Table of Contents
osFree project
osFree is a Free Open Source software operating system development project, aiming to replace eventually all OS/2 subsystems with Open source analogues. It aims for OS/2 Warp 4 (Merlin) as a base compatibility system, which does not mean that we will not support features of newer (OS/2 Warp Server for e-business, eComStation and ArcaOS) OS/2 versions. This includes rewriting not only user-level code but the OS/2 kernel too.
We're collecting existing code for OS/2 subsystems for years. Also we are developing our own bootloader named FreeLdr and OS/2 personality for L4 microkernel, i.e. a number of servers, implementing the Control Program (OS/2 kernel) Interface functionality in userspace. See osFree design and development concept for more details. Visit the #osFree IRC channel on the EFNet or https://t.me/osfree_pub Telegram channel.
Several projects with similar goals exist (or existed). Here is the brief comparison of goals and tasks of different projects.
Our project is reusing the code of many opensource projects.
Our project addresses in hidden networks: Tor one, I2P one, Yggdrasil.
Project News
19 September 2008
#osfree IRC channels work now at EFnet and eCSnet under control of osfreebot and eCoLabs/osfree bots. Thanks to Digi for help.
12 September 2008
New developer joined osFree project. Alan Grippon will work on DOS command line tools.
- We are looking for Win16 developers to work on Win16 applications (initial codebase available)
- We are looking for PHP developer to integrate our forum and core site
gnubie10-elevator@yahoo.com.br Ricardo Nishimura 2008/09/12 18:36:
I want to join the project. Can you contact me?
3 September 2008
sf.net news now duplicated at osfree.org
Starting from now project news from sf.net shown on main page of osfree.org
26 August 2008
- We started collecting bugs in bugtracker
- Build system significally improved (thanks to Valery Sedletski)
- Work on OS/2 server internal structure started (Thanks to Sven-Eric Rosen and Sascha Schmidt for working on initial parts)
- Support of original IBM OS/2 Kernel loading in our loader is started (Thanks to Mike Greene)
- We are looking for DOS and Win16 developers to work on DOS command line tools and Win16 applications (initial codebase available)
- We are looking for PHP developer to integrate our forum and core site
aagrip@rcn.com Alan Grippon 2008/09/07 21:54:
I'd like to help out with the DOS commands if you need a hand. My time is limited right now but I will eventually have more time to help out on other things. I could send my resume if you want to see my background. I also have lots of hardware and software to test and play with. Email me and let me know. [email hidden for spam protect] By the way, I couldn't figure out how to get a log-on to your forums so I registered on your web site.
prokushev@freemail.ru Yuri Prokushev 2008/09/11 13:54:
I sent email to you with some explanation of tasks.
September 06, 2007
According to our roadmap we are now at version 0.0.3 now. We have a general working of FreeLDR (except config parser and VBE support) for stage 0.0.2 and a working CONFIG.SYS parser for stage 0.0.3. We still are thinking about real requirements for version 0.0.4 at the present time because we have working LX parser prototype and most of IFS must be in Personality Neutral services. So, we are planning to slightly review the 0 .0.x series roadmap for better representation of our current situation and needs. Most probably, we will introduce following changes:
| 0.0.2 | EXT2FS must be finished (in general) and boot sequence must be implemented. GRUB must be removed. MicroFSD is 16-bit (OS/2 compatible), IFS is 32-bit (not OS/2 compatible). MicroFSD must load FreeLDR and execute it. FreeLDR must load L4 kernel and root task (osFree kernel stub). LILO must not be required for EXT2FS. | Done |
| Note: MiniFSD is absent because not required for microkernel architecture. | ||
| 0.0.3 | osFree kernel must parse CONFIG.SYS using file provider server (not real device driver loading) and show config tree. | Done |
| 0.0.4 | LX loader and module linker (using file provider server). osFree kernel must load and execute PROTSHELL application. | Not Done |
| 0.0.5 | Filesystem API implementation. LX loader must allow loading of ‘Hello, world’ task via file provider and execute it. ‘Hello, world’ task is CMD.EXE prototype. | Not Done |
August 12th, 2007
Today we started uploading the sources to SVN with the aim to configure a common build system. As we do not yet have an own SVN-Server yet, we are using the SourceForge Server. You can find the sources at https://sourceforge.net/projects/osfree/. At the moment this is NOT fully functional, not even all parts of the sources have been uploaded. Still feel free to improve osFree
July 5, 2007
For Linux personality we can select existent Linux distribution to have as less maintaining as possible. The Linux personality isn't the main goal of the project and we don't want to lose much time for it.
