Kernel Development

Kernel development project that models core OS subsystems in C. This repository is structured like a teaching kernel but runs as a user-space simulation so it can be built and tested on any Unix-like machine.

Highlights

• Process management with lightweight process objects and lifecycle helpers.
• Thread scheduling with a runnable queue and explicit thread states.
• Synchronization primitives (mutex) with contention reporting.
• Virtual memory model with page-fault handling, protection checks, and file-backed mappings.
• Virtual file system interface with a simple in-memory node table used for paging.
• Page allocator with fixed-size page frames for deterministic tests.

Project Structure

• src/kernel.c entry point and system initialization
• src/proc/process.c process model
• src/sched/scheduler.c cooperative scheduler
• src/sync/mutex.c mutex primitive
• src/vm/vm.c virtual memory subsystem with file-backed mapping
• src/vfs/vfs.c virtual file system layer
• src/mm/page.c page allocator
• include/ public headers
• docs/ design notes and usage
• tests/ unit tests for core subsystems

Build and Run

make
./bin/kernel_sim

Run Tests

make test

Debugging with GDB

gdb ./bin/kernel_sim
(gdb) break vm_handle_page_fault
(gdb) run

Docs

• docs/architecture.md
• docs/build.md
• docs/testing.md
• docs/gdb.md