital-0.9.0.png)
## Overview
It's been a while since we had our last release, but we have been heads-down working hard this whole time,
and Release 0.9.0 is packed with improvements. Here are just a few of the highlights!
It's been quite a while since we had our last release, but we have been heads-down working hard this whole time,
and Release 0.9.0 is packed with new features, improvements, bug fixes and cleanup.
We would like to thank all maintainers and contributors whose hard work has made this release possible.
Here are just a few of the highlights!
- Much improved process/thread lifecycle and signaling, thanks to funding from [NLnet](https://nlnet.nl/project/RedoxOS-Signals/)
- Massive performance and stability improvements
- Now featuring COSMIC Files, Editor and Terminal from the [COSMIC Desktop](https://system76.com/cosmic/)!
- Huge improvements to the portability of Linux/BSD programs
- USB Mouse and Keyboard support (with caveats)
- Wide-ranging clean-up and debugging of the kernel, drivers and PCIe support
## Donations and Funding
In the past 12 months, we have received generous grants from [NLnet's NGI Zero Core Fund](https://nlnet.nl/core/)
and [Radworks](https://radworks.org/), allowing us to support a community manager and a student developer.
We are seeking community donations to support one or more full-time developers.
We need the help of generous donors like you!
If you want to help support Redox development, you can make a donation to our [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/redox_os)
or [Donorbox](https://donorbox.org/redox-os),
or choose one of the other methods on our [Donate](https://redox-os.org/donate/) page.
You can also buy Redox merch (t-shirts, hoodies and mugs!) at our [Redox store](https://redox-os.creator-spring.com/).
- Huge improvements to portability of Linux command-line programs
- Phase one of creating of a stable API
- Improved paging and memory management, and faster system calls
- Wide-ranging clean-up and debugging of the kernel, PCIe support and drivers
- USB HID support
If you know an organization or foundation that may be interested in supporting Redox, please contact us at [donate@redox-os.org](donate@redox-os.org)
## Key Improvements for Release 0.9.0
- Faster system calls and context switching
- Improved virtual and physical memory management, including the significantly faster `p2buddy` memory allocator
- Improved filesystem performance
- Self-hosting improvements
- Userspace ABI improvements, towards the long-term goal of a stable ABI
- VirtIO drivers for better performance in virtual machines
- Relibc (our `libc` replacement) is now almost 100% Rust and much more complete
- A 100% Rust `libm`
- Significant progress on Aarch64/Arm64, including partial support for Raspberry Pi 3B+
- Redox's sandboxing driver Contain has been expanded and is available as a demo
- Slint, Iced and winit GUI libraries support the Redox Orbital Window Manager
- Key Cosmic Desktop apps available as demos
- Nano and Helix editors now supported
- RustPython available as a demo
- Many Build system improvements
- Tons more documentation, including examples, troubleshooting and a FAQ
- Virtualized [TSC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Stamp_Counter) gives a massive boost to context switching speed in virtual machines
- The [Unix path format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)#Unix_style) replaced the previous [URI format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier) used in our system interfaces,
improving compatibility with POSIX/Linux libraries and programs
- Relibc (our C library implementation) is almost 100% Rust (excluding `libm`) and much more complete
- Improvements to the bootloader for more hardware compatibility
- Significant progress on the ARM64 (Aarch64) support, including partial support for Raspberry Pi 3B+
- Contain (Redox's sandbox driver) has been expanded and is available as a demo (`desktop-contain.toml`)
- The first HTTP web server was ported ([Simple HTTP Server](https://github.com/TheWaWaR/simple-http-server))
- Slint, Iced and winit GUI libraries support the Redox's display server (Orbital)
- GNU Nano and [Helix](https://helix-editor.com/) editors were ported
- [RustPython](https://rustpython.github.io/) is working
- New build system options and improvements
- Lots of new documentation, lots of updates to reflect recent changes
- A [FAQ](https://www.redox-os.org/faq/) was added to the website
- A [developer FAQ](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-07-developer-faq.html) was added to the book
- The Redox software ports (recipes) system was almost completely documented
- The [Libraries and APIs](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-06-libraries-apis.html) page documented our system APIs and libraries
- The [Performance](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-10-performance.html) page documented how to profile Redox to improve the performance
- Some sections of the website FAQ were copied to the book for better reading and easy to find information
- [Feature comparison](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch04-11-features.html) tables were added to the book
- The [References](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-08-references.html) page documents the best references to learn Rust, OS development and computer science
- Our [porting strategy](https://www.redox-os.org/news/porting-strategy/) was explained
- Our [development priorities](https://www.redox-os.org/news/development-priorities-2023-09/) were explained
## Stability and Performance Improvements
Jeremy Soller and 4lDO2 have made huge improvements to stability and security, fixed many bugs, from easy to very hard, and added several new crates and components to encapsulate common elements.
