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Road map for 2024
This commit is contained in:
Norman Feske
Christian Helmuth
parent
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commit
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doc/news.txt
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doc/news.txt
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===========
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Road Map for 2024 | 2024-01-18
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##############################
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| After intensively concentrating on deeply technical topics below the surface
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| in 2023, we are going to reap user-visible rewards in 2024 by focussing on
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| Sculpt OS usability.
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Thanks to the input gathered from our annual road-map discussion on Genode's
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[https://genode.org/community/mailing-lists - mailing list], we have updated
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the project [https://genode.org/about/road-map - road map] for 2024.
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Without hesitation, our developer community quickly rallied behind the topic
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"Sculpt OS usability", desiring to boost the user experience with respect to
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multi-monitor usage, convenient interactive UIs for common tasks,
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profound support for touchpads and touchscreens, tearing-free graphics,
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low-latency audio, casual on-target debugging, and suspend/resume.
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The focus on usability notwithstanding, we will steadily continue with the
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gardening of Genode's driver landscape, fostering the consistent use of drivers
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ported from up-to-date Linux kernels, clear-cut ACPI support, and making
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drivers pluggable.
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In 2024, we will also promote Genode's custom (base-hw) microkernel to become
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the default kernel for Sculpt OS, which is the culmination of a multi-year
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effort.
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Please find our reflection of the past year and the complete plan for 2024
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presented on Genode's official [https:/about/road-map - road-map page].
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Genode OS Framework release 23.11 | 2023-11-30
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##############################################
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265
doc/road_map.txt
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doc/road_map.txt
@ -14,164 +14,173 @@ The road map is not fixed. If there is commercial interest of pushing the
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Genode technology to a certain direction, we are willing to revisit our plans.
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Review of 2022
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Review of 2023
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##############
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The two main topics of 2022 went hand in hand. First, we reimagined Genode's
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driver landscape across x86 and ARM, universally adopting a new method of
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reusing Linux drivers to great success, and rigidly applying the framework's
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security architecture to driver components. This effort unlocked the second
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major achievement, namely the use of Genode as mobile OS on the PinePhone.
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The overarching theme of the road map in 2023 was the conquering of advanced
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platform aspects beyond mere functionality, speaking of temperature sensing,
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frequency control, battery monitoring, power management, and suspend/resume.
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We aimed at "Rocking the platforms we support!".
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The achievements made are best illustrated by the example of the Gen12
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Framework laptop. At the beginning of 2023, Sculpt OS was in principle working
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on this hardware, but with compromises that spoiled the user experience: fan
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noise, an erratic touchpad (using the firmware's PS/2 emulation), Fn key
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having no effect, strange issues when re-plugging an external display, and no
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indication of the battery state. By the end of 2023, not only were all these
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[https://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-11-03-sculpt-os#Framework_laptop - rough edges gone]
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but we even gained the ability to exercise
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.11#PC_power__frequency__temperature_sensing_and_control - precise control]
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over the machine's performance/frequency/temperature/power characteristics
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using an interactive GUI. It is fair to say that Genode advanced beyond the
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state of "working" and has entered the territory of "rocking". That said, not
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all lines of platform work such as suspend/resume are wrapped up yet.
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Following the introduction of Genode's rigid driver architecture on ARM
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platforms in 2021, we took the year 2022 as opportunity to consistently
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establish this architecture across all platforms.
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We conquered the convoluted world of x86 in greater depth than ever before,
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leaving almost no stone unturned. On top of the new architecture, we built an
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arsenal of fresh driver components, most of them based on our Linux
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device-driver environment. Other drivers had been written from scratch
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specifically for Genode, most prominently our custom Intel GPU multiplexer
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that covers recent hardware generations like Intel Alderlake and Tigerlake.
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Besides PC hardware, we put much emphasis on the PinePhone as a reference device
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for Genode on the phone. As one highlight of 2023, we got the
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[https://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-05-11-sculpt-os#Mobile_Sculpt_OS_on_the_PinePhone - mobile version of Sculpt OS]
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into the hands of a pilot group of users who provided instructive
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feedback to us. The system-update mechanism that Sculpt OS gained in April has
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been a game changer for such scenarios as it reduces the effort and risk of
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test-driving experimental versions to almost zero.
