OS-kernel

Prerequisites

• A text editor such as VSCode.
• Docker for creating the build-environment.
• Qemu for emulating the operating system.
  • Remember to add Qemu to the path so that you can access it from your command-line. (Windows instructions here)
• If you don't want to build the ISO image yourself, you can download pre-built ISOs from the release tab of this repository. You can also get the latest build from the Actions tab by clicking on the latest succesful build.

Setup

Build an image for the build-environment:

• docker build buildenv -t myos-buildenv

Build

Enter build environment:

• Linux or MacOS: docker run --rm -it -v "$(pwd)":/root/env myos-buildenv
• Windows (CMD): docker run --rm -it -v "%cd%":/root/env myos-buildenv
• Windows (PowerShell): docker run --rm -it -v "${pwd}:/root/env" myos-buildenv
• NOTE: If you are having trouble with an unshared drive, ensure your docker daemon has access to the drive you're development environment is in. For Docker Desktop, this is in "Settings > Shared Drives" or "Settings > Resources > File Sharing".

Build for x86 (only supported architecture at the moment):

• make build-x86_64

To leave the build environment, enter exit.

Emulate

You can emulate your operating system using Qemu: (Don't forget to add qemu to your path!)

• qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom dist/x86_64/kernel.iso
• NOTE: When building your operating system, if changes to your code fail to compile, ensure your QEMU emulator has been closed, as this will block writing to kernel.iso.
• If you get error qemu: could not load PC BIOS 'bios-256k.bin' when trying to emulate the kernel, add -L "path to your qemu installation folder" after the command. On Windows machines, Qemu is installed to C:\Program Files\qemu by default, so then use the following command: qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom dist/x86_64/kernel.iso -L "C:\Program Files\qemu"

Alternatively, you are able to flash the ISO image on a USB drive and boot into it. This has been tested, but currently it requires legacy or legacy/UEFI boot mode to be enabled.

Cleanup

Remove the build-evironment image:

• docker rmi myos-buildenv -f