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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 = "2024-09-09"
+++
(The computers image needs to be uploaded, like the previous release it should show the Jeremy computers running the current Redox version)
<img class="img-responsive" src="/img/screenshot/programs1.png"/>
![Orbital in the 0.9.0 version](/img/screenshot/orbital-0.9.0.png)
<img class="img-responsive" src="/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 many improvements and cleanup.
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 a lot by their hard work that make this release possible.
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!
- Massive performance improvements
- 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
- Phase-One of the creation of a stable API
- Improved paging and memory management
- Faster system calls
- Wide-ranging clean-up and debugging of the kernel, drivers and PCIe support
- Improved USB HID 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/).
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)
## Overview Video
If you want to avoid the setup work of running Redox on real hardware or in a Virtual Machine,
have a look at our [Software Showcase 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-gxAsBTPxA),
where we show off 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>
## Running Redox
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_2024-09-07_1225_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_2024-09-07_1225_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_2024-09-07_1225_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_2024-09-07_1225_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_2024-09-07_1225_livedisk.iso.zst)
- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_2024-09-07_1225_harddrive.img.zst)
## 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
- Our [porting strategy](https://www.redox-os.org/news/porting-strategy/) was explained
- 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 C library implementation) is now almost 100% Rust and much more complete
- 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)
- Most COSMIC Desktop programs were ported
- 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, a complete book review and cleanup, almost 100% up-to-date information
- 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 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
- Now the website say that we aim to be a complete Linux/BSD alternative
- Lots of content was added to the [Redox Book](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/) for developers that want to help with porting,
including a [Developer FAQ](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-07-developer-faq.html), [Libraries and APIs](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-06-libraries-apis.html), [educational content](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-08-references.html) and many other topics
- Our [development priorities](https://www.redox-os.org/news/development-priorities-2023-09/) and [porting strategy](https://www.redox-os.org/news/porting-strategy/) were explained
## Stability and Performance Improvements
Jeremy Soller and 4lDO2 did massive improvements to stability and security, fixed many bugs, from easy to very hard.
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
- First steps in implementing the "Stable ABI" strategy
- Being a key resource for the Redox community
You can read about part of the 4lDO2 journey to improve the kernel on the following posts:
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/)
Jeremy rarely write posts and prefer to contribute in silence and report the progress later in the Matrix community.
## Drivers and Boot
## Software Updates
Jeremy, 4lDO2 and bjorn3 all worked on improving drivers and boot, and several other people made important contributions.
Some of bjorn3's contributions include:
Our toolchains received some updates and currently our Rust, C and C++ toolchains use the latest stable versions or close to it, it's a great achievement compared to other OS projects that use very old toolchain versions (limiting the program compatibility)
- 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
- Move the driver folders to categories
Beyond the toolchain updates, we also updated important cross-platform libraries used by most programs and some important programs.
Many thanks to bjorn3 and all our driver contributors!
## Rust-first Program Porting!
## Relibc Improvements
We focus on Rust programs as they are more easy to port, Ribbon quickly ported hundreds of emerging Rust programs in 2023.
Relibc is the Redox C Standard Library, an alternative to the POSIX libc, glibc and musl.
Relibc is written in Rust, and provides standard C and POSIX APIs, as well as many libc utility functions.
It was originally envisioned to be an alternative to libc for both Linux and Redox.
Increasingly, it has been the home for many Redox system services, including such things as fork, exec, pthred, and signal handling,
as we try to move functionality out of the kernel while still supporting POSIX APIs.
Many of the services have an underlying kernel or daemon scheme that implements part of the functionality,
but the scheme may have little of the service's complexity.
Relibc is also now key to our "stable ABI" strategy.
The plan is for files to dynamically link against Relibc, which will provide a stable ABI for the dynamic linker.
New POSIX functions will be added to Relibc, but none will be removed.
That will leave us free to change the implementation of the services as Redox evolves,
but still be able to run binaries compiled for older Redox versions.
4lDO2 has started the first phase of creating the stable ABI,
creating a consistent internal API for current kernel services.
He has also started to refactor relibc to separate services from APIs,
and to make it easier to provide a non-POSIX API for system services in the future.
Not to mention his extensive work on the NLnet-funded Signals and Process Lifecycle project,
including moving signal handling into Relibc.
And thank you to all our other Relibc contributors, who have implemented many libc functions,
tremendously helping our effort to port Linux/BSD software.
