This project rewrites the xv6-riscv operating system in the Zig programming language, with the goal of learning and practicing systems programming.
To compile the project, you will need to download the latest master version of the Zig compiler. To run xv6, you will need qemu-system-riscv64. For debugging (optional), you will also need riscv64-unknown-elf-gdb, riscv64-unknown-elf-objdump, and addr2line.
You can use zig build to fully compiles the project with default settings or use zig build run to compiles and runs the project.
When using zig build, there are several options available:
Compilation options:
-Doptimize- specifies the compilation mode-Dstrip- specifies whether or not to strip the binary
Runtime options:
-Dcpus- specifies the number of cores to simulate with qemu-Dfs-path- specifies the path to the fs.img
For example, zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast -Dstrip run -Dcpus=1 enables fast optimization, strips the binary after compilation, and sets the simulated core count to one when running qemu.
Other useful commands include:
zig build kernel- compiles only the kernelzig build apps- compiles all user programszig build fs- compiles the filesystem image fs.imgzig build qemu- runs qemu with gdb server for debugging. Runzig build gdbin another terminal to start debugging.zig build code- displays the kernel's assembly codezig build addr2line -- [stack address]- displays the function name corresponding to the given stack address when a kernel panic occurs
You can see more details by running zig build -h.
The ultimate goal of this project is to gradually replace all C files in xv6-riscv with Zig code. Once all C files have been replaced, the operating system should still be able to run successfully.
Contributions to this project are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request if you notice any bugs or if you would like to contribute to the project in any way.
This project is licensed under the MIT license.