About Genode

[Pramod Herath]

Hello Genode Community!

I'm Pramod, a student in Computer Engineering. As a project assignment, we
were asked to search for new developments in software/hardware used for
embedded applications and do a presentation on it to the class. I was
searching for a topic when I stumbled upon Genode.

I read through some of the documentation and I think I do understand a
little bit. But I still have some confusion about it. Therefore I decided
to contact you for help. Here are few questions I have to raise:

Genode is an OS framework. It is not an OS on it's own accord but could
just supply a bare minimum kernel functionality for some OS you would
develop. Am I correct here? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I
understood, other microkernels such as L4 do a similar thing. How is Genode
different?

Also, can you run a mainstream OS such as Ubuntu on top of Genode with or
without modifications ?

Genode can also run virtually on top of another OS and the developers run
it this way for development purposes. Is this correct?

And the most importantly, what tasks Genode good for ? And what is it not
suitable for?

Please understand that I'm just starting on learning OSes. So please bear
with my dumb questions.

Thank you,
Regards,
Pramod

[Stefan Kalkowski]

Hi Pramod,

welcome to the list!

Post by Pramod Herath
Hello Genode Community!
I'm Pramod, a student in Computer Engineering. As a project assignment, we
were asked to search for new developments in software/hardware used for
embedded applications and do a presentation on it to the class. I was
searching for a topic when I stumbled upon Genode.
I read through some of the documentation and I think I do understand a
little bit. But I still have some confusion about it. Therefore I decided
Genode is an OS framework. It is not an OS on it's own accord but could
just supply a bare minimum kernel functionality for some OS you would
develop. Am I correct here? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I
understood, other microkernels such as L4 do a similar thing. How is Genode
different?

Well, that is not fully appropriate. Although, Genode claims to be no
OS, but an OS framework, it provides much more than a L4-like kernel
API. "Genode is no OS" means it is not an Ubuntu-like or Windows-like
OS, or special-purpose network router OS, Android OS, but it is a box
full of components (like Lego bricks) that can be combined to form all
of these kinds of "special purpose" OSes for Desktop PCs, embedded
devices, or servers.
So it aims to build the foundation for different flavors of Genode OSes.
Thereby it makes also use of a lot of existing open-source software
(among others: different L4-like kernels), but it defines how these
software components interact, their dependencies and trust-relations
etc.. In contrast to past microkernel research Genode focuses not solely
on the kernel component, but concerns the userland too.

Post by Pramod Herath
Also, can you run a mainstream OS such as Ubuntu on top of Genode with or
without modifications ?

You can run an unmodified version of Ubuntu using hardware
virtualization support and a virtual-machine-monitor implementation like
VirtualBox directly on top of Genode. Moreover, you can use different,
simple Unix applications directly on top of Genode using the noux (unix
like environment) server.

Post by Pramod Herath
Genode can also run virtually on top of another OS and the developers run
it this way for development purposes. Is this correct?

Of course it can run inside a virtual environment, but what you are
refering to is Genode's port to Linux I assume. As already mentioned,
Genode comprises a bunch of components including more than one kernel.
Currently, Genode supports about 8 different kernels. Most of them are
microkernels in the tradition of L4, like NOVA, Fiasco.OC and sel4. But
it also runs directly on top of the Linux kernel, which was targeted to
ease development of new components, as most developers worked on top of
Linux until now.

Post by Pramod Herath
And the most importantly, what tasks Genode good for ? And what is it not
suitable for?

The aim of Genode is to build a very flexible foundation that enables
all different kinds of computing. Of course, its origins are clearly
security focussed, and we aim to build a system architecture always with
security in mind. But we always try to think of very different use-cases
and environments. That's why our experiments, example scenarios and
hardware platforms varied in the past.

Post by Pramod Herath
Please understand that I'm just starting on learning OSes. So please bear
with my dumb questions.

I hope I could partly clarify your questions. Feel free to ask further
questions on the mailing-list. But before, I recommend warmly to you to
look into the Genode foundation book, as it explains your questions in
more detail:

http://genode.org/documentation/genode-foundations-15-05.pdf

Best Regards
Stefan

Post by Pramod Herath
Thank you,
Regards,
Pramod
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[Pramod Herath]

Thank you for your reply.

