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Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

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Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#31

Post by yahna »

kbr wrote: post #16

I've been seeing Redox develop for a while now, and I've got to say—it's really amazing what such a small group of people can accomplish. They have innovative tools in all sorts of areas of computer science. Including coreutils, binutils, a shell (along with a custom shell scripting language), common GUI applications, a hash function, a file system, etc. One of the coolest aspects of all of these tools are that they…

> They have innovative tools in all sorts of areas of computer science

What are the innovations in these tools?

Which are actually advancing the state of computer science?

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#32

Post by bjackman »

stevekemp wrote: post #28
atombender wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always found it weird that things like file systems in the Linux kernel are so tightly coupled. Why isn’t, say, Ext4 written like a library? (Or is it? I don’t think it is?) Stub out the interface that the kernel needs, and provide an interface for the bits (reading disk blocks and so on) that the file system needs from the kernel. This way, you can decouple it completely from the kernel, test it independently,…

This is the recurring argument about "monolithic kernels" vs "microkernels". In the latter different user-space processes can be used to implement filesystems, networking, etc. There are a lot of small operating systems that take the decoupled route - but you'll almost certainly never see them because they're either research-based, or suffer from the problem of most hobbyist operating systems which is "lack of hardwa…

It's also not just about monolithic Vs microkernel: Linux could decouple filesystem drivers without becoming a unikernel e.g. by specifying a fixed driver API - you could just load FSs as kernel modules. The reason for tight coupling is just that devs don't want to commit to a stable API. If you are only talking about a single kernel version, FS drivers actually _are_ decoupled this way (can be loaded as modules) and distributors do this.

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#33

Post by rejschaap »

StreamBright wrote: post #29
atombender wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always found it weird that things like file systems in the Linux kernel are so tightly coupled. Why isn’t, say, Ext4 written like a library? (Or is it? I don’t think it is?) Stub out the interface that the kernel needs, and provide an interface for the bits (reading disk blocks and so on) that the file system needs from the kernel. This way, you can decouple it completely from the kernel, test it independently,…

Decoupling is not the strongest suit for Linux developers however as somebody pointed out there is already other projects to enable user land FS.

I feel this statement is a bit unfair. Much of the tight coupling has been a design decission. There has been a lot of public discussion about it.

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#34

Post by mikojan »

chubot wrote: post #26
kbr wrote: post #16

I've been seeing Redox develop for a while now, and I've got to say—it's really amazing what such a small group of people can accomplish. They have innovative tools in all sorts of areas of computer science. Including coreutils, binutils, a shell (along with a custom shell scripting language), common GUI applications, a hash function, a file system, etc. One of the coolest aspects of all of these tools are that they…

I agree -- I've been somewhat negative about Rust, but it looks like Redox is one of the projects doing "real work" with it. It's an impressive vote of confidence for the language. Also, I'll pat myself on the back and say the Ion shell looks nice, because it borrowed some ideas from the Oil shell [1] :) In particular, we talked a fair bit about the array syntax and semantics, and lack of word splitting. [1] http://w…

Beautiful project- and home page!

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#35

Post by zimbatm »

atombender wrote: post #22
kbr wrote: post #16

I've been seeing Redox develop for a while now, and I've got to say—it's really amazing what such a small group of people can accomplish. They have innovative tools in all sorts of areas of computer science. Including coreutils, binutils, a shell (along with a custom shell scripting language), common GUI applications, a hash function, a file system, etc. One of the coolest aspects of all of these tools are that they…

I’ve always found it weird that things like file systems in the Linux kernel are so tightly coupled. Why isn’t, say, Ext4 written like a library? (Or is it? I don’t think it is?) Stub out the interface that the kernel needs, and provide an interface for the bits (reading disk blocks and so on) that the file system needs from the kernel. This way, you can decouple it completely from the kernel, test it independently,…

This is fine until optimisations are needed. Most meaningful performance work requires changing data structures which impacts the shape of the interface.

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#36

Post by cies »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #15

I've been watching Redox on and off since its inception, and I must say I'm really impressed at what it has achieved till now. It is a fully functional OS with binutils, terminal, calculator etc, and this is a win for the whole FOSS culture. What are the potential areas where Redox could be beneficial ? I would love to run on Raspberry pi, older Androids or Routers etc. Is it doable? I'm also curious about the benefi…

> I'm also curious about the benefits that redox offers vis-a-vis bare metal Linux (Alpine/Void etc)?

Security (Redox' stems form the language, Linux' stems from being widely used). Hackability (smaller, more modern, more hackable language). Simplicity.

> What are the potential areas where Redox could be beneficial ?

To put apps on VMs with a very tight and secure OS underneath.

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#37

Post by agumonkey »

jackpot51 wrote: post #2

I am the creator of Redox OS. It is a microkernel based operating system mostly written in Rust. Please ask any questions or make any comments you have about Redox! EDIT: I am going to sleep soon. I will be up in 8 hours, 7 A.M. Mountain Time.

How long until emacs ? or I should say remacs (rust ported emacs by Wilfred Hughes :)

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#38

Post by mtgx »

cies wrote: post #36
FlyingSnake wrote: post #15

I've been watching Redox on and off since its inception, and I must say I'm really impressed at what it has achieved till now. It is a fully functional OS with binutils, terminal, calculator etc, and this is a win for the whole FOSS culture. What are the potential areas where Redox could be beneficial ? I would love to run on Raspberry pi, older Androids or Routers etc. Is it doable? I'm also curious about the benefi…

> I'm also curious about the benefits that redox offers vis-a-vis bare metal Linux (Alpine/Void etc)? Security (Redox' stems form the language, Linux' stems from being widely used). Hackability (smaller, more modern, more hackable language). Simplicity. > What are the potential areas where Redox could be beneficial ? To put apps on VMs with a very tight and secure OS underneath.

> To put apps on VMs with a very tight and secure OS underneath

Hmm. Have you bounced off ideas with the Qubes OS team yet? It could be an option for the core OS/microkernel of Qubes OS.

Re: Show HN: Redox Rust OS – v0.3.3 release

#40

Post by adhambadr »

jackpot51 wrote: post #2

I am the creator of Redox OS. It is a microkernel based operating system mostly written in Rust. Please ask any questions or make any comments you have about Redox! EDIT: I am going to sleep soon. I will be up in 8 hours, 7 A.M. Mountain Time.

any plans to port it to mobile phones? If anyone worked on porting a touch-based input drivers I could contribute!
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