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Our intense engagement with the PinePhone was driven by the vision of a
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Genode-based smartphone. It entailed the enablement of device hardware ranging
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from touch screen, over power management, audio, storage, telephony, camera,
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GPU, to mobile-data connectivity. The challenge of getting the hardware to
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cooperate was met by the challenge of enabling meaningful application
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workloads. The ability to run the Chromium-based morph browser directly on
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Genode on the PinePhone is certainly the most prolific result. Moreover, we
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haven't merely managed to get it to work, but we gained detailed guidance
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material ([https://genode.org/documentation/genode-platforms-22-05.pdf - PDF])
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along the way, lowering the barrier of entry for others who wish to port
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Genode to further mobile platforms in the future.
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At the beginning of 2023, we declared our ambition to run Sculpt OS on
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Genode's custom (base-hw) microkernel as alternative to the time-tested NOVA
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kernel. At that time, two showstoppers remained, namely
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.11#Kernel-agnostic_DMA_protection - DMA protection] and
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.11#Modernized_virtualization_interface - virtualization]
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support. Both of these deeply technical topics got covered over
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the course of the year. Refinements, optimizations, and real-world testing
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notwithstanding, we are happy to be well on track towards our goal.
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Besides these two main lines of development, 2022 was packed with further
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intriguing topics as well. To name a few, we combined Genode with FPGAs for
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new hardware-software co-design opportunities, enabled the use of
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WireGuard-based virtual private networks, experimented with hardware security
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modules, and explored suspend/resume functionality on PC hardware.
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The [https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/index - documentation] of
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the four releases of 2022 presents the whole picture.
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Besides working on Genode's actual operating-system code, we fully embraced
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developer tooling as focus area. In 2023, the
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.08#Goa_tool_gets_usability_improvements_and_depot-index_publishing_support - Goa SDK]
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for streamlining the application development for Genode has reached the level
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of maturity and flexibility that allowed us to port software stacks as
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sophisticated as
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[https://genodians.org/jws/2023-11-16-sip-client-for-genode - Linphone]
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to Genode. Not only for porting but also for developing applications
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and libraries, the tool has become a go-to solution. As another noteworthy
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developer-tooling topic, we tirelessly followed our vision of on-target
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debugging on Sculpt OS. Specifically, we pursued the idea to implement a
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debugging instrument as a specialized version of init augmented with the GDB
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protocol. Sculpt OS 23.10 has this
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.08#Multi-component_debug_monitor - monitor component]
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already built-in, albeit it is not utilized yet.
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2023 - Rocking the platforms we support!
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########################################
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2024 - Sculpt OS usability
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##########################
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Genode has already come a long way to support a variety of device form factors
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ranging from the embedded appliances, over the PinePhone, to PC hardware.
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With the term "support", we used to refer to the principle use of fundamental
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platform features like storage, networking, display, audio, or USB. The needs
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of most real-world scenarios, however, go beyond those functional basics.
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Think of suspend/resume, quick boot times, the deliberate management of
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energy-efficient versus high-performance CPU cores, prolonged standby,
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bounded audio latency, scaling down (towards microcontrollers), and
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scaling up (towards edge-computing platforms).
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During our annual road-map discussion on Genode's
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[https://genode.org/community/mailing-lists - mailing list], it became
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apparent that many of us developers long for harvesting user-visible rewards
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after concentrating so intensively on topics below the surface,
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eagerly rallying behind the theme "Sculpt OS usability" for 2024.
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In 2023, we are going to move from making things work to making things rock!
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Of the many aspects of usability, the following stood out during the
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discussion: multi-monitor support, desktop utilities (file management,
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configuration dialogs, drag'n'drop), improved discoverability (on-target docs),
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suspend/resume, and profound support for touchscreens and touchpads.
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Accommodating those topics will require us to rethink several parts of the GUI
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stack, from the drivers over the low-level GUI server, window management, up
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to the application and widget-toolkit level.
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Specifically, to rock the PinePhone, we will invite the community to
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participate in multiple rounds of field tests, allowing us to enable and
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refine advanced features, like prolonged standby, in an iterative way.
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A second recurring interest is the further consolidation of Genode's driver
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landscape towards fully pluggable drivers, the consistent use of drivers
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ported from up-to-date Linux kernels, and clear-cut ACPI support.
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Regarding the PC, we aim at leveraging the different power characteristics
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of CPU cores found in modern Intel platforms, step up our game regarding GPU
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support (peeking at Vulkan), and making suspend/resume a regular feature that
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just works.
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As continuations of 2023, the vision of Sculpt OS on Genode's custom kernel
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will come to fruition, and we will bring our goal of easy-to-use on-target
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debugging to completion.
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These efforts will be flanked by continuous architectural work that will make
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the framework ever cleaner and leaner, e.g., by reducing the reliance on
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complex C++ features like exceptions, and continuously simplifying the
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framework fundamentals and interfaces. On our mission to attain least
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complexity of the base system, we strive to host the fully featured PC version
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of Sculpt OS on Genode's custom-tailored microkernel by the end of the year.
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Since we added
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[https://genodians.org/atopia/2023-10-26-a-first-complex-rust-package - Rust support]
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to the Goa tool mid of 2023, we have been looking for natural synergies
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between Rust-based projects and Genode. During the road-map discussion, we
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identified the use of Rust-based components as building blocks for a
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multi-component e-mail client a tempting opportunity. Throughout the year, we
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plan to take an (open-ended) e-mail scenario as motivator for combining our
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interests in Sculpt usability, Goa-based development work flows, and Rust.
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In addition to the overarching theme outlined above, the following additional
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topics stood out during our yearly brainstorming session on the mailing list.
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First, several developers expressed their curiosity in working on AMD graphics
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(display and GPU) as a side activity. A second recurring topic was the
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usability of Genode as desktop OS, easing the work with files on Sculpt,
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supporting Drag'n'Drop, tightening the work-flow integration of app-VMs
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using the light-weight Seoul VMM, or the use of Qemu on top of Genode for
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cross development.
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Even though those topics are absent from the timeline below, we can expect
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improvements in these areas throughout the year.
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Device-wise, we will continue our engagement with the PinePhone, look forward
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to the upcoming MNT PocketReform, and take on the latest Intel-based PC
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platforms. We also want to explore the use of Sculpt OS on form factors like
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the ZimaBlade single-board server (headless operation) or the StarLite tablet
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(touch-based UI).
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Milestones for 2023
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Milestones for 2024
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###################
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In the following, we present a rough schedule of the planned work. As usual,
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it is not set in stone. If you are interested in a particular line of work,
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please get in touch.
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February - Release 23.02
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February - Release 24.02
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========================
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* Mobile version of Sculpt OS (PinePhone)
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* Ready-to-use system image for first field test
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* Quick switch between different system scenarios as presets
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* On-target system update
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* Boot optimization
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* Goa support for porting 3rd-party libraries to Genode
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* Improved I/O performance (Intel GPU buffer management, VFS I/O batching,
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TCP throughput)
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* Custom IP block for DMA protection on Xilinx Zynq
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* PC suspend/resume mechanism for the base-hw kernel
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* Optimized base-hw multimedia support (kernel scheduling, latency)
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* Completed driver support for MNT Reform 2 laptop (i.e., Wifi)
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* Interactive graphical VMs on ARM
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* Revised audio infrastructure
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(timing robustness, pluggable drivers, adaptive sample rates)
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* Suspend/resume awareness of GPU, AHCI, and NVMe drivers
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* Support for I2C based HID devices in Intel GEN12 (e.g., touchpad)
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* Fine-grained and dynamic assignment of USB devices/interfaces
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* Use of Sculpt OS as a remote test target for Goa
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* TCP/IP stack based of DDE-Linux version 6.x
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* PinePhone support for receiving and sending SMS messages
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May - Release 23.05
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May - Release 24.05
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===================
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* Sculpt OS on the PC
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* Suspend/resume
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* Scalability to large monitors
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* On-target debugging
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* Scrollable component graph
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* Controls for saving the current deployment and settings
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* Updated "Genode Foundations" book
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* Tool-chain update, switch to C++20 by default
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* Mobile version of Sculpt OS (PinePhone)
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* First system image fit for general use
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* Reuse of an existing SDK for building applications
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* Integration of file vault and WireGuard
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* Prolonged standby mode
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* Easy installation of user-supplied applications
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* Wifi
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* Principle x86 virtualization support for base-hw kernel (on Qemu)
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* Base-hw kernel support for the tracing of scheduling events
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* Updated DDE-Linux based driver for USB HID and USB network
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* Replacing iPXE network driver by DDE-Linux-based driver
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* Revision of the consistent block encrypter (CBE) + usability improvements
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* Goa support for building simple Rust programs for Genode
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* Drivers
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* Revised PC platform discovery and ACPI sandboxing
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* i.MX drivers updated to DDE-Linux version 6.x
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* ALSA-based audio driver for PC platforms
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* Audio on MNT Reform
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* Alder Lake GPU support + updated Mesa library stack
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* Audio components converted to new APIs introduced in 24.02
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* Optimized base-hw multimedia support
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(kernel scheduling, latency, cache attributes)
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* First Sculpt PC variant on the base-hw kernel
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(integration of the kernel-agnostic IOMMU support, virtualization)
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* Consolidation of the Tresor block encryptor and file vault
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* Application-level compositing using Genode's dialog API
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August - Release 23.08
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August - Release 24.08
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======================
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* Improved PC platform support
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* Pre-boot ACPI discovery, sandboxing of ACPICA
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* Device & driver restart and/or resume support after ACPI wakeup
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* Support for I2C based HID devices in Intel GEN12 (e.g., touchpad)
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* Management of efficient/performance cores on Intel GEN12
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* Mobile version of Sculpt OS (PinePhone)
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* File-management functionality
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* Support for receiving and sending SMS messages
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* User-level IPv6 routing (using IPv6 by VMs)
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* VirtualBox on Intel hardware running on the base-hw kernel
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* DDE-Linux update to kernel version 6.x
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* System wind-down protocol (component life-cycle management)
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* Exemplary port of non-trivial Rust-based application using Goa
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* Revival of GDB monitor (update, making it easier to use)
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* Sculpt OS
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* Low-complexity custom file manager
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* User profiles
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* On-target documentation view
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* Assignment of individual directories as file systems
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* DDE-Linux update to kernel version 6.6 LTS
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* Updating Qt and QtWebEngine to Qt6
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* GUI stack
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* Multi-monitor support
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* Tearing-free graphics
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* Touch aware GUI server and window manager
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* Drag'n'drop between applications
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* Mouse grabbing
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* Convenience UI tools showcasing the use of the Goa SDK
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(e.g., NIC-router config, USB-passthrough config, file launcher)
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* User-friendly bootstrapping/installation of Linux VMs on ARM
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November - Release 23.11
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November - Release 24.11
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========================
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* Feature-complete PC version of Sculpt OS on the base-hw kernel
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* IOMMU handled in platform driver
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* Suspend/resume for Sculpt OS on the PC
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* Mobile version of Sculpt OS (PinePhone)
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* GPS, compass
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* Open-street-map client
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* IPv6 protocol stack (lxIP update, using IPv6 by native applications)
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* Revised audio (timing robustness, pluggable drivers, sample-rate conversion)
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* Dynamic VFS configuration
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* Sculpt OS
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* Multi-monitor window management
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* Use of dev tools on target
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* "Genode applications" book focused on component development
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* Port of Qemu via Goa
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* Dynamic VFS configuration, VFS / file-system interface optimizations
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* Pluggable USB-Host driver
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* Show case of a multi-component e-mail user agent
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