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BareMetal
Developer	Return Infinity
Written in	Assembly
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Initial release	2008; 17 years ago
Latest release	1.0.0 / November 13, 2017; 7 years ago
Marketing target	HPCs, HTC, Cloud computing
Available in	English
Platforms	x86-64
Kernel type	Exokernel, SASOS
Userland	Unknown
Default; user interface	Command-line
License	BSD License
Official website	www.returninfinity.com

BareMetal is an exokernel-based single address space operating system (OS) created by Return Infinity.

It is written in assembly to achieve high-performance computing with minimal footprint^[3]^[4] with a "just enough operating system" (JeOS) approach.^[5] The operating system is primarily targeted towards virtualized environments for cloud computing, or HPCs due to its design as a lightweight kernel (LWK). It could be used as a unikernel.

It was inspired by another OS written in assembly, MikeOS,^[2] and it is a recent example of an operating system that is not written in C or C++, nor based on Unix-like kernels.^[6]

Overview

Hardware requirements

AMD/Intel based 64-bit computer
Memory: 4 MB (plus 2 MB for every additional core)
Hard Disk: 32 MB^[7]

One task per core

Multitasking on BareMetal is unusual for modern operating systems. BareMetal uses an internal work queue that all CPU cores poll. A task added to the work queue will be processed by any available CPU core in the system and will execute until completion, which results in no context switch overhead.^[8]

Programming

API

An API is documented^[9] but, in line with its philosophy, the OS does not enforce entry points for system calls (e.g.: no call gates or other safety mechanisms).

C

BareMetal OS has a build script to pull the latest code, make the needed changes, and then compile C code using^[10] the Newlib C standard library.^[11]

C++

A mostly-complete C++11 Standard Library was designed and developed for working in ring 0.^[12] The main goal of such library is providing, on a library level, an alternative to hardware memory protection used in classical OSes, with help of carefully designed classes.^[13]

Rust

A Rust program demonstration was added to the programs in November 2014, demonstrating the ability to write Rust programs for BareMetal OS.^[14]

Networking

TCP/IP stack

A TCP/IP stack was the #1 feature request.^[15] A port of lwIP written in C was announced in October 2014.^[16]

minIP,^[17] a minimalist IP stack in ANSI C able to provide enough functionalities to serve a simple static webpage, is being developed as a proof of concept to learn the fundamentals in preparation for an x86-64 assembly re-write planned for the future.

References

^ Seyler, Ian. "kernel.asm". BareMetal OS GitHub repository. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Voorsanger, Conrad (June 2, 2011). "Interview With Baremetal OS' Ian Seyler". OSNews. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
^ Adams, David (July 14, 2010). "BareMetal OS". OSNews. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
^ Benchoff, Brian (May 27, 2011). "64-bit OS written entirely in assembly". Hack A Day. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
^ Seyler, Ian. "Return Infinity (home page), The BareMetal advantage". Return Infinity. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Smith, Jesse (July 19, 2010). "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 363". DistroWatch. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
^ "BareMetal OS Requirements". Return Infinity (archived copy at Wayback Machine). Archived from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
^ "BareMetal OS Queue". Retrieved April 28, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian. "API documentation". BareMetal OS GitHub repository. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian (January 17, 2014). "Newlib build script". BeareMetal OS Google Group. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian. "newlib.sh". Build scripts for BareMetal OS and its related utilities, GitHub repository. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Lodyagin, Sergei (November 17, 2013). "Bare C++ library". BeareMetal OS Google Group. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Lodyagin, Sergei. "The Bare C++ library". The Bare C++ library GitHub repository. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian. "Add Rust example". BareMetal OS GitHub repository (legacy version). Retrieved March 18, 2018.
^ Seyler, Ian (August 22, 2013). "TCP/IP". BeareMetal OS Google Group. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian (October 31, 2014). "BareMetal and lwIP". BeareMetal OS Google Group. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Seyler, Ian. "minIP - A minimalist IP stack written in ANSI C". BareMetal OS GitHub repository. Retrieved May 24, 2017.