Special thanks to Darley Barreto, who has worked hard to remove any remaining C code from libc,
partitioning out libm (which is still largely in C) and replacing our malloc implementation with dlmalloc-rs.
## Better ARM64 Support
The contributor uvnn cleaned and improved our ARM64 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 ARM64 hardware in the future.
## C/C++ Programs
Jeremy also improved the ARM support to the level where we can start the Orbital session on the QEMU emulation.
Ribbon also partially-ported the classic and widely-used C and C++ programs and libraries, he focused to package the most used (and best) programs of the Linux/BSD world.
## A Note about USB Support
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.
USB support is under heavy development and is a key feature for us, but it did not quite make the cut for this release.
We hope to have an update for USB HID in the near future,
which will provide support for USB mouse and keyboard, as well as game controllers.
This will be followed by USB hub support, which is essential, as many motherboards route some or all USB ports through
an internal hub.
Then we will start work on USB storage.
## Relibc Improvements
Thanks to Jeremy and 4lDO2 for their work on this, and special thanks to new contributor Tim Finnegan for his emergency work
to try to squeeze this in under the wire.
The Redox contributors improved relibc a lot, from new functions to important bug fixes.
Watch for [News](https://redox-os.org/news/) about USB!
This increased our software compatibility and fixed many programs, from Rust to C/C++
## VirtIO Support
## Better ARM 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.
uvnn cleaned and improved our ARM support a lot, we would like to thank his massive work in 2023.
You can read about his work on the following posts:
We also would like to thank Ivan Tan to achieve the Redox support on the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ !
- [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/)
Jeremy also improved the ARM support to the level where we can start the Orbital session on the QEMU emulation.
## Self-Hosting Improvements
## Better PCI Express Support
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 us take a huge leap forward.
We would like to thank bjorn3 for his excellent work to improve our PCI Express support.
## Software Updates
## Better Driver Organization and Code Cleanup
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.
bjorn3 cleaned our driver code, deduplicated some drivers and moved our driver code to category folders, like Linux and BSD.
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.
## Better USB Support!
## Rust-first Program Porting!
Jeremy and 4lDO2 improved our USB support to the level where most USB HID devices can work!
We have been focusing our initial porting efforts 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.
Like mouse, keyboards, game controllers and other things.
## C/C++ Programs
## VirtIO Support
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.
Anhad Singh from the [Aero](https://github.com/Andy-Python-Programmer/aero) project participated in our RSoC program from 2023 and implemented the VirtIO support on Redox.
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.
He wrote some VirtIO drivers and improved the VirtIO GPU 2D acceleration to speed up our QEMU performance.
## First HTTP Web Server
You can read about his work on the following posts:
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.
- [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/)
## Notable Programs
## Build System Improvements
- Apache HTTP Server was ported and currently can serve a website on `localhost`
- RustPython was ported and is our first working Python interpreter implementation
- GNU Make was updated to a recent version
- The Lua interpreter was ported
- Perl 5 was ported
We would like to thank Ron Williams, bjorn3, Jeremy and 4lDO2 for their massive improvements to our build system configuration and tooling.
## Debugging Improvements
Ron Williams and Jeremy implemented new commands to ease the life of developers, packagers and testers.
The process to debug the recipes of Rust programs was implemented and the debugging documentation was improved.
It's possible to enable the Rust debug symbols and get the backtrace from the build system.
bjorn3 simplified our filesystem configuration system, reducing duplication and our maintenance cost.
## 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 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.
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 worked hard 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.
@@ -152,7 +292,7 @@ You can read them on the following links:
## Software Showcase
We started a series of videos showing many programs running on Redox!
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>
@@ -160,83 +300,27 @@ We started a series of videos showing many programs running on Redox!
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. Before Matrix you would need to wait the Mattermost approval of your account, but if the Mattermost email server went offline your account would never be approved, thus it was flooded with emails asking why their account was not approved, while Jeremy Soller didn't receive any emails.
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.
In Matrix we fixed the account approval using the "Join Requests" room, where each new user request to join the Matrix space, the same for new GitLab accounts where each new contributor send its GitLab nickname for approval.
You can read more about it on our [community announcements](https://www.redox-os.org/news/community-announcements-1/) post.
You can read more about it on [this](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 was a long demand of the community because it's more convenient for most people, we didn't use Discord as the official platform because it's not free and open-source.
