========================================= Genode Labs Newsletter - April / May 2023 ========================================= Content 1. Sculpt OS 23.04 for both PC and mobile 2. Leveraging existing SDKs for Genode applications 3. Genode OS release 23.05 1. Sculpt OS 23.04 for both PC and mobile ----------------------------------------- Since its first incarnation in 2018, we envisioned our Genode-based Sculpt OS as general-purpose operating system for PCs. Over the past three years, however, we have fully embraced ARM-based mobile devices as well, in particular the PinePhone. Now, for the first time, we have released Sculpt OS simultaneously for both device categories and thereby for two CPU architectures. https://genode.org/news/sculpt-os-release-23.04 Originally motivated by the mobile variant, Sculpt OS received two new key features. First, we added the ability to safely update the Sculpt base system using an interactive user interface. Gone are the days of manually installing boot images. The system can be updated with the convenience of a few clicks, or touches respectively. Moreover, the system can be seamlessly rolled back to a previously installed version. Should a new version not behave to one's full satisfaction, one can swiftly switch back to a previous one by the mere press of a button. The second key feature is the new ability to switch between so- called presets. Each preset is a fully integrated Sculpt scenario. The user can load and switch between presets by just one click. The loading of a preset can be imagined as booting into a separate operating system, but it takes only a fraction of a second. On the phone, both features are fundamental for the user experience. But the new abilities shine on the PC as well. To learn more about what's new in Sculpt OS 23.04, let me refer you to the following dedicated article: https://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-05-11-sculpt-os 2. Leveraging existing SDKs for Genode applications --------------------------------------------------- The notion of smartphones is inseparable from mobile apps, which raises the question of how mobile apps can best be provisioned on the mobile variant of Sculpt OS. Commodity platforms like Android or iOS have grown ecosystems around their respective software development kits (SDK) combined with centralized closely guarded app distribution channels. It goes without saying that we don't aspire to mirror this model. We rather desire to foster a federated way of distributing and using open-source software that operates under the user's ultimate control. By following this line of thoughts, we have evaluated existing SDKs, namely Lomiri (formerly known as Ubuntu Touch UI toolkit) and the SDK of Sailfish OS. https://genodians.org/ssumpf/2023-05-06-ubunutu_ui The linked article discusses both SDKs from Genode's perspective and ultimately presents a solution for using Lomiri as SDK for crafting Genode apps for the PinePhone. 3. Genode OS release 23.05 -------------------------- Genode 23.05 entails the culminated results of the topics outlined above. Our Goa tool is prominently featured as catalyst for using existing SDKs like Lomiri and Rust's cargo for building applications, and many by-products of Sculpt OS have found their way into the framework. The release is accompanied by our annual documentation update and brings along a new tool chain, which enabled us to consistently switch the framework implementation from the C++ standard C++17 to C++20. This way, modern C++ niceties can be used for regular Genode components now. As steady continuation of the previous releases, our Linux device driver environment, which got updated to Linux 6.1.20, plays a prominent role as well. It is the enabler of our cross-platform Wifi stack that works now for the PC and ARM platforms like the PinePhone. Thanks to DDE Linux, Genode users can benefit from the enormous efforts of the Linux kernel community targeting modern hardware. Further highlights of the new version are the initial use of our custom base-hw microkernel as x86 hypervisor, a profoundly reworked block-encryption stack, and updates of supported 3rd- party software like the seL4 kernel and VirtualBox. All changes are detailed in the official release documentation: https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/23.05 About the newsletter -------------------- If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in our projects, we would appreciate you to forward this email. If you received this newsletter as a forwarded email, you may subscribe to the newsletter here: https://genode-labs.com/newsletter In the case of receiving this newsletter unintended, you can cancel your subscription at any time by replying to this email with the subject set to "unsubscribe". Best regards -- Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske Genode Labs https://www.genode-labs.com/ · https://genode.org/ https://twitter.com/GenodeLabs · /ˈdʒiː.nəʊd/ Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
