Genode OS Framework 15.05 released May 26, 2015

For the first time, a Genode release is accompanied by a book. Further highlights of the current release are vast improvements of our base-hw kernel, preliminary support for the seL4 microkernel, new device-driver infrastructure, and plenty of new device drivers.

Genode 15.05, published on May 26, represents the most substantial release so far. Besides the already mentioned new documentation and the principle support for the seL4 kernel, it marks the feature completion of our custom kernel platform called base-hw, and comes with a completely redesigned infrastructure for user-level device drivers.

Genode's "hw" base platform enables the execution of Genode without a 3rd-party microkernel. With version 15.05, our kernel, originally designed for the ARM architecture, has become able to run on the 64-bit x86 architecture, it received support for kernel-protected capabilities, and its scheduler got much more flexible.

At the framework's architectural level, we took the chance to redesign the infrastructure for user-level device drivers. With this release, device drivers become subjected to rigid access control with respect to hardware resources. Along with this architectural change, there are massive improvements of the device driver support. There is a new AHCI driver, new audio drivers ported from OpenBSD, new SD-card drivers, added platform support for i.MX6, and support for message- signalled interrupts on x86-based machines.

A detailed description of all the improvements is provided by the release documentation.