How to compile software in Visopsys

[dalmegnu]

Hi!

I have seen that in Visopsys there isn't a C compiler like GCC (or other), so my question is... How can I compile my C code in Visopsys?

I have some C code that I want to compile.

Thanks.

[andymc]

Hi dalmegnu,

You're right, no one has done a cross-compiler for Visopsys yet. For the time being we're all using GCC on Linux.

We should create an SDK with the required libraries, headers, and cross-compiler, at least for using with Linux, but in the meantime, the easiest option would be to put your code into the Visopsys tree and build it there.

For example, the Disk Manager program lives in src/programs/fdisk. You could create a similar directory and build your code with a copy of the Disk Manager Makefile. It will invoke GCC with the correct library and include paths, and various other required options. Until we put together an SDK, or enable development within Visopsys, that's probably the easiest option.

Andy

[dalmegnu]

I am triying to compile the Visopsys (original) source code, but it give me some fails.

http://notes.io/wbpT

I have make, gcc and nasm, like the BUILDING.txt file says.

Thanks.

[andymc]

I can't click the link, this is a secure computer.

Sometimes newer versions of GCC can give new warnings; in the Makefiles you can remove -Werror from the arguments, if those are causing the build to fail (warnings are treated as errors, normally)

[dalmegnu]

I have compiled Visopsys from source and now I have a ISO file generated using "utils/image-cd.sh" script.

But, when I tried to execute my ISO on QEMU or VirtualBox it didn't load, just the blue screen.

[andymc]

Hmm, were you trying the compile the 0.77 code, or the preview 0.8 code?

(BTW, I'm finally getting around to doing the 0.8 release - just updating documentation and whatnot)

The 0.77 code had a problem with booting debug ISOs in some cases.

Also: are you building on a 64-bit OS? I've been using a 32-bit one, but I saw that some changes would be required for 64-bit. Just Makefile changes, I think, to force it to build 32-bit. Fairly soon I'll upgrade my own OS and tackle 64-bit stuff.

[dalmegnu]

Hmm, were you trying the compile the 0.77 code, or the preview 0.8 code?

(BTW, I'm finally getting around to doing the 0.8 release - just updating documentation and whatnot)

The 0.77 code had a problem with booting debug ISOs in some cases.

Also: are you building on a 64-bit OS? I've been using a 32-bit one, but I saw that some changes would be required for 64-bit. Just Makefile changes, I think, to force it to build 32-bit. Fairly soon I'll upgrade my own OS and tackle 64-bit stuff.

I compiled the 0.77 code. I use a 64-bit OS, but I had some problems, so I finally compiled Visopsys using a 32-bit GNU/Linux-based distribution running on VirtualBox at my 64 bit computer.

[ronaldlees]

Hmm, were you trying the compile the 0.77 code, or the preview 0.8 code?

(BTW, I'm finally getting around to doing the 0.8 release - just updating documentation and whatnot)

The 0.77 code had a problem with booting debug ISOs in some cases.

Also: are you building on a 64-bit OS? I've been using a 32-bit one, but I saw that some changes would be required for 64-bit. Just Makefile changes, I think, to force it to build 32-bit. Fairly soon I'll upgrade my own OS and tackle 64-bit stuff.

Can't wait to give the .8 version a run. I wonder what types of additions you've put into the new revision of the OS?

[andymc]

Hi Ronald! The release version is pretty close to the preview I posted months and months ago. Buying and renovating the house, and preparing for the baby, and work, have kept me very busy. One thing I didn't do before was update the changelist. Here's the probably-final version:

-------------
Version 0.8 31/08/2016
-------------

Overview: This major release offers an updated look, touch support, new
programs and GUI features, better widescreen viewing, and improved
performance. It includes new icons, a basic compression library, FAT
filesystem resizing, improved internationalization including Russian and
Turkish translations, and an OHCI (USB 1) driver - reaching the milestone of
supporting all existing USB controller types.