Ribbon took the task and solved the demand, the Discord messages are bridged to Matrix and the moderation system is the same of Matrix.
## Organization Improvements
We also did many other organization improvements to save time in most tasks and satisfy more end-users and developers.
<!--
## Discussion
To contact us, join in our Matrix space on [this](https://www.redox-os.org/community/) page.
- [Hacker News]()
- [Mastodon]()
- [Patreon]()
- [Reddit /r/redox]()
- [Reddit /r/rust]()
- [Redox OS Chat]()
- [X (previously known as Twitter)]()
-->
## 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.
Remember to verify the images checksum with the `sha256sum` tool, use [this](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/SHA256SUM) link for the x86_64 images.
## Compression
The images are compressed using the [Zstd](https://github.com/facebook/zstd) algorithm, to learn how to decompress them read [this](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch02-01-running-vm.html#decompression) section.
### 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 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.
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.
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.
- [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)
## The Redox OS Nonprofit
### 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)
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 OS name.
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).
## Changes
@@ -250,37 +334,72 @@ The most important changes are shown below.
### Kernel
- The memory performance was improved a lot by the introduction of a new buddy allocator (p2buddy)
- The CPU cost of many system calls was reduced, improving the overral performance
- 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 `futex` implementation was improved
- The i686 and x86_64 code was cleaned and deduplicated
- The debugging code received fixes
- The kernel image became bootloader-agnostic
### RedoxFS
- The reading and writting performance was improved a lot by the introduction of the "records" concept, where RedoxFS use an optimal block size for the context switch
- 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
- All system components migrated from `redox_syscall` to `libredox` to have a stable ABI
- 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
- The scheme cancellation was implemented to allow the file descriptors to be closed
- New user-space schemes were introduced
- Many improvements to the scheme interface
### Networking
- The MAC addresses handling was improved
### Orbital
- The winit support for client side decorations, hidden windows, maximization, and updating flags after window creation was implemented
- Videos and music can be played from GUI programs by a mouse double-click
- The Orbital visual was improved
### Ion Shell
- A LSP language server for the Ion's scripting language was implemented
### 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 1600 programs and libraries were packaged (work-in-progress)
- More than 1700 programs and libraries were packaged (work-in-progress)
### Cookbook
- More recipes were converted to TOML
- All recipes were moved to categories
- ABI separation was added for some libraries
- Package policies were added to improve the quality of program packages
- A recipe for the Redox website was added
### Build System
- New recipe options
- The `disk=` option was implemented to select the storage interface
- An option to boot Redox from a NVMe interface was implemented
- A command to run multiple recipe operations was implemented
- New cleanup options
- New QEMU options
- New scripts
- A new filesystem configuration was added, it helped us to deduplicate files and improved the flexbility a lot
- A script to run multiple recipe operations on Cookbook categories was added
- A script to get the Rust backtrace was added
- A script to show the recipe location was added
- A script to show the recipe configuration file was added
- A script to show all recipe executables was added
- A script to show the recipe package size was added
- A script to automatically update Rust programs was added
- A script to show the current commit hash of the submodules and recipes was added
- A script to install Redox on `systemd-boot` as dual-boot was added
- 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
@@ -294,48 +413,72 @@ The most important changes are shown below.
- The RedoxFS features were documented
- The current security system was documented
- The "Quick Workflow" page for advanced testers and developers was added
- The instructions to run Redox on VirtualBox were documented
- Huge improvements and cleanup in almost all pages of the book
### Community
- Our chat migrated from Mattermost to Matrix
- We migrated the chat platform from Mattermost to Matrix
- A moderation system was implemented
- A nonprofit organization was created to help our money management
- A nonprofit organization was created to help the donation management
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## Changelog
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:
- [redox]
- [cookbook]
- [rust]
- [audiod]
- [bootloader]
- [bootstrap]
- [contain]
- [coreutils]
- [drivers]
- [escalated]
- [extrautils]
- [installer]
- [ion]
- [ipcd]
- [kernel]
- [netstack]
- [netutils]
- [orbital]
- [orbterm]
- [orbutils]
- [pkgutils]
- [ptyd]
- [redoxfs]
- [relibc]
- [resist]
- [smith]
- [userutils]
- [uutils]
- [init]
- [logd]
- [nulld]
- [ramfs]
- [randd]
- [zerod]
\ No newline at end of file
- [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