https://github.com/luickk/zigkernel

Very basic kernel written in Zig
https://github.com/luickk/zigkernel

Last synced: about 10 hours ago
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Very basic kernel written in Zig

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/luickk/zigkernel
• Owner: luickk
• Created: 2022-05-26T08:06:00.000Z (over 2 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2022-08-09T09:55:49.000Z (about 2 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2023-03-07T14:54:26.351Z (over 1 year ago)
• Language: Zig
• Size: 841 KB
• Stars: 1
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
# Minimal Bare Metal Zig Kernel for aarch64

Very basic aarch64 kernel written in Zig.

# Status

I started this project with the goal of writing a simple kernel with a few drivers (in zig). Since Zig is not completely stable (yet; on aarch64), I found a few issues and quirks one of which is a compiler bug.

The compiler bug is an issue with struct returns, that is not resolved yet. It's not a dealbreaker though, since one can maneuver around that quite easily.

I posted that issue on Zigs git with a complete description of the observed behaviour and hypothesis: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/issues/11859.

For debugging purposes I implemented the ramfb driver in C as well(which helped me to resolve the issue): https://github.com/luickk/qemu-ramfb-aarch64-driver and the arm a53 interrupt controller gicv2: https://github.com/luickk/zig-gicv2.

As up to now, depending on the build mode (more on that in the gh issue), the kernel either runs fine & the ramfb driver works or it doesn't boot.

## Setup

### Dependencies

- qemu-system-aarch64

- zig

To build the kernel just run 

`zig build` and to emulate it,

`zig build emulate-serial`

## Ramfb (simple virtual display)

The driver can be found [here](https://github.com/luickk/qemu-ramfb-aarch64-driver) (my C implementation)

## Manual Build Scripts (deprecated)

### Dependencies

- aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc

- aarch64-linux-gnu-ld

- qemu-system-aarch64

- zig

The manual build can be found in `build_scripts/` and consists of the necessary build scripts for a standarad aarch64 virtual machine. Just run `build_toolchain.sh` as well as `run_qemu.sh` to test the kernel.

A full implementation using the zig builder is in process.

## Demo 

![demonstration](media/demo.png)