toaruos/README.md

# ToAruOS (とあるOS) #

![Screenshot](http://i.imgur.com/76EmahO.png)
[![login](http://i.imgur.com/GzbYtzGm.png)](http://i.imgur.com/GzbYtzG.png) [![terminal](http://i.imgur.com/XsxqLkwm.png)](http://i.imgur.com/XsxqLkw.png)

とあるOS (ToaruOS) is a hobby Unix-like operating system. Development began in December of 2010 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently a one-man effort. For a short time, the project was the focus of the UIUC [SIGOps](http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/sigops/).

Both the kernel and userspace are included in this repository.

## Community

### IRC ###

For discussion, help with building or running the OS, and for up-to-date build verification, please join us in `#toaruos` on Freenode (`irc.freenode.net`).

## Features ##

The とある kernel provides a number of standard features, including:

* Processes and threads
  * The kernel supports loading of static ELF binaries
  * Threads are scheduled by the kernel
* Shared memory
* Pipes and TTYs
* Virtual file system
  * `/proc` implementation similar to Linux
  * `/dev` entries
  * EXT2 filesystem for disk access
* Signals
  * Delivery is asynchronous from sending
  * Processed immediately during next context switch into receiving process

The included userspace also provides:

* A number of standard Unix utilities
* A graphical interface
  * Composited window manager
  * Limited widget toolkit
* Terminal emulator
  * Some xterm compatibility, support for 256 color palette, etc.
  * Anti-aliased text with FreeType
  * General support for UTF-8

### Third-Party Software ###

とあるOS makes use of and supplies the following third-party packages:

* `libpng` - Used extensively by the native graphics library to provide wallpaper and icons.
* `zlib` - Dependency of `libpng`, but also generally useful.
* `freetype` - For rendering text using TrueType fonts.
* `cairo` and `pixman` - For accelerated and managed graphics.
* `ncurses` - Terminal control library, provides `terminfo`.
* Mesa - Implementation of OpenGL (only the software rasterizer is available).
* Vim - Popular text editor.

Additionally, a number of third-party software packages have been ported to とあるOS, but are not yet included in this distribution:

* Lua - Builds as-is
* MuPDF - See [klange/toaru-pdfviewer](https://github.com/klange/toaru-pdfviewer) (library must be cross compiled)

## Screenshots ##

For a historical look at とあるOS, please see [SCREENSHOTS.md](SCREENSHOTS.md).

## Testing it Out ##
From some Linux hosts (Ubuntu/Debian, Fedora), you can clone the repository and run:

    ./build.sh

This will install the required dependencies, build the userspace libraries and toolchain, build the kernel, and give you a hard disk image.

You can then run `make run` or `make kvm` to run QEMU. An additional `make run-config` command is available that allows easy customization of the emulation environment through a config file (`.config`, see `util/config-parser` for available options).

While we only officially support QEMU, other environments - including actual hardware - should work given the appropriate tools. If you are eager to try とあるOS from a real machine, please use GRUB 2 and ensure that you provide the correct graphics payload options. You may find a sample GRUB configuration the `image-builder` directory.

### User Accounts ###
The default root password is `toor`. There is also a regular user `local` with password `local`. While general system security is lacking, most system-modifying calls to the kernel require root privileges. When booting directly to a graphical terminal, the system will run in single-user mode and automatically log in as root. When running in graphical or VGA-terminal mode, a login screen is presented.

### Cygwin ###
With some work, とあるOS is also known to build successfully under cygwin. Instructions are forthcoming.

### Making modifications
If you have made modifications to the kernel or userspace, `make` will suffice to build a new image and kernel. `build.sh` should only be used once when first cloning. If you have made modifications to the system call bindings for newlib, run `rebuild-newlib.sh` from the `toolchain` directory, then rebuild userspace applications as necessray.

### Prebuilt Images ###
Unfortunately, we are no longer able to host prebuilt images through GitHub. We are exploring other options for distributing pre-built images and are also working to provide an ISO distribution.

### Building an Image for VirtualBox, etc. ###
An experimental, unsupported image building tool that will produce a "production-ready" image, including GRUB 2, is provided in the `image-builder` directory. The script, `create-image.sh`, must be run as root and will produce a 1GB raw disk image which be converted to other formats as needed.

## Troubleshooting
If you have any issues at all while attempting to build とあるOS, or you would like help building on an unsupported platform, please join us on IRC (`#toaruos@irc.freenode.net`). Problems encountered while using the build scripts in an unsupported environment will not be considered bugs until thoroughly examined.

## Dependencies ##

A toolchain is provided and can be built through `build.sh`; this script should be able to install its own dependencies on Ubuntu/Debian and Fedora. Other environments are not supported, but examination for the script should provide a reference point on what packages are necessary.

The build process generally requires `yasm`, a working C compilation environment to build a cross toolchain of GCC and binutils, and `genext2fs` to generate EXT2 disk images from your host's userspace.

## References ##
Here are some tutorials we found useful early on:

* [James M's kernel development tutorials](http://www.jamesmolloy.co.uk/tutorial_html/index.html)
* [Bran's Kernel Development Tutorial](http://www.osdever.net/bkerndev/Docs/basickernel.htm)
* [Skelix's OS tutorial](http://skelix.net/skelixos/index_en.html)

# Licenses #

## ToAruOS Itself ##

This project is released under the terms of the University of Illinois / NCSA Open Source License, an OSI- and FSF-approved, GPL-compatible open source license. The NCSA License is a derivative of the MIT license and the BSD license; it is reproduced here for your convenience:

    Copyright (c) 2011-2013 Kevin Lange.  All rights reserved.

    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
    of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
    deal with the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
    rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
    sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
    furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
      1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
         this list of conditions and the following disclaimers.
      2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
         notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimers in the
         documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
      3. Neither the names of the ToAruOS Kernel Development Team, Kevin Lange,
         nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse
         or promote products derived from this Software without specific prior
         written permission.

    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
    CONTRIBUTORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
    LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
    FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
    WITH THE SOFTWARE.

## Third-Party Packages ##

ToAruOS contains a number of third-party packages and software. As the number of third-party packages in the OS has increased drastically, I have moved the licenses to [THIRDPARTY.md](THIRDPARTY.md).