Road map for 2020
This commit is contained in:
Norman Feske
Christian Helmuth
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doc/news.txt
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doc/news.txt
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Genode News
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Genode News
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===========
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===========
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Road Map for 2020 | 2020-01-20
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##############################
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| In 2019, we will be concerned about dwarfing the barrier of entry into
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| the Genode world.
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Following the last year's leitmotif of "bridging worlds", we turn our
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attention to the removal of the hurdles faced by aspiring developers and
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users. During the annual road-map
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[https://lists.genode.org/pipermail/users/2019-December/006987.html - discussion]
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on our mailing list, we identified four tangible approaches towards that
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goal. First, making Sculpt OS more user friendly. Second, reinforcing trust in
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Genode by fostering the framework's high quality. Third, making the tooling
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around Genode a joy to use. And finally, the illustration of Genode's
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versatility in the form practical use cases.
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Besides this overall theme, we plan to continue our commitment to the
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NXP i.MX SoC family, revisit Genode's low-latency audio support, and
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extend the cultivation of Ada/SPARK within (and on top of) Genode.
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More background information about the new road map and a rough schedule are
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presented at our official [https:/about/road-map - road-map page].
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Genode OS Framework release 19.11 | 2019-11-28
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Genode OS Framework release 19.11 | 2019-11-28
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##############################################
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##############################################
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278
doc/road_map.txt
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doc/road_map.txt
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@ -14,122 +14,121 @@ 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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Genode technology to a certain direction, we are willing to revisit our plans.
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Review of 2018
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Review of 2019
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##############
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##############
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Sculpt is our take on creating a Genode-based general-purpose operating
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For the road map 2019, we picked "bridging worlds" as our guiding theme:
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system. When we declared 2018 as Genode's Year of Sculpt one year ago, our
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(1) Lowering the friction when combining existing software with Genode,
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vision of how Sculpt OS would shape up was still vague. We were convinced that
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(2) Fostering interoperability with widely used protocols and APIs, and
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we had - functionality-wise - all building blocks of a general-purpose OS in
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(3) Making Genode easier to approach and generally more practical.
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place. But it was rather unclear how to best put them together to attain a
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practical system. The unconquered design space seemed vast, which was both
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exciting but also - at times - a bit paralyzing.
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The Year of Sculpt was more than anything a design-space exploration, not
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With respect to (1), we identified Genode's custom tooling (build
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an up-front planned activity. The process was driven by intensive
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system, run scripts, ports mechanism, depot tools) as a point of
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brainstorming, experimentation, and the continuous practical evaluation
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friction. They are arguably powerful and flexible but require a lot of
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through the day-to-day use of the system by its developers. For us, this ride
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up-front learning. This is certainly a burden unacceptable for a casual
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was certainly the most rewarding period in Genode's history so far. Now, when
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developer without a black belt in Make and Expect/Tcl. The new
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looking at the result, we are proud about what we have achieved together.
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.11#New_tooling_for_bridging_existing_build_systems_with_Genode - Goa]
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Whenever having the chance to showing off Sculpt running on our laptops,
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tool rearranges the existing tools in a way that puts the concerns of casual
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the system doesn't fail to impress.
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developers into focus, allowing for the use of commodity build systems,
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eliminating Tcl syntax from the equation, running sub-second test cycles, and
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streamlining the packaging of software.
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Unsurprisingly, many topics of the past year had a direct connection to
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On account of (2), we
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Sculpt, e.g., the NIC router, the huge device-driver efforts, the GUI-stack
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.05#Broadened_CPU_architecture_support_and_updated_tool_chain - switched to C++17]
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improvements, our custom microcode update mechanism, the software packaging
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by default, fostered the use of
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and deployment, and the work on the file-system and networking stacks.
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[https://genodians.org/ssumpf/2019-02-27-java-19-02 - Java],
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updated Qt5, and put
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.11#C_runtime_with_improved_POSIX_compatibility - POSIX]
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compatibility into the spotlight. We were eventually able to dissolve the need
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for our custom Unix runtime (Noux) because all features of Noux are covered by
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our regular libc now.
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The bottom line of the Year of Sculpt is that Sculpt OS has become a
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Our biggest step towards (3) is the [https://genodians.org] website we
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surprisingly versatile and robust system. It can be deployed in a few seconds
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started in winter 2019, which gives individual members of our community
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by booting from USB, runs as day-to-day OS on almost all of our laptops, its
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an easy way to present thoughts, projects, and experiences.
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mechanisms for installing and updating software from packages have become a
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Complementing Genode's formal documentation, it also conserves practical
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second nature, and it continues to inspire us to explore new application
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tips and tricks that were previously not covered in written form.
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areas. Even outside of Genode Labs, there is a small and enthusiastic user
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base.
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Besides Sculpt, we set forth a number of other goals one year ago.
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When speaking of "bridging worlds", we should not forget to mention the
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tremendous effort to bring Sculpt-OS-like workloads to the 64-bit ARM world.
