https://github.com/danirod/jacqueline

An experimental i386 kernel written in Pascal
https://github.com/danirod/jacqueline

assembly elf i386 i386-elf kernel osdev pascal x86 x86-kernel

Last synced: 12 months ago
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An experimental i386 kernel written in Pascal

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/danirod/jacqueline
• Owner: danirod
• Created: 2019-12-25T19:53:19.000Z (over 6 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2019-12-27T13:08:51.000Z (over 6 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-03-21T23:14:14.726Z (about 1 year ago)
• Topics: assembly, elf, i386, i386-elf, kernel, osdev, pascal, x86, x86-kernel
• Language: Pascal
• Size: 5.86 KB
• Stars: 4
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

          
# Jacqueline

Jacqueline is an experimental bootloader written in Pascal (Free Pascal dialect)

written for the i386 architecture, **just because**. Note that, unlike

[NativeOS][1], I have no plans to further develop Jacqueline once the system

_compiles_ and I'm able to start the image using an emulator.

## Why Pascal?

Even while Pascal wasn't written with low-level programming in mind, it is

nonetheless possible to do low-level systems programming with the Free Pascal

dialect, as it supports features that are present in other low-level languages

such as C, C++ or even Rust in unsafe mode, such as:

* Pointers, using the `^` operator (such as `var intptr: ^integer`).

* Memory addresses, using the `@` operator (let `var foo: integer`, then

  `@foo` yields the memory address of `foo` as an `^integer`.

* Inline assembly interfacing, through the `asm` keyword, à la C. In fact,

  I find more intuitive to move data between registers and variables in

  Free Pascal than in GNU C.

Free Pascal is able to generate standard object files (*.o), encoded in popular

executable file formats such as PE and ELF, and thus, it is possible to make

object files written originally in diverse languages such as C, Pascal or

Assembly to interface each other.

## Setting up

### Requirements

* An i386-elf toolchain (required for compiling the Assembly code and linking

  the final kernel image).

* A Free Pascal distribution with 32 bit support (i.e., ppc386 is provided).

* BSD make or GNU make.

* QEMU to run the kernel.

### How to

`make qemu`

[1]: https://github.com/danirod/nativeos