Hello everyone,
the turn of years is approaching, which prompts me to pick up our fine
tradition of jointly brainstorming the topics of the year to come.
Below, I'm not speaking for the project but share my personal
perspective. Let me start with a brief reflection on 2024, followed by
my ambitions for 2025.
Review of 2024
Following our past year's discussion, we settled on "Sculpt OS
usability" as the primary focus for 2024. The items on the roadmap
envisioned a broad variety of topics, ranging from challenging low-level
mechanisms to end-user conveniences.
From my perspective, the two biggest breakthroughs had been
suspend/resume on x86 (added in May) and multi-monitor support (added in
October). Both topics were not merely approached as singular features
but as architectural enhancements. Suspend/resume challenged our
perspective on driver life-cycles, externalizing state, device
re-acquisition, up to the dynamic driver management by Sculpt OS. Our
desire for multi-monitor support culminated in a largely redesigned GUI
stack, as a system-holistic endeavor. Both lines of work made the
architecture of Sculpt OS much stronger.
Regarding my original plans for user conveniences (file browser etc.), I
must declare defeat. Instead of working on these user-visible features,
I turned a significant part of my attention to consolidation work:
Gradually removing the use of C++ exceptions, cultivating C++20,
improving code safety, and accelerating our workflows be refining our
build system and tools.
Outside my own working topics, I vastly enjoyed watching our team
embracing DDE-Linux to full extent. Reflecting upon our small team's
ability to track the current Linux kernel for our large driver base with
such an agility makes me more than happy. A similar source of happiness
is the way of how the Goa SDK and the new Applications book evolved. It
reveals plainly and clearly how all the parts of the machinery fit super
nicely together.
Any regrets? Two things come into mind. First, my over-promising to
deliver user conveniences. Topics like the on-target docs view or a file
manager are user-visible and fun to build. But I was not able to justify
prioritizing those over the work on framework internals as my core
expertise. I somewhat regret having promised too much. Second, the
PinePhone hasn't become a regular part of my life. That's not the fault
of the PinePhone. But I came to terms that I may simply not be a phone
person, never having owned a smart phone after all. Once I called the
exciting ride of bringing Genode to the PinePhone a success, my personal
motivation to push things further forward plummeted somewhat.
My plans for 2025
I want to focus my Genode work on rigidity, clarity, and performance.
1. Following my consolidation work of 2024, I long for getting the
C++ runtime removed from the base framework. Another tempting
idea for simplification is the merging of core's CPU service
into the PD service. This work will make Genode more simple and
thereby more trustworthy.
2. I'm very curious to explore the idea of replacing XML, outlined at
https://genodians.org/nfeske/2024-12-20-moving-on-from-xml
If this goes as intended, Genode and Sculpt OS will gain in terms
of interactive ergonomics, clarity, and joy to develop for.
3. Given how easy the porting of software has become, thanks to Goa,
I'd strive for moving more of my work outside a Linux VM. For
this, libraries like the libc and VFS require further optimization.
This goes hand in hand with the need for better tools for analysing
performance bottlenecks of complex dynamic workloads.
As an iconic goal, it would be fantastic to have a simple version
of Goa running directly on Sculpt OS by the end of 2025.
In addition, I'd like to catch up on my plans of 2024 regarding
user-visible Sculpt OS features, introducing a documentation view, a
simple file manager, and a convenient way to save settings. I will also
definitely wrap up the multi-monitor window management that I have built
during the past two months.
My wishes for 2025
Outside the realm of my own working topics, I'd love to eventually
switch to the base-hw kernel on my Framework laptop. I'd also highly
appreciate an update of the Chromium engine for the Falkon web browser.
Don't we all want to participate in https://genode.discourse.group using
a browser directly on Sculpt OS? ;-)
What is your perspective on Genode in 2024 and for 2025?
- Has Genode's development during 2024 been in your interest?
- Or do you find important aspects neglected?
- How was your practical experience with Genode in 2024?
- Which directions would you regard as most exciting or pressing?
- What are your personal interests and plans for 2025?
I'm looking forward to learn about your experiences, plans, and ideas.
Like every year, I'll do my best to distill a rough plan for 2025 out
from our joint discussion. The road map will be finalized around mid of
January.
Cheers
Norman
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs
https://www.genode-labs.com · https://genode.org
Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
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