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Thanks to the added support for
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.08#64-bit_ARM_and_NXP_i.MX8 - multi-core AARCH64],
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hardware-based
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.11#Virtualization_of_64-bit_ARM_platforms - virtualization],
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and network/USB/graphics drivers for the i.MX8 SoC, the flexibility of Sculpt
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OS will eventually become available on PC hardware and ARM-based devices
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alike.
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:The transition from NOVA to our custom kernel and seL4: is ongoing but
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Over the course of 2019, we admittedly skipped a few topics originally
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the topic received less attention than originally planned. This has
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mentioned on our road map. In particular, the user-visible side of
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two reasons. First, Alexander Boettcher's excellent maintenance and gradual
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Sculpt OS received less attention than originally envisioned. We also
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improvement of NOVA keeps us hooked. Over the past year, there has been not
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deferred several ideas we had in mind about reworking our GUI stack.
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much incentive of actual Sculpt users to move away from NOVA. Second, there
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Instead, we expanded our work in the areas of storage (block-level APIs,
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is renewed interest in NOVA beyond our use of the kernel. Most specifically,
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test infrastructure,
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we started joining forces with
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.11#Preliminary_block-device_encrypter - block encryption])
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[https://cyberus-technology.de - Cyberus Technology] to improve NOVA
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and
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together. That's fantastic!
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.08#Flexible_keyboard_layouts - input processing].
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This shift of focus is mostly attributed to the priorities of Genode Labs'
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This development notwithstanding, we still follow our ambition to bring the
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customers who fund our work.
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support for the other kernels like seL4 on par with NOVA to give Genode
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users the ultimate choice.
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Speaking of seL4, throughout the year, we have continuously adapted Genode
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to the kernel's upstream development and enjoy the informal collaboration
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with seL4 developer community. That said, the seL4 version of Genode still
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remains a side activity with no commercial backing.
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:NXP i.MX: support has become much better, particularly with respect to
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network support and performance. Our ongoing commitment to the i.MX
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platform is also fueled by privacy-advocating projects like the Librem
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phone that are based on the same SoC.
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:Software quality and resilience: ultimately became the title story of the
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/18.11#Raising_the_bar_of_quality_assurance - release 18.11].
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We greatly intensified the amount and quality of testing, explored static
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code analysis, and vastly scaled up the complexity of workloads carried
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by Genode.
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:System monitoring, tracing, profiling: remains a somewhat underdeveloped area
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of Genode. As a step in the right direction, we introduced a simple
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trace-logging tool. Also, Sculpt's introspection features like the ability
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to inspect the runtime's state live on the machine make Genode's behavior
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easier to capture and to understand. But that said, the use of these
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features remains a black art mastered only by a few.
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:Java: has found its way into Genode via our port of OpenJDK. Details such as
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the enabling of the JIT engine on ARM took much more effort than anticipated.
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We are happy to report that Tomcat works fine. But at the current state, it
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is still too early to advertise Java as a stable feature.
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2019 - Bridging Worlds
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2020 - Dwarfing the barrier of entry
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######################
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####################################
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We dedicated the year 2018 to prove that Genode scales to general-purpose
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Genode as a technology is there. For more than one decade, we walked unfathomed
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computing. [https://genode.org/download/sculpt - Sculpt OS] leaves no doubt
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territory, fought with countless deep rabbit holes, took risky decisions,
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about that. The logical next step is to make Sculpt OS relevant and appealing
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tracked back, explored design spaces, developed taste and distaste, pruned
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for a broader community.
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technical debt, and eventually found formulas of success. Today, there are no
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During our public road-map
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(fundamental) unsolved questions. All the puzzle pieces are in place. There
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[https://lists.genode.org/pipermail/users/2018-December/006517.html - discussion]
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could be no better proof than our daily use of Sculpt OS. The time is right
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on our mailing list, we identified three ways towards that goal:
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to make Genode palatable for a wider circle. We identified four actionable
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topics to achieve that.
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# In order to capture the interest of new Genode users, we have to
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:User friendliness of Sculpt OS:
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put *emphasis on the practical use* of Genode, not on its technical prowess.
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With practical use, we refer to both desktop computing and headless
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scenarios like network appliances and servers. Over the course of 2019,
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we plan to establish (variations of) Sculpt as an attractive foundation for
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those application areas, and advance Genode's protocol stacks (storage and
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encryption come in mind) and hardware support (e.g., ARM 64-bit) accordingly.
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This will go hand in hand with making Genode easier to discover and to use,
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Until now, Sculpt OS is not exactly friendly towards users who are
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describing use cases at a digestible level of detail, and fostering the
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unfamiliar with the Unix command-line tools. Since Sculpt is not Unix
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sense of one community that includes both users and developers.
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based, this is a bit paradoxical. 2020 will give Sculpt OS a friendlier
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and discoverable user experience. In this context, we will inevitably
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put our attention to Genode's GUI stack.
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# Since an operating system is only valuable with applications, we have
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:Perception of high quality:
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to make the *porting of existing software* and the use of popular
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*programming languages* a frictionless experience. Besides supporting the
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reuse of existing software, we should also cultivate the "Genode way" as
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an option for designing native applications. Such applications can
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leverage the unique capabilities of the framework, in particular the
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sandboxing of code at a very fine granularity and the low footprint of raw
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Genode components.