The Poll about Linux personality is located here.
June 8, 2007
The dotProject portion of our site has been restored after a long time of being unable to be used by either guests or the osFree staff, upgraded as there was an oppertuinity to do so. In addition to this recently we’ve had a large amount of downtime due to some big problems with one of our host’s hard drives. But now, you can now enjoy viewing the site again and most importantly the project’s status.
April 1, 2007
PhpBB and Dokuwiki logins have been integrated.
Febuary 2, 2007
The osFree web team has decided to change several things. First and foremost, unregistered users cannot comment on news stories. Secondly, the ability for you to register your own account has been disabled to prevent spam dummy accounts from registering. From now on, you must request an osFree wiki account either by contacting the admins (if you are a developer you probably already received an account from one of the admins) via email or the forums. These changes were initiated as a preemptive retaliation to a recently registered spam account.
January 10, 2007
The dotproject area is officially working for guests. You may now check on our progress real time at any time quickly and easily. Also there is a new, better theme integration into phpBB dubbed osfree3 for registered user info. This does not mean we have our login systems integrated yet, however.
osFree userland commit log
- far -> FAR, some error handling by prokushev (2024/09/27 03:38)far -> FAR, some error handling
- Added WINAPI to emulation layer functions. by prokushev (2024/09/26 10:04)Added WINAPI to emulation layer functions.
- Initial implementation of fixups by prokushev (2024/09/26 09:19)Initial implementation of fixups
- Dos3Call function instead of int 21h by prokushev (2024/09/22 08:43)Dos3Call function instead of int 21h
- Some more OS/2 NE format checks by prokushev (2024/09/21 15:52)Some more OS/2 NE format checks
- Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/osfree-project/osfree by prokushev (2024/09/21 14:33)Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/osfree-project/osfree
- code restructured to be close to win16 kernel.exe implementation. by prokushev (2024/09/21 14:33)code restructured to be close to win16 kernel.exe implementation.
- Apply automatic changes by prokushev (2024/09/21 12:18)Apply automatic changes
- Apply automatic changes by prokushev (2024/09/21 05:10)Apply automatic changes
- Apply automatic changes by valerius2k (2024/09/21 04:20)Apply automatic changes
- Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/osfree-project/osfree by valerius2k (2024/09/21 04:19)Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/osfree-project/osfree
- Apply automatic changes by prokushev (2024/09/21 04:13)Apply automatic changes
osFree OS/2 personality commit log
- Update sources to the latest Genode source. by valerius2k (2023/06/10 02:18)Update sources to the latest Genode source.
- Fixes to comply with the latest Genode sources. by valerius2k (2022/10/24 01:46)Fixes to comply with the latest Genode sources.
- Delete unneeded symlink. by valerius2k (2022/05/15 22:01)Delete unneeded symlink.
- Additional fixes to build for Genode target successfully. by valerius2k (2020/07/27 20:12)Additional fixes to build for Genode target successfully.
- Add forgotten unpack.c file. by valerius2k (2020/06/18 23:58)Add forgotten unpack.c file.
- LX loader fixes and enhancements by valerius2k (2020/04/25 11:29)LX loader fixes and enhancements - LX executable pages packing algorithms implementations. All three algorithms are supported from now, including the new algorithm introduced in OS/4 kernel. For that purpose, some code is ported from QSINIT, kLdr and lxlite. - Memory align option is introduced in allocmem() function in LX loader, so now executable sections can be e.g., a 0x10000-byte aligned. - More options, fixup types and entry options are supported now. Now LDT is initialized with 8192 16-bit descriptor. Small patch is applied to L4/Fiasco kernel, so that, kernel should use 8192 LDT descriptors, not 512 ones, which fit in one memory page. So, now some bits of tiling is implemented. Though, 16- bit OS/2 code support is not yet finished. 16:16 and 16:32 fixups and entries are now supported. - Region align support in RegAreaAttach. - Extra fixups support in os2exec. Now fixups other than 32-bit self-relative ones, are supported.
