Genode OS Framework release 17.11 Nov 30, 2017

We just released the version 17.11 of the Genode OS Framework today. The new version accumulates countless big and small improvements we made while migrating the entire Genode Labs staff to a Genode- based system scenario for productive work.

The improvements of the new version range from convenience features like scroll-wheel emulation for Lenovo trackpoints, over a reworked GUI stack, to several new features of Genode's virtual networking facilities. As the forthcoming general- purpose OS scenario is entirely based on our recently introduced custom package-management concept, it prompted us to package all components required by the scenario.

The new version also wraps up two long-term developments under the hood of the framework. First, it streamlines the boot concept among all supported x86 kernels, which now consistently use GRUB2 as boot loader. Modern x86 kernels like seL4, NOVA, or our custom kernel can be booted either via UEFI or via a legacy BIOS. Speaking of our custom kernel, the second major wrap-up is the kernel's internal redesign that was conducted over more than one year. The new version simplifies the kernel while improving its performance. Users of the seL4 kernel can enjoy the update to the kernel branch 7.0, which contains most of the contributions we submitted to the seL4 project and relieves us from maintaining custom kernel patches.

With regard to new functionality, the most visible topics of the new version are the further cultivation of the Nim programming language for Genode components, the port of game-console emulators based on libretro, and the ability to dynamically resize libSDL- based applications.

For the complete story of all the improvements of the new version, please refer to the official release documentation.