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# Because an operating system does not exist in isolation, we must foster
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Compared to commodity operating systems who stood the test of time,
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Genode's *interoperability* with other systems and applications by speaking
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Genode is a young and largely unproven technology. It understandably calls
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widely used protocols and supporting universally expected
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for skepticism. All the more we must leave no doubts about our high
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software-integration features.
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quality standards. There must be no room for uncertainty. Hence, during
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2020, we will intensify the consolidation and optimization of the framework
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and its API, and talk about it.
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:Enjoyable tooling:
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Genode's success at large will depend on developers. As of today, software
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development for Genode requires a huge up-front learning curve. This is
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fine for people who are already convinced of Genode. But it unacceptable
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for casual developers who want to get their toes wet. We should aim for
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tooling that allows new developers to keep up their flow and beloved
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tools. The recently introduced [https://genodians.org/nfeske/2019-11-25-goa - Goa]
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tooling is our first take in this respect. It is certainly too early to call
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Goa a success. In order to find out if we are on the right track, we want to
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expose Goa to as many problems as possible, primarily by the means of
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porting software. Also, things like IDE usage or adapters for a variety of
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build systems will certainly move into focus in 2020.
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:Convincing use cases:
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Use cases can give exemplary proof of the fitness of Genode. We already
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took a few baby steps to extend the range of documented use cases beyond
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Sculpt OS last year. The boot2java scenenario comes in mind. 2020 will
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hopefully see several more illustrations of Genode's versatility.
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Milestones for 2019
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Apart from this overall theme, we plan to continue our commitment to the
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NXP i.MX SoC family, revisit Genode's low-latency audio support, and
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extend the cultivation of Ada/SPARK within (and on top of) Genode.
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Milestones for 2020
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###################
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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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In the following, we present a rough schedule of the planned work. As usual,
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@ -137,57 +136,64 @@ 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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please get in touch.
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February - Release 19.02
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February - Release 20.02
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========================
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========================
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* OpenJDK with JIT on ARM and x86
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* Consolidation: removal of the Noux runtime
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* Sculpt with support for online package discovery
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* Library version of the init component
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* Showcase of a Genode-based web appliance
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* Updated audio drivers
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* Showcase of a multi-port network appliance
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* Sculpt
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* 64-bit ARM (i.MX8)
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* Revised administrative user interface
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* System image without Unix tools
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May - Release 19.05
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May - Release 20.05
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===================
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===================
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* Updated "Genode Foundations" book
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* Updated "Genode Foundations" book
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* Tool-chain update and SDK (C++-17, enabling O3 by default, considering GDC)
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* Consolidation
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* Headless Sculpt
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* Block-level components (update to Genode's modern block APIs)
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* Pluggable network drivers
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* ARM device drivers (introducing the notion of a platform driver)
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* Native support for Let's Encrypt certificates
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* Improved STL support (e.g., threading and mutexes)
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* Revisited GUI-related framework interfaces
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* Continuous POSIX-compliance testing
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* Systematic network-stack stress and performance tests
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* Desktop: panel and virtual desktops
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* Use case: Genode-based network router
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* Goa: broadened support for 3rd-party build systems
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* Native tool chain, including Git
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* Sculpt
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* Sculpt
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* Improved interactive system composition
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* Interactive device management
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* Passphrase handling
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* Keyboard-controlled administration
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* Clipboard support
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* Support for BSPs maintained outside of Genode's mainline repository
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* Kernel-agnostic virtual-machine monitors
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* ARM 64-bit
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August - Release 19.08
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August - Release 20.08
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======================
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======================
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* Interactive tracing tool
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* Revisited GUI-related framework interfaces
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* Virtualization support for the base-hw kernel on x86
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* Extended tooling for performance monitoring
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* Library version of the init component
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* Goa: Qt development workflow
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* Desktop
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* Native mail client
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* Native web browser
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* Sculpt
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* Sculpt
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* Fine-grained USB-device policies
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* Configurable CPU resources
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* Interactive depot manager (ability to add/remove software providers)
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* On-screen documentation
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* Configuration of CPU affinities and scheduling priorities
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* Block encryption via our
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* Audio
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[https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/19.11#Preliminary_block-device_encrypter - consistent block encrypter]
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* Showcase of a Sculpt-based network router
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implemented in Ada/SPARK
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* VM-based desktop applications (enhanced VM integration features)
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* USB audio
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* Updated Qt5
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* Initial version of a kernel implemented in Ada/SPARK
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* Consolidation of the Noux runtime (performance)
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November - Release 19.11
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November - Release 20.11
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========================
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========================
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* Building Genode packages directly on Sculpt
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* Consolidation of capability-space management across kernels
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* VNC server support
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* CPU-load balancing
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* Sculpt
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* Hardware-accelerated graphics on i.MX8 (experimental)
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* On-target debugging of components
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* Reworked audio stack (interfaces, mixing)
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* Shutdown protocol
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* Sculpt: component lifetime management, shutdown protocol
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* Block-level encrypted storage
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* VFS plugins for lwext4 and FUSE-based file systems
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* Drag-and-drop protocol
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