- - Update the L4env-related README by valerius2k (2020/04/05 09:39)- Update the L4env-related README - Build sustem fixes for L4env - Correct registers setup before jumping to the binary (l4env) - LX loader fixes to correctly run vp.exe (VirtualPascal test binary) - Event semaphore-related API fixes
- LX loader: Code formatting and style fixes. by valerius2k (2019/11/22 06:06)LX loader: Code formatting and style fixes.
- - Use local file handles per task. In os2fs server, use system-wide file by valerius2k (2019/11/21 18:49)- Use local file handles per task. In os2fs server, use system-wide file handles, with system file table (SFT). - Fix handlemgr lib. - LX loader: pad remainder of executable file pages to 0x1000 bytes with zeroes. - LX loader: respect a fixup flags like 32-bit target offset, 32-bit additive fixup, 16-bit object number/module ordinal number, 8-bit ordinal. - LX loader: add support for source lists in fixups. - LX loader: some formatting/code beautifying.
- l4env, l4re: Build system fixes and enhancements. Now mounting/unmoun… by valerius2k (2019/09/29 16:19)l4env, l4re: Build system fixes and enhancements. Now mounting/unmounting dirs into chroot works correctly.
- - Update package hashes. by valerius2k (2019/04/13 00:00)- Update package hashes. - Add platform-independent thread API code.
- - Update package hashes. by valerius2k (2019/04/10 21:27)- Update package hashes. - Add client lib packages for each server. - Start thread code unification.
Last bugtracker issues
- An error occurred while fetching this feed: http://osfree.org/mantis/issues_rss.php?username=valerius&key=IrYNBGclQADoHkoPqWjWErMc0EZ3vo6Zh-4j2W6BnxGE5dSRiAjrPJl-Lp5WsAIm4hHyv2lRFS_A7ypWM1nc
Last forum topics
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by valerius (2019/09/02 23:15)
- Off-Topic • Re: Support of third party programming languages by savniambekar (2019/04/15 05:10)
- General topics • Updated ISO by valerius (2019/03/23 13:08)
- Off-Topic • Re: Support of third party programming languages by valerius (2019/03/19 02:31)
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by generalram (2019/03/19 02:04)
- Off-Topic • Re: Support of third party programming languages by generalram (2019/03/19 02:00)
- Off-Topic • Re: Support of third party programming languages by valerius (2019/03/19 00:14)
- Off-Topic • Re: Nice link by valerius (2019/03/19 00:12)
- General topics • Re: IS there a bootable ISO file by valerius (2019/03/19 00:04)
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by valerius (2019/03/18 23:29)
- General topics • IS there a bootable ISO file by generalram (2019/03/18 22:08)
- Off-Topic • Re: Nice link by generalram (2019/03/18 22:03)
- Off-Topic • Support of third party programming languages by generalram (2019/03/18 22:01)
- osFree.org site • Donation link is broken by generalram (2019/03/18 21:36)
- REXX • 2 years old and nohting by admin (2019/03/11 17:57)
Roadmap
We're now at the alpha stage, which means that the current version is not feature-complete nor stable and not recommended for everyday usage. The 0.0.x release series will still stay in alpha stage, and 0.9 release series will be marked as beta, meaning a system which is suitable for every day use.
The next release will be 0.0.5, with an release date being open. See our osFree roadmap for details.
Getting access to site areas
The site has several separate areas, like wiki, forum, bugtracker, webmail and dotProject. If you want to get access to these, you should register here first. After you verify your account via email, you'll get access to all five parts of the site. Approval of user accounts by site admin is now disabled. After verification of your account, you need to wait 15 mins or less, until your account info is propagated from forum to another site parts. Note also, that there is a guest account (user: guest, password: guest), which allows you to login to the site areas, requiring a login (like a dotProject area). It gives you a read only access. Once you log in into the forum, you get access to wiki too, and vice versa. The same login applies to dotProject, webmail and bugtracker. After adding to “Users” group you'll get a write access to wiki, bugtracker and forum. If you want to contribute to site design or development, or to get a mail account, the admin can add you to corresponding user groups and your access level will be increased. In case of troubles, or questions, you can contact site admin.