Genode OS Framework release 11.08 Aug 17, 2011

The Genode OS Framework aspires to provide a common ground for creating microkernel-based operating systems, relieving developers from wasting efforts in duplicating other people's work such as implementing basic device drivers, tools, and application runtimes. Because in the microkernel domain, each development poses different requirements, there is no single microkernel that fits all purposes. Instead, there exist a plethora of different kernels, each focused on different use cases. By supporting as many as 8 different kernels at API level, Genode allows users of the framework to develop an application once while preserving the freedom to pick the kernel that fits best with the use case at hand. Still, each kernel uses to come with different tools, configuration mechanisms, and boot concepts. Even though Genode programs can be developed in a kernel-independent way, the deployment of such programs still required profound insights into the peculiarities of the respective kernel. The new version 11.08 of the framework addresses these concerns by providing a unified workflow for all supported kernels. Downloading and using a different kernel has become a matter of a few minutes and requires no prior knowledge about the kernel.

In addition to the new tooling support, the current release advances the framework's block-device infrastructure and extends the support for ARM platforms. There are several new drivers for peripheral devices such as AHCI, SD-card, and IDE, a new block-partition service, and libc support for accessing VFAT partitions. The ARM support has been extended to cover both L4Linux (on Fiasco.OC) and Qt4 (ARMv6, ARMv7). Furthermore, the new version is accompanied with a comprehensive documentation update.

Read the full story about the various improvements that come with the version 11.08...