Regards
Pramod

On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 5:04 AM, Stefan Kalkowski <

Post by Stefan Kalkowski
Hi Pramod,
welcome to the list!

Post by Pramod Herath
Hello Genode Community!
I'm Pramod, a student in Computer Engineering. As a project assignment,

we

Post by Pramod Herath
were asked to search for new developments in software/hardware used for
embedded applications and do a presentation on it to the class. I was
searching for a topic when I stumbled upon Genode.
I read through some of the documentation and I think I do understand a
little bit. But I still have some confusion about it. Therefore I decided
Genode is an OS framework. It is not an OS on it's own accord but could
just supply a bare minimum kernel functionality for some OS you would
develop. Am I correct here? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far

as I

Post by Pramod Herath
understood, other microkernels such as L4 do a similar thing. How is

Genode

Post by Pramod Herath
different?

Well, that is not fully appropriate. Although, Genode claims to be no
OS, but an OS framework, it provides much more than a L4-like kernel
API. "Genode is no OS" means it is not an Ubuntu-like or Windows-like
OS, or special-purpose network router OS, Android OS, but it is a box
full of components (like Lego bricks) that can be combined to form all
of these kinds of "special purpose" OSes for Desktop PCs, embedded
devices, or servers.
So it aims to build the foundation for different flavors of Genode OSes.
Thereby it makes also use of a lot of existing open-source software
(among others: different L4-like kernels), but it defines how these
software components interact, their dependencies and trust-relations
etc.. In contrast to past microkernel research Genode focuses not solely
on the kernel component, but concerns the userland too.

Post by Pramod Herath
Also, can you run a mainstream OS such as Ubuntu on top of Genode with or
without modifications ?

You can run an unmodified version of Ubuntu using hardware
virtualization support and a virtual-machine-monitor implementation like
VirtualBox directly on top of Genode. Moreover, you can use different,
simple Unix applications directly on top of Genode using the noux (unix
like environment) server.

Post by Pramod Herath
Genode can also run virtually on top of another OS and the developers run
it this way for development purposes. Is this correct?

Of course it can run inside a virtual environment, but what you are
refering to is Genode's port to Linux I assume. As already mentioned,
Genode comprises a bunch of components including more than one kernel.
Currently, Genode supports about 8 different kernels. Most of them are
microkernels in the tradition of L4, like NOVA, Fiasco.OC and sel4. But
it also runs directly on top of the Linux kernel, which was targeted to
ease development of new components, as most developers worked on top of
Linux until now.

Post by Pramod Herath
And the most importantly, what tasks Genode good for ? And what is it not
suitable for?

The aim of Genode is to build a very flexible foundation that enables
all different kinds of computing. Of course, its origins are clearly
security focussed, and we aim to build a system architecture always with
security in mind. But we always try to think of very different use-cases
and environments. That's why our experiments, example scenarios and
hardware platforms varied in the past.

Post by Pramod Herath
Please understand that I'm just starting on learning OSes. So please bear
with my dumb questions.

I hope I could partly clarify your questions. Feel free to ask further
questions on the mailing-list. But before, I recommend warmly to you to
look into the Genode foundation book, as it explains your questions in
http://genode.org/documentation/genode-foundations-15-05.pdf
Best Regards
Stefan

Post by Pramod Herath
Thank you,
Regards,
Pramod

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post by Pramod Herath
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Troubleshoot faster and improve end-user experience. Signup Now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=272487151&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
genode-main mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/genode-main

--
Stefan Kalkowski
Genode Labs
http://www.genode-labs.com/ · http://genode.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Site24x7 APM Insight: Get Deep Visibility into Application Performance
APM + Mobile APM + RUM: Monitor 3 App instances at just $35/Month
Monitor end-to-end web transactions and take corrective actions now
Troubleshoot faster and improve end-user experience. Signup Now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=272487151&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
genode-main mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/genode-main