diff --git a/doc/challenges.txt b/doc/challenges.txt index 7e7e40f753..62f12d23ab 100644 --- a/doc/challenges.txt +++ b/doc/challenges.txt @@ -16,17 +16,6 @@ research projects on Genode. Applications and library infrastructure ####################################### -:GNU Privacy Guard: - - The [https://gnupg.org/ - GNU Privacy Guard] (GNUPG) is the most widely - used Free-Software implementation of the OpenGPG standard. It comprises a - rich set of tools for encryption and key management. For many forthcoming - application scenarios of Genode such as package management and email - communication, GNUPG is crucial. Hence, it should be ported to Genode. Such - a port may leverage Genode's fine-grained component architecture to strongly - separate network-exposed functionality, the storage of key material, and the - cryptographic functions. - :VNC server implementing Genode's framebuffer session interface: With 'Input' and 'Framebuffer', Genode provides two low-level interfaces @@ -50,24 +39,6 @@ Applications and library infrastructure integrated in the operating system, i.e., in the form of Genode components or a set of Genode VFS plugins. -:Tiled window manager: - - At Genode Labs, we pursue the goal to shape Genode into an general-purpose - operating system suitable for productive work. The feature set needed to - achieve this goal largely depends on the tools and applications daily used by - the Genode engineers. As one particularly important tool for being highly - productive, we identified a tiled user interface. Currently, all developers - at Genode Labs embrace either the Ion3 window manager or the tiled Terminator - terminal emulator. Hence, we desire to have a similar mode of user - interaction on Genode as well. The goal of this challenge is to identify the - most important usage patters and the implementation of a tiled GUI that - multiplexes the framebuffer into a set of tiled and tabbed virtual - framebuffers. - - Related to this work, the low-level 'Framebuffer' and 'Input' interfaces - should be subject to a revision, for example for enabling the flexible change - of framebuffer sizes as needed by a tiled user interface. - :Interactive sound switchbox based on Genode's Audio_out session interface: Since version 10.05, Genode features a highly flexible configuration concept @@ -116,6 +87,11 @@ Applications and library infrastructure of communicating threads as captured on the running system. The tool should work on a selected kernel that provides a facility for tracing IPC messages. + The underlying light-weight tracing infrastructure is + [https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.08#Tracinghttps://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.08#Tracing - already in place]. + The Qt-based tracing tools would complement this infrastructure with + an interactive front end. + :Ports of popular software: Genode features a ports mechanism to cleanly integrate 3rd-party software. @@ -127,6 +103,18 @@ Applications and library infrastructure have available on Genode is available at [http://usr.sysret.de/jws/genode/porting_wishlist.html]. +:Native Open-Street-Maps (OSM) client: + + When using Sculpt OS, we regularly need to spawn a fully fledged web + browser in a virtual machine for using OSM or Google maps. The goal + of this project would be a native component that makes maps functionality + directly available on Genode, alleviating the urge to reach for a SaaS + product. The work would include a review of existing OSM clients regarding + their feature sets and the feasibility of porting them to Genode. + Depending on the outcome of this review, an existing application could + be ported or a new component could be developed, e.g., leveraging Genode's + Qt support. + Application frameworks and runtime environments ############################################### @@ -135,18 +123,18 @@ Application frameworks and runtime environments [http://openjdk.java.net/ - OpenJDK] is the reference implementation of the Java programming language and hosts an enormous ecosystem of application - software. The goal of this line of work is the ability to run this - software directly on Genode. The centerpiece of OpenJDK is Hotspot - the - Java virtual machine implementation, which must be ported to Genode. - The initial port should suffice to execute simple example programs that - operate on textual input. Since Genode has the FreeBSD libc readily - available, OpenJDK's existing POSIX backends can be reused. The next step - is the creation of Genode-specific native classes that bridge the gap - between the Java world and Genode, in particular the glue code to - run graphical applications as clients of Genode's GUI server. Since - OpenJDK has been ported to numerous platforms (such as Haiku), there - exists a comforting number of implementations that can be taken as - reference. + software. + + Since + [https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.02#Showcase_of_a_Java-based_network_appliance - version 19.02], + Genode features a port of OpenJDK that allows the use of Java for networking + applications. + + The next step would be the creation of Genode-specific native classes that + bridge the gap between the Java world and Genode, in particular the glue + code to run graphical applications as clients of Genode's GUI server. Since + OpenJDK has been ported to numerous platforms (such as Haiku), there exists + a comforting number of implementations that can be taken as reference. :Android's ART VM natively on Genode: @@ -155,22 +143,6 @@ Application frameworks and runtime environments removed from the trusted computing base of Android, facilitating the use of this mobile OS in high-assurance settings. -:Rust bindings for the Genode API: - - Rust is a low-level systems programming language that ensures memory - safety without employing a garbage collector. It thereby challenges C++ - as the go-to programming language for high-performance and low-level code. - Since - [http://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/16.05#New_support_for_the_Rust_programming_language - version 16.05], - Genode supports the use of the Rust programming language within - components. However, to unleash the potential of this combination, - Genode's API must become available to native Rust code. The intermediate goal - of this project is the implementation of an example server, e.g., a - component that provides a terminal-session interface. Thereby, we - will encounter the problems of bootstrapping and configuration of the - component, the provisioning of signal handlers and session objects, and - memory management. - :Go language runtime: Go is a popular language in particular for web applications. In the past, @@ -222,6 +194,33 @@ Application frameworks and runtime environments development is [http://halvm.org - HalVM] - a light-weight OS runtime for Xen that is based on Haskell. +:Xlib compatibility: + + Developments like Wayland notwithstanding, most application software on + GNU/Linux systems is built on top of the Xlib programming interface. + However, only a few parts of this wide interface are actually used today. + I.e., modern applications generally deal with pixel buffers instead of + relying on graphical drawing primitives of the X protocol. Hence, it seems + feasible to reimplement the most important parts of the Xlib interface to + target Genode's native GUI interfaces (nitpicker) directly. This would + allow us to port popular application software to Sculpt OS without + changing the application code. + +:Bump-in-the-wire components for visualizing session interfaces: + + Genode's session interfaces bear the potential for monitoring and + visualizing their use by plugging a graphical application + in-between any two components. For example, by intercepting block + requests issued by a block-session client to a block-device driver, + such a bump-in-the-wire component could visualize + the access patterns of a block device. Similar ideas could be pursued for + other session interfaces, like the audio-out (sound visualization) or NIC + session (live visualization of network communication). + + The visualization of system behavior would offer valuable insights, + e.g., new opportunities for optimization. But more importantly, they + would be extremely fun to play with. + Virtualization ############## @@ -237,21 +236,6 @@ Virtualization is normally not possible. Also, complex Genode scenarios (like Turmvilla) could be prototyped on GNU/Linux. -:VirtualBox on top of seL4: - - The [https://sel4.systems - seL4 microkernel] is a modern microkernel that - undergoes formal verification to prove the absence of bugs. Since version - 4.0, the kernel supports virtualization support on x86-based hardware. - Genode has experimental support for seL4 that allows almost all Genode - components to be used on top of this kernel. VirtualBox is an exception - because it closely interacts with the underlying kernel (like NOVA) to - attain good performance. We have shown that VirtualBox can be executed - within a protection domain of the NOVA microhypervisor. The goal of this - project is the application of this approach to the virtualization - interface of seL4. The result will be a VM hosting environment that - ensures the separation of virtual machines via the formally verified - seL4 kernel. - :Xen as kernel for Genode: Using Xen as kernel for Genode would clear the way to remove the @@ -294,22 +278,25 @@ Virtualization the project bears the opportunity to explore the provisioning of the KVM interface based on Genode's VFS plugin concept. +:Hardware-accelerated graphics for virtual machines: + + In + [https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/17.08#Hardware-accelerated_graphics_for_Intel_Gen-8_GPUs - Genode 17.08], + we introduced a GPU multiplexer for Intel Broadwell along with support + for Mesa-based 3D-accelerated applications. + While designing Genode's GPU-session interface, we also aimed at supporting + the hardware-accelerated graphics for Genode's virtual machine monitors like + VirtualBox or Seoul, but until now, we did not took the practical steps of + implementing a virtual GPU device model. + + The goal of this project is the offering of a virtual GPU to a Linux guest + OS running on top of Genode's existing virtualization and driver + infrastructure. + Device drivers ############## -:Isochronous USB devices: - - Genode's USB driver supports bulk and interrupt endpoints. Thereby, most - USB devices like USB storage, user input, printers, and networking devices - can be used. However, multi-media devices such as cameras or audio - equipment use isochronous endpoints, which are not supported. The goal - of this line of work is the support of these devices in Genode. The topic - touches the USB driver, the USB session