We would like to thank 4lDO2 a lot for his massive work to improve the kernel and user-space daemons.
Some of his work includes:
- Paging and memory management
- Scheme deamon API encapsulation and refactoring
- Process lifecycle and signal management (our NLnet project)
- Context switching performance improvements
- Implementing the "Stable ABI" strategy (phase I - kernel ABI versioning)
- Being a key resource for the Redox community
You can read about parts of 4lDO2's journey to improve the kernel in the following posts:
- [RSoC: on-demand paging](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-8/)
- [RSoC: on-demand paging II](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-9/)
- [Significant performance and correctness improvements to the kernel](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-10/)
- [Towards userspaceification of POSIX - part I: signal handling and IO](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-11/)
## Drivers and Boot
Jeremy, 4lDO2 and bjorn3 all worked on improving drivers and boot, and several other people made important contributions.
Some of bjorn3's contributions include:
- Improved boot correctness for UEFI
- Improvements and bug fixes for many PCI/PCIe drivers
- Removing all the old format paths and replacing them with the new format
- General code cleanup and update of drivers
Many thanks to bjorn3 and all our driver contributors!
## Software Updates
Our toolchains received some updates and currently our Rust, C and C++ toolchains are all recent versions,
which significantly improves compatibility when porting other Linux/POSIX and Rust software.
We also updated important cross-platform libraries and improved the build process for programs that depend on those libraries,
greatly simplifying the job of porting applications.
## Rust-first Program Porting!
We focus on Rust programs as they are easier to port.
Ribbon created WIP ports for hundreds of emerging Rust programs in 2023,
and many are working with no modification.
## C/C++ Programs
Ribbon also created WIP ports for classic and widely-used C/C++ programs and libraries, he focused to package the most used (and best) programs of the Linux/BSD world.
Currently there are around 1,700 work-in-progress software ports, we need to write cross-compilation scripts and port/update some libraries to make them work.
## Relibc Improvements
The Redox contributors improved relibc a lot, from new functions to important bug fixes.
This increased our software compatibility and fixed many programs, from Rust to C/C++
## Better ARM Support
The contributor uvnn cleaned and improved our ARM support a lot, we would like to thank his massive work in 2023.
Ivan Tan got Redox to boot on the Raspberry Pi 3 B+,
and helped us improve the build tools to support multiple Raspberry Pi devices and other ARM platforms.
ARM is a different challenge than x86_64, because there is little standardization of hardware platforms.
We hope to get Redox running on more ARM hardware in the future.
Jeremy also improved the ARM support to the level where we can start the Orbital session on the QEMU emulation.
## Better USB Support!
Jeremy and 4lDO2 improved our USB support to the level where most USB HID devices will work!
Mouse and keyboard support, game controllers and similar devices are now supported.
And special thanks to new contributor Tim Finnegan for key emergency improvements just before the release,
including hot-plugging support, port numbering fixes and USB 2 vs USB 3 protocol differences.
Note that many computers route their ports through an internal hub, so some ports (maybe all of them) may not work for you.
Hub support is next on the agenda, so hopefully we will support your computer soon, if we don't already!
## VirtIO Support
Anhad Singh from the [Aero OS](https://github.com/Andy-Python-Programmer/aero) project participated in our RSoC program from 2023 to write VirtIO drivers for Redox.
You can read about his work on the following posts:
- [RSoC: virtio drivers - 1](https://www.redox-os.org/news/rsoc-virtio-1/)
- [RSoC: virtio drivers - 2](https://www.redox-os.org/news/rsoc-virtio-2/)
## Self-Hosting Improvements
The NLnet-funded Signals and Process Lifecycle work has had the key side-effect of improving the operation of
many software tools.
The Rust and GCC toolchains are able to build basic programs, but with some limitations.
Self-hosting the build is high on our agenda, and these improvements have helped take a huge leap forward.
## First HTTP Web Server
We ported our first HTTP web server, [Simple HTTP Server](https://github.com/TheWaWaR/simple-http-server), and served a website from Redox.
Thanks very much to contributor bpisch for his work on porting many difficult programs, and for this one in particular.
## Build System Improvements
We would like to thank Ron Williams, bjorn3, Jeremy and 4lDO2 for their massive improvements to our build system configuration and tooling.
Ron Williams and Jeremy implemented new commands to ease the life of developers, packagers and testers.
bjorn3 simplified our filesystem configuration system, reducing duplication and maintenance effort.
4lDO2 improved the performance of our recipe verification and image building process.
## Documentation
Our documentation was improved massively thanks to Ron Williams and Ribbon. In 2023-2024 we covered many missing things in the website and book, removed most of the obsolete information and documented almost all build system commands.
