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Getting Started

This document provides an overview of the Kyronix's kernel and instructions for building and running it.

What is Kyronix's kernel

Kyronix's kernel(aka k9) is a POSIX-like operating system kernel for the x86_64 architecture. It implements a hybrid design with a custom jail-based sandboxing subsystem, lwIP-based networking, and an ext2 root filesystem.

Key Features

  • Limine v3 boot protocol support (BIOS and UEFI)
  • Lock-free physical memory allocator (LL-Free)
  • Virtual memory with 4-level page tables and demand paging
  • Process management with round-robin scheduling
  • SMP support (up to MAX_CPUS cores)
  • POSIX signals, file descriptors, and process management
  • Jail-based sandboxing with filesystem, PID, IPC, and privilege isolation
  • lwIP TCP/IP stack over virtio-net
  • ext2, FAT32, and CPIO filesystems
  • ChaCha20-based CSPRNG
  • Kernel memory leak detector (kmemleak)

Quick Start

  1. Build the kernel and bootable ISO:
make iso
  1. Run in QEMU with KVM acceleration:
make run
  1. For serial-only output:
make run-serial

Architecture

The kernel targets x86_64 and uses the following design:

  • Boot: Limine v3 protocol provides memory map, framebuffer, HHDM, RSDP, and kernel address information.
  • Memory: LL-Free lock-free allocator for physical frames; 4-level page tables for virtual memory; first-fit heap allocator.
  • Scheduling: Per-CPU round-robin with lock-free bitmap scanning via g_ready_mask.
  • Syscalls: Linux x86_64 ABI-compatible syscall interface via SYSCALL/SYSRET.
  • Networking: lwIP stack connected to virtio-net with static QEMU user-mode IP (10.0.2.15/24).

Directory Structure

Path Description
kernel/ Kernel source (arch, mm, fs, drivers, syscall, proc, net)
user/ Userspace programs (shell, utilities)
rootfs/ Root filesystem template
scripts/ Build scripts and Kconfig tools
limine/ Limine bootloader files
dist/ Build output directory

Testing

Run the full test suite:

make test-iso && make test-run-log

This boots the kernel with a testrunner init program, executes test binaries, and reports pass/fail status via serial output. Memory leak detection is performed via the kmemleak subsystem.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-22