0.3.0 - The Return of the Redox
Summary
It has been a while since our last release, on April 22! I cannot possible represent all of the changes to Redox OS since then, so the best way to experience them is to try it out yourself! I have listed the changes I think are biggest below. Here are the changes to our distribution repository since 0.2.0
This release was particularly challenging. The build process has been switched over to using the cookbook, and a cross compiler is now used instead of a gcc wrapper script located here. These two changes required a large amount effort to make the system compile correctly and easily again, and to get Travis builds to work. Improvements have been made to the kernel, ion, newlib, and many other projects.
Cookbook
However, due to this effort, we can now produce Redox installations from the same recipes that produce package builds, meaning that every file in a default Redox install has been installed by a package, and can be managed by the package manager. Due to a change in the bootloader allowing the kernel to be loaded from RedoxFS, this will also include the kernel soon.
To view all of the currently available packages, view the repository listing, or the repository description file
Self-hosting
Also, due to using a real cross compiler for the build, we have been able to significantly improve support for C software. Massive steps have been made in the direction of self-hosting, with the porting of binutils, newlib, gcc, nasm, llvm, and rustc to Redox. Work, mostly by @ids1024, is currently focusing on porting git. This has also identified and fixed many problems with our POSIX support, and improved the overall functionality of Redox.
Posts from @ids1024 about self-hosting can be found here:
ACPI
In addition to these two changes, the kernel has been improved. @CWood1 has written a shiny, new ACPI stack that includes an AML parser. This allows shutdown on Redox to be done correctly on nearly all systems. Support for the HPET has also been added, with a fallback to the PIT when it is not present. Eventually I hope that we will be able to correctly suspend and resume Redox by running the parsed AML.
Ion
Ion has gone through a huge amount of development, mostly by @mmstick, who has been maintaining it. There have been 139 commits to ion since the last release, adding new syntax, improving bugs, and adding new features. View them here
TWiRx
In addition, This Week in Redox has been restarted by @goyox86. Here are the articles since the last release: