Genode OS Framework version 13.08 released Aug 30, 2013

With version 13.08 of the Genode OS Framework, we introduce high-performance tracing capabilities, make Qt5 available on all supported kernels, and improve the multi-processor scalability of the framework.

The release of version 13.08 marks the 5th anniversary of the Genode OS Framework. We celebrate this anniversary with the addition of three major features, namely the availability of Qt5, a new mechanism for the analysis of inter-component communication, and vastly improved multi-processor support.

Thanks to Genode, Qt-based applications can be executed directly on a number of microkernels. This way, rich graphical user interfaces can be combined with the security and real-time properties of such kernels. We have been closely following and anticipating the progress of the development of Qt5 over past year and decided that now is a good time to make the switch from Qt4 to Qt5. The most prominent improvement of the new version is the tighter integration with Genode thanks to Qt5's new platform abstraction layer called QPA. Qt5 is ready to use on all kernels supported by Genode.

The growing sophistication of application scenarios built with Genode comes with the need to gather a good understanding of the interaction between components. Otherwise, it becomes near to impossible to pinpoint performance bottlenecks in such scenarios. To empower developers to examine the behaviour of components at a useful level of abstraction, Genode 13.08 comes with a new mechanism for tracing inter-process communication in a way that hardly influences the runtime characteristics of the system.

As the third major improvement, we are happy to announce that Genode gained profound support for multi-processor systems, in particular when using the NOVA hypervisor as kernel. The improvement comes in two forms. First, the Genode API has been extended with a new way to express the affinities of subsystems to CPU cores. The concept facilitates Genode's recursive architecture to allow subsystems to manage their respective share of CPU resources locally. The second piece of the puzzle is the solution of a long-standing problem of realizing cross-CPU IPC on the NOVA hypervisor. Combined, both solutions enable the framework to leverage the kernel's MP capabilities to the full extend.

Besides those highlights, there are a number of further improvements such as updated base platforms, or new SATA-3.0 and power-management device drivers for Exynos-5. Further details about the new version can be found in the extensive release documentation of version 13.08...