interface, an example implementation - of a USB client driver (using the session interface) for a device of choice, - and - potentially - the enhancement of Genode's USB-pass-through mechanism - for VirtualBox. - :Sound on the Raspberry Pi: The goal of this project is a component that uses the Raspberry Pi's @@ -318,18 +305,6 @@ Device drivers backend, the new driver will make the sound of all SDL-based games available on the Raspberry Pi. -:Framebuffer for UEFI and Coreboot: - - By moving away from the legacy BIOS boot mechanism, it is time to - reconsider closely related traditional approaches such as the use of - the VESA BIOS extensions for accessing the frame buffer. On UEFI or - Coreboot systems, there exist alternative ways to initialize and - access the framebuffer in a hardware-independent way. On the course of - this project, we will explore the available options and create dedicated - Genode driver components that use the modern mechanisms. - For reference, the current state of Genode's UEFI support is documented - in [https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/issues/2242 - Issue 2242]. - :Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK): Genode utilizes the network device drivers of the iPXE project, which @@ -357,8 +332,22 @@ Platforms Genode functionality such as its native GUI, lwIP, and Noux, many protocol stacks can effectively be removed from the Linux kernel. - The goal of this project is to evaluate how small the Linux kernel can get - when used as a microkernel. + In 2018, Johannes Kliemann pursued this topic to a state where Genode + could be used as init process atop a customized Linux kernel. + [https://lists.genode.org/pipermail/users/2018-May/006066.html - His work] + included the execution of Genode's regular device drivers for VESA and + PS/2 as regular Genode components so that Genode's interactive demo + scenario ran happily on a laptop. At this time, however, only parts of + his results were merged into Genode's mainline. + + The goal of this project is to follow up on Johannes' work, bring the + [https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/pull/2829 - remaining parts] into + shape for the inclusion into Genode, and address outstanding topics, in + particular the handling of DMA by user-level device drivers. Further down + the road, it would be tempting to explore the use of + [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seccomp - seccomp] as sandboxing mechanism + for Genode on Linux and the improvement of the Linux-specific implementation + of Genode's object-capability model. :Support for the HelenOS/SPARTAN kernel: @@ -381,34 +370,30 @@ Platforms kernel is used for Mac OS X, it could represent an industry-strength base platform for Genode supporting all CPU features as used by Mac OS X. -:Linux process containers for supporting Genode`s resource trading: +:Genode on the Librem5 phone hardware: - Even though the Linux version of Genode is primarily meant as a development - platform, there exist interesting opportunities to explore when combining - Genode with Linux, in particular Linux' process containers. - Linux process containers provide a mechanism to partition physical resources, - foremost CPU time, between Linux processes. This raises the interesting - question of whether this mechanism could be used for a proper implementation - of Genode's resource trading on Linux. - [http://lwn.net/Articles/236038/ - Process containers introduction...] + Even though there exists a great variety of ARM-based SoCs, Genode + primarily focuses on the NXP i.MX family because it is - in contrast + to most SoCs in the consumer space - very liberal in terms of + good-quality public documentation and reference code, and it scales + from industrial to end-user-facing use cases (multi-media). + + The [https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ - Librem5] project - with its + mission to build a trustworthy mobile phone - has chosen the i.MX family as + the basis for their product for likely the same reasons that attract us. + + To goal of this work is bringing Genode to the Librem5 hardware. + For the Librem5 project, Genode could pave the ground towards new use cases + like high-security markets where a regular Linux-based OS would not be + accepted. For the Genode community, the Librem5 hardware could become an + attractive mobile platform for everyday use, similar to how we developers + use our Genode-based [https://genode.org/download/sculpt - Sculpt OS] on our + laptops. Optimizations ############# -:Low-latency audio streaming: - - Genode comes with an audio streaming interface called 'Audio_out' session. - It is based on a shared-memory packet stream accompanied with asynchronous - data-flow signals. For real-time audio processing involving chains of Genode - components, streams of audio data must be carried at low latency, imposing - constraints to buffer sizes and the modes of operation of the audio mixer and - audio drivers. The goal of this project is to create a holistic design of the - whole chain of audio processing, taking thread-scheduling into account. A - particular challenge is the mixed output of real-time (small buffer, low - latency) and non-real-time (larger buffer to compensate jitter, higher - latency) audio sources. - :De-privileging the VESA graphics driver: The VESA graphics driver executes the graphics initialization code provided