Ron Williams and Ribbon did a hard work to make our website and book extremely rich in information for end-users, Rust programming newbies and veterans, and operating system development newbies and veterans.
Many other contributors offered help with corrections and clarity for both the book and the website.
We are glad to say that our website and book answer most of the end-user and developer questions about Redox.
You can read about the Ribbon's documentation adventure on [this](https://www.redox-os.org/news/documentation-improvements/) post and on the monthly updates.
## This Month in Redox
We started monthly updates in 2024 to improve our status report for the community and bring more excitement to Redox, these posts offer more details about the changes present on this post.
You can read them on the following links:
- [This Month in Redox - January 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240131/)
- [This Month in Redox - February 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240229/)
- [This Month in Redox - March 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240330/)
- [This Month in Redox - April 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240430/)
- [This Month in Redox - May 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240531/)
- [This Month in Redox - June 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240630/)
- [This Month in Redox - July 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240731/)
- [This Month in Redox - August 2024](https://www.redox-os.org/news/this-month-240831/)
## Software Showcase
We created the first in (hopefully) a series of videos showing many programs running on Redox!
<iframe width="800" height="640" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s-gxAsBTPxA?si=EbIRLwIrnuiwfvYZ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
## Matrix
In 2023 we migrated from Mattermost to Matrix to fix some management problems, this big change helped us to improve many aspects of our community interaction.
The most important thing that Matrix fixed was the account creation approval for the chat and GitLab. In Matrix we are able to quickly do account approval using the "Join Requests" room, where each new user needs to request an invite to the Matrix space.
The same applies for new GitLab accounts where each new contributor sends their GitLab nickname on the "GitLab Approvals" room for approval.
This lets us minimize the number of spam accounts while still allowing everyone who wants to contribute to join easily.
You can read more about it on our [community announcements](https://www.redox-os.org/news/community-announcements-1/) post.
If you had problems to create an account on Mattermost in the past please try again in our Matrix chat.
## Discord
A Discord server has been an important request from the community because it's more convenient for many members.
We chose not to use Discord as the main chat platform, because it's not free and open-source.
Ribbon took the task and created the official Discord server. The Discord messages are bridged to Matrix and the moderation system is the same as for Matrix.
## The Redox OS Nonprofit
This is our first release since the creation of the Redox Nonprofit!
The purpose of the Nonprofit is to help raise and manage funds for Redox development,
to support the community, and to support the Redox brand.
We have board meetings every quarter, which are recorded, and our minutes and notes are available in the [Nonprofit repo](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/nonprofit).
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- [Phoronix]()
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## Images
It is recommended to try Redox OS in a virtual machine before trying on real hardware. See
the [supported hardware](https://www.redox-os.org/faq/#which-devices-does-redox-support) section for details on what
hardware to select for the best experience.
- Read [this](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch02-01-running-vm.html) page to learn how to run the Redox images in a virtual machine
- Read [this](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch02-02-real-hardware.html) page to learn how to run the Redox images on real hardware
- Read [this](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch02-03-installing.html) page to learn how to install Redox
### Demo
A 1536 MiB image containing the Orbital desktop environment as well as pre-installed demonstration programs.
- [Real Hardware Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_harddrive.img.zst)
The demo image includes these additional packages:
- [DOSBox](https://www.dosbox.com/) - A DOS emulator
- Games using PrBoom:
- DOOM (Shareware)
- [FreeDOOM](https://freedoom.github.io/)
- [Neverball and Neverputt](https://neverball.org/) - OpenGL games using LLVMPipe (performance may vary!)
- [orbclient](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbclient) - An Orbital client demo
- [Periodic Table](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/periodictable) - A program for viewing information about chemical elements
- [Terminal games](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/games) - Command-line games
- [rodioplay](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/rodioplay) - A FLAC/WAV music player
- [Sodium](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/sodium): A vi-like text editor
- [sopwith](http://www.sopwith.org/): A classic PC air combat game
- syobonaction - A freeware platforming game
### Desktop
A 512 MiB image containing the Orbital desktop environment and some programs for common tasks. Use this if you want to download a smaller image.
- [Real Hardware](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_harddrive.img.zst)
### Server
A 512 MiB image containing only the command-line environment. Use this if the desktop image is not working well for you.
- [Real Hardware](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_2024-09-06_1221_harddrive.img.zst)
## Changes
There have been quite a lot of changes since 0.8.0. We have manually enumerated
what we think is important in this list. Links to exhaustive source-level change
details can be found in the [Changelog](#changelog) section.
## In Depth
We should do a bit of a deep dive on some key topics, and we should link to other news posts where they exist.
The most important changes are shown below.
