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@ -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