Genode OS 22.08 has been officially released.

The Genode OS Framework is a toolkit for building highly secure specialized operating systems. It can scale from embedded systems with only 4MB of memory to highly dynamic general-purpose workloads.

Genode is based on a recursive system structure. Each program runs in a dedicated sandbox and is granted only the access and resources it needs for its specific purpose. Programs can create and manage sub-sandboxes with their own resources, forming a hierarchy where policies can be applied at each level. The framework provides mechanisms for programs to communicate with each other and exchange resources, but only in a strictly defined way. Due to this strict regime, the attack surface of security-critical functions can be reduced by orders of magnitude compared to contemporary operating systems.

The framework aligns L4’s building principles with the Unix philosophy. According to Unix philosophy, a Genode is a collection of small building blocks from which complex systems can be composed. But unlike Unix, these building blocks include not only applications, but all the classic operating system functions, such as the kernel, device drivers, file systems, and protocol stacks.

characteristic

• CPU Architecture: x86 (32 and 64 bit), ARM (32 and 64 bit), RISC-V

• Kernels: Most members of the L4 family (NOVA, seL4, Fiasco.OC, OKL4 v2.1, L4ka::Pistachio, L4/Fiasco), Linux and custom kernels.

• Virtualization: VirtualBox (NOVA-based), custom hypervisors for ARM, and custom runtimes for Unix software

• Over 100 ready-to-use components

A major focus of this update isMaking Genode OS more useful as a smartphone OS.

With its SculptOS general purpose operating system, Genode OS has its sights set on running as a mobile operating system. In particular, most of the work to date has been focused on getting Genode OS/Sculpt to work well on the PinePhone.

The team wrote in the release announcement:

The vision for a Genode-based smartphone is undoubtedly our most ambitious undertaking since we created Sculpt OS for the PC. Over the past two years, we have relentlessly pursued this vision while targeting PinePhone hardware. Work ranges from custom firmware for system control processors, to kernel development, a wide variety of device drivers, to the user interface and application level. In Genode 22.08, these efforts culminated in the first complete system, the phone variant of Sculpt OS.

The work of Genode OS and its Sculpt OS on mobile devices has always been the use of voice calling capabilities, mobile Internet browsing with Morph, and so on. They’ve been working on improving the various underlying hardware support that runs on the PinePhone, as well as improving the stack to make sure applications work.

As part of the hardware work, they also ported the Lima open source Arm Mali 400 driver from Linux to Genode. They have run basic GLMark2 test cases with GPU acceleration and their Lima driver support will improve their Morph web browser experience.

Genode OS showcases porting the Ubuntu Touch UI to run on Genode.

Release Note