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Building Documents

Compiling an operating system is not an easy task... The build environment I require for building cavOS is as simple as it gets, only needing a few UNIX utilities and obviously a cross compiler...

Warning! If any step fails, do NOT proceed... Start over (double checking your dependencies) and if the issue persists, create an issue reporting it. Remember, this project is still in development!

Requirements

  • [cross compiler]: The kernel is written in C.
  • nasm: The kernel includes some small assembly files unfortunately.
  • parted: For creating the boot disk.
  • mkdosfs: For creating the FAT32 filesystem inside that disk.
  • fatlabel: For labeling that disk as CAVOS.

Most required packages for compiling on specific distros (listed below) are specifically for building the cross-compiler... More info here.

Dependencies: GNU/Linux

Compiling cavOS will work on all Linux distributions, but I've only done testing with the options that are bold, so pick wisely...

  • Ubuntu: sudo apt install -y nasm dosfstools parted bison flex libgmp3-dev libmpc-dev libmpfr-dev texinfo libisl-dev parted dosfstools build-essential autoconf automake wget
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install -y nasm gcc xorriso parted dosfstools make bison flex gmp-devel libmpc-devel mpfr-devel texinfo autoconf automake patch gcc-c++ isl-devel wget
  • Arch: sudo pacman -S --noconfirm nasm xorriso gcc parted dosfstools base-devel gmp libmpc mpfr autoconf automake wget

If everything else fails, you got distrobox.

Dependencies: Microsoft Windows

Windows is objectively a shitshow when doing anything even slightly UNIX-related. If you want to get your hands dirty with Cygwin, then that's your choice. I'd suggest going with WSL2, fully updated. It's still going to be extremely buggy, at least from my experience. You have the option of creating a headless Linux VM inside software like VMware or VirtualBox, which might be your best option...

Dependencies: macOS

I have not done any testing inside macOS. When anyone does so, please edit this file accordingly.

I can imagine that the cross compiler would work fine, but installing Limine by creating loopback devices wouldn't work. The recommendation of Docker or even virtual machines persists to this OS too.

Get the cross-compiler

If you got your dependencies sorted out, then this step is relatively simple! Just run make tools.

Building

This is an operating system, meaning that it has to be burnt into some sort of medium (disk, USB, floppy drive, somewhere!)

Warning! In case you want to try cavOS on real hardware, while nobody is liable for any damage it might cause, many features might not be available due to a lack of drivers!

For building there are two options (although the second is mostly geared towards developers/tinkerers):

  • Build disk.img, a fully featured pack of cavOS that includes Limine, the kernel and any software: make disk.
  • Build only the kernel.bin file, cavOS kernel: make kernel.

Testing

  • QEMU: make qemu will launch QEMU with the recommended options on the disk.img disk image.
  • VMware products: make vmware will convert disk.img -> disk.vmdk.
  • VirtualBox: can handle the disk.vmdk file, so you can use the same disk image as VMware.