### Kernel
- The memory performance was improved a lot by the introduction of a buddy memory allocator (p2buddy)
- The CPU cost of many system calls was reduced a lot, improving the overral performance
- The kernel image became bootloader-agnostic
### RedoxFS
- The read/write performance was improved a lot by the introduction of the "records" concept, where RedoxFS use an optimal block size for the context switch
- The context switch roundtrips were reduced
- The copy-on-write reliability was improved with some bugs fixed
### System API
- Virtually all system components migrated from `redox_syscall` to `libredox`, to allow an optimal unstable syscall ABI and eventually a stable userspace ABI
- The scheme path format is now converted at runtime (relibc/kernel) to avoid the patching of many libraries and programs, the Redox system interfaces are treated like the Linux target now
- New user-space schemes were introduced
- Many improvements to the scheme interface
### Programs
- A lot of new functions were added to relibc, improving the software compatibility
- Many bugs were fixed
- Many programs started to work
- More than 1700 programs and libraries were packaged (work-in-progress)
### Build System
- New recipe options
- New cleanup options
- New QEMU options
- New scripts
- A new filesystem configuration design was implemented, it helped us to deduplicate files and improved the flexbility a lot
- The `rust` submodule fetch was disabled, reducing the download time a lot
### Documentation
- Porting documentation was added
- A developer FAQ was added
- The build system dependencies for each supported Unix-like system was documented
- A feature comparison was added
- A page to learn Rust, OS development, driver development and computer science was added
- The driver descriptions and interfaces was documented
- The RedoxFS features were documented
- The current security system was documented
- The "Quick Workflow" page for advanced testers and developers was added
### Community
- We migrated the chat platform from Mattermost to Matrix
- A moderation system was implemented
- A nonprofit organization was created to help the donation management
## Changelog
## All the Details
As many changes happened it's not possible to write everything on this post, this section contains all commits since the 0.8.0 version generated by the [changelog](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/redox/-/blob/master/changelog.sh) script:
We should capture a list of all changes here to make sure we don't miss anything.
- [redox](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/redox/-/compare/c8634bd...f2fc8e6)
- [cookbook](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/cookbook/-/compare/3d72057d...29bf5784)
- [audiod](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/audiod/-/compare/20474ef...f7c2426)
- [bootloader](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/bootloader/-/compare/d398e37...c7588a1)
- [bootstrap](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/bootstrap/-/compare/1effea3...94ac220)
- [ca-certificates](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ca-certificates/-/compare/b42b9c5...4df67f2)
- [contain](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/contain/-/compare/42b381b...e6b8856)
- [coreutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/coreutils/-/compare/690460d...b52a1b2)
- [cosmic-edit](https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-edit) - new project
- [cosmic-files](https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-files) - new project
- [cosmic-icons](https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-icons) - new project
- [cosmic-term](https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-term) - new project
- [curl](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/curl/-/compare/8b9c5bef9...f50c28394)
- [drivers](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/drivers/-/compare/fc4a69c...897866d)
- [escalated](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/escalated/-/compare/7e02fe4...06fe299)
- [extrautils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/extrautils/-/compare/1f9cf9c...2218a14)
- [findutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/findutils/-/compare/2b3a88f...116c044)
- [initfs](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/redox-initfs/-/compare/89b8fb8...7dd9b2e)
- [installer](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/installer/-/compare/f710fa7...087810a)
- [installer-gui](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/installer-gui) - new project
- [ion](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ion/-/compare/b9c354eb...b1b9475f)
- [ipcd](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ipcd/-/compare/c930dfd...db2322c)
- [kernel](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/kernel/-/compare/d298459...0c99e1b)
- [netstack](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/netstack/-/compare/54d64d6...640e548)
- [netutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/netutils/-/compare/34d1ec9...c78b13c)
- [orbdata](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbdata/-/compare/1d6d330...3ca60ee)
- [orbital](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbital/-/compare/e93c270...8b5497a)
- [orbutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbutils/-/compare/b5aaf1e...4878e07)
- [pkgutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/pkgutils/-/compare/8cc4d84...87e2dc8)
- [pop-icon-theme](https://github.com/pop-os/icon-theme/-/compare/ab3e9b1497...3126c6a3f6)
- [ptyd](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ptyd/-/compare/d1709e5...ab26604)
- [redoxfs](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/redoxfs/-/compare/f601b2a...5c8f22b)
- [relibc](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/relibc/-/compare/ee0193aa...7a86d101)
- [resist](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/resist/-/compare/8d420dc...1a09fad)
- [userutils](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/userutils/-/compare/0621709...7a96dab)
- [init](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/init/-/compare/0c87d80...f5aaf7f)
- [logd](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/logd/-/compare/734bb92...e0f930a)
- [ramfs](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ramfs/-/compare/d3fd7f2...f404d64)
- [randd](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/randd/-/compare/934f130...1c88eea)
- [zerod](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/zerod/-/compare/4b1b17c...286bd4a)
\ No newline at end of file