Codezero Microkernel Pre-release

		Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Bahadir Balban


What is Codezero?

Codezero is a new microkernel that has been developed for embedded systems. It
implements a simple API that is based on the L4 Microkernel, and it can be used
as a base to develop or run new operating systems. As part of the project,
server tasks are provided that implement memory management and a virtual
filesystem layer. These servers are built upon the base Codezero API, and they
currently support a small but essential subset of the POSIX API.

Codezero targets high-end embedded systems that support virtual memory and it
has an emphasis on the ARM architecture. Open source development practices are
used in its development. Users can use Codezero's POSIX-like server tasks or
another operating system built upon it, or both at the same time. Codezero aims
to differ from other systems by implementing a modern embedded operating system
and yet provide more flexibility than a single operating system API.


Why the name Codezero?

The project focuses on simplicity and clarity in software design. Everything is
kept simple, from the user-level tasks down to the build system that does not
take part in the actual microkernel.


Who could use Codezero?

Currently, Codezero can be used on any embedded system that requires
multitasking and virtual memory support but not all the detailed features of a
complex operating system. Codezero's initial advantage in that respect would be
its clarity and simplicity that makes it easier for users to grasp and use. In
the near future, the real-time features will be optimised and it will also be a
good candidate for real-time applications. Finally it will be used on systems
that require high dependability. Tightly integrated embedded systems are one
such example where multiple isolated application domains exist side-by-side,
sharing the same cpu and memory system.


What are the design features?

Codezero attempts to incorporate many modern features that are present in
today's operating systems. Some of them are presented below.

Based on the L4 microkernel design principles, there are only a few system
calls in Codezero. These system calls provide purely mechanism; threads and
address spaces, and the methods of inter-process communication between them.
Anything beyond these are policy and they are implemented in the userspace. Due
to this rigorously simple design the same microkernel can be used to design
completely different operating systems.

In terms of other features, the microkernel is preemptive, and smp-ready.
Currently only synchronous communication is implemented, but this will change
in the near future. The microkernel also incorporates a simple priority-based
scheduler, and all blocking operations (locking, ipc, waiting) are
interruptible. Even though the microkernel needs to be optimised in its
real-time capabilities, it does incorporate the necessary architecture to
support real-time performance.

There are two system tasks built upon the base microkernel that manage memory
and file-based I/O, called MM0 and FS0. MM0 is the system task that implements
memory management. It contains allocators and manages the page cache. It
implements demand paging by managing page faults, physical pages and their
file/task associations. MM0 provides the default paging mechanism on Codezero.

FS0 is the system task that implements a simple, modern virtual filesystem
layer. It is designed to serve file requests from MM0. Since it abstracts the
low-level filesystem details, it is a relatively easy job to port a new
filesystem to be used under FS0.

MM0 and FS0 both reside in the userspace, and they are not mandatory services.
For example the virtual and physical memory resources can be partitioned by
Codezero among pagers, and a third-party pager can override Codezero's pager on
the same run-time, and implement an independent paging behaviour for its own
memory partition. This feature provides the option of having an adjustable
mixture of generalisation and specialisation of system services at the same
run-time. For instance, Codezero's abstract posix-like page/file management
services can be used in combination with an application-specific pager that
depends on its own paging abilities. A critical task could both use mm0 and
fs0's posix-like files benefiting from the abstraction and simplification that
it brings, but at the same time rely on its own specialised page-fault handling
mechanism for its critical data. Similarly, a complete operating system can be
virtualised and both native and virtualised applications can run on the same
run-time.


What will the license be?

The current release is distributed under GNU General Public License Version 3
and this version only. Any next version will be released in the same license,
but there are intentions to keep the project in a dual-licensed manner. In any
case, one version of the source code will always be released as open source as
in the OSI definition.

The third party source code under the directories loader/ tools/ libs/c
libs/elf have their own copyright and licenses, separate from this project. All
third party source code is open source in the OSI definition. Please check
these directories for their respective licenses.


Why yet another POSIX microkernel?

There are many open source POSIX operating systems with advanced features such
as BSD versions and Linux. However, neither of these were originally designed
for embedded systems. Multiple problems arise due to this fact.

Unix itself and all the tools built upon weren't meant for using on small
devices. Accordingly, existing Unix operating systems contain a lot of
historical code. Their code base is so big, that it gets more and more
difficult to understand how their internals work. On these systems usually much
of the existing code base is irrelevant to newly developed software, and
embedded systems need new software often. Codezero is written from scratch to
solely target embedded systems and as such the source code is %100 relevant.
It is small and free from legacy code.

From a design perspective, these kernels have a monolithic design, and as such
they may have issues with dependability due to much of the code sharing the
same address space. This is an important issue on embedded systems since their
operation is more sensitive to disruptions. Being a microkernel design,
Codezero aims to defeat this problem and increase dependability.

From a support perspective, most unix operating systems like BSD and Linux have
a highly saturated user base. The developers focus on these existing users and
often the systems they support are not embedded computers. Codezero will focus
completely on embedded systems, aiming to meet the support need for this type
of systems.

Other than modern Unix kernels, there are established operating systems
targeting embedded devices. Codezero will contrast and compete with some of
them by its simplicity, some by its openness and some by its feature set, but
mostly by providing a more flexible development model.

Finally, POSIX compliance is only a step, or a partial aim for the Codezero
microkernel. It is not limited to the goal of just complying with POSIX, which
has been done many times by other operating systems. Codezero microkernel will
provide a dependable software environment where isolated application domains
can run side-by-side in the same run-time. In addition, user-level servers MM0
and FS0 will implement native system services and provide a POSIX-like API for
these application domains.  By supplying a variety of system software options,
the applications will be able to choose among different speed, safety,
determinism policies at the same run-time. This is expected to prove useful in
embedded systems.

Furthermore there are new ideas in literature that would improve systems
software but aren't implemented either because they have no existing users or
may break compatibility (e.g. some are presented in Plan 9). For example file
abstractions could be used more liberally to cover data exchange and control of
devices, services and network communication. Existing kernels already have
established methods of doing such operations and they would oppose major design
overhauls, which limits their innovation capability for this kind of
experimentation. In contrast, Codezero's partitioned nature provides the
opportunity to implement innovative feature services in small and isolated
parts, without cluttering the rest of the system. As well as natively
supporting existing APIs such as POSIX, Codezero project aims to keep up with
the latest OS literature and provide the opportunity to incorporate the latest
ideas in OS technology.


Can you summarise? Why should I use Codezero, again?

Codezero is an operating system that targets embedded systems with virtual
memory support. It implements modern features such as demand-paging and a
virtual filesystem layer under a POSIX-like API. Different from most other
POSIX-like systems, it is based on a microkernel design. The microkernel has
been carefully designed so that it is small and well-focused. It has a cleanly
separated set of system services that can be used as a base for implementing or
running other operating systems. It can also be used as a barebones system that
provides multitasking and thread communication. Its source code is also freely
available (See LICENSE heading for details). Codezero aims to differ from other
systems by implementing an open and modern embedded operating system that
provides more flexibility than a single operating system API. Since currently
there's a very small user base, it can be easily adopted for any custom
embedded system project that needs focused developer attention.