- All of the icons have been replaced with ones from (or adapted from) the
Oxygen icon set.
- All of the desktop background (wallpaper) images are new
- There are new default colours, making for a slightly darker theme.
- The login and first boot screens have had a facelift; they're now full-
screen windows with a new splash image.
- Window title bars are thicker, and checkboxes and radio buttons have been
enlarged.
- Added a Virtual Keyboard ('keyboard') program for touchscreen input, which
can also be clicked with the mouse. It is located in the Programs area, and
is started automatically in an iconified mode when touchscreen hardware has
been detected. The icon shows in the right corner of the top taskbar menu,
and can be tapped/clicked to show or hide the virtual keyboard.
- Added a new, basic Image Editor ('imgedit') program, which features zoomable
viewing, color picking, freehand drawing, lines, rectangles, and squares
(filled or outline).
- Added a new, graphical Font Editor program - to replace the old command-line
'fontutil' program - that enables the viewing and editing of Visopsys'
proprietary bitmapped font format (.vbf). By default, it presents a list of
fonts installed in the /system/fonts directory. Otherwise, clicking on any
font file in the File Browser will load it using the Font Editor. Extra
command-line-only functionality for creating, importing, and converting .vbf
files is still supported.
- Added a simple Archive Manager ('archman') program, which can open and
display compressed archives supported by the compression library. This
initial version is limited to extracting files.
- Added a System Diagnostics ('sysdiag') program for testing memory and disks.
- Added 'libmono' monospace fonts, replacing the 'xterm' font in most
instances. Adapted from Liberation Mono.
- Improved support for Windows ICO icon format images, including XOR mapping
(alpha channel translucency) for 32-bit images, and AND-masking for
transparency.
- The mouse pointer, button images, and icons are now drawn using alpha
channel blending
- The window library's file list widget now attempts to use the icon itself,
when choosing an icon for an icon file. Supported image types now appear as
small thumbnails in their icons.
- The 'clock' program has been updated so that it shows as a label in the
top taskbar menu, rather than a small window at the bottom of the screen.
- The operating system loader now attempts to select a video mode that matches
the hardware's native/best aspect ratio, for wide-screen displays. The user
can override this in the Display Settings window, or at boot time by pressing
'Esc' during kernel loading, and selecting a mode from a menu.
- The Keyboard Mapping ('keymap') program has been updated to use the
graphical keyboard from the window library. Editing maps now selects the
appropriate character set for the keyboard language.
- The Devices ('lsdev') program has been updated to use the new window tree
component, rather than just displaying a flat listing of devices.
- Added per-user window system configuration (colors, sizes, fonts, etc)
- Added per-user desktop configuration (wallpaper, taskbar, icons, etc)
- Added a graphical keyboard widget to the window library, with dynamic size
and the ability to change keymaps. Used by the 'keymap' and 'keyboard'
programs.
- Added a pixel editor widget to the window library, allowing images to be
viewed and/or edited at a fine level of detail.
- Added a window 'tree' component for displaying expandable/collapsable
hierarchies of items, such as files and directories. Used by the 'lsdev'
program.
- Added an 'archive list' widget to the window library. It is analogous to
the file list used by the file selection dialog and the file browser, but
operates on the contents of archives as implemented by the compression
library.
- Programs can now add icon and label components to the top taskbar menu.
Used by the 'clock' and 'keyboard' programs. Programs can now iconify so that
they are minimized, and don't appear in the normal Window menu, but show an
icon in the taskbar menu (similar to the Windows 'tray').
- The mouse pointer can now be hidden (for touch operation).
- Pressing the keyboard 'menu' key will raise any applicable context menu
for the focused component.
- For best performance, the kernel no longer loads a splash image during
initialization.
- Container components can now contain an 'active' sub-component; like a focus
component, it should receive things like keyboard events, even if it doesn't
actually have the focus ('sub-focus' or focus-within-a-focus). The
designation of the active component is implementation-specific, depending on
the type of container.
- The window library's file selection dialog now allows for selecting
directories, and requires the type (file or directory) to be specified at
creation time.
- The window shell now uses the kernel's linked lists to manage its
collections of menu items and menu bar components
- Removed the kernelFontGetDefault() function (fontGetDefault() in user space)
and replaced it with kernelFontGetSystem() (not exported to user space) to
return the kernel's built-in basic font. Added a default small fixed-width
font variable to the window system, which defaults to xterm-normal-10.
- A number of icon files have been renamed to remove the word 'icon'
- The Disk Manager now has the option to write a new, empty partition table,
of any supported type (currently DOS/MBR and GPT).
- The Disk Manager can now copy disks and partitions even when there are read
or write errors; this way it can be used to recover data from a failing disk.
If a large read or write operation fails, after prompting the user about
whether to continue, it will restart from the failure point and attempt each
sector of the failed operation individually.
- The Disk Manager now has a checkbox in graphics mode, to show or hide
removable disks. It is un-checked by default.
- The Disk Manager now offers a way to view 'raw' partition table data via the
new 'Disk info' item in the Disk menu.
- The Disk Manager now shows slices for reserved areas, instead of showing all
un-partitioned space as empty.
- Added FAT filesystem resizing capability, available in the Disk Manager.
- Added a kernelFileGetTempName() function (fileGetTempName() in user space)
for generating names for temporary files and directories.
- The kernel's file handling code now uses the CPU timestamp for recording
the last access to a file or directory, instead of the system timer.
- Added USB touchscreen support and a touchscreen abstraction layer, akin to
but distinct from the generic mouse functionality.
- Added an OHCI (USB 1) host controller driver. All 4 USB controller types
are now supported.
- The kernel's Linear Framebuffer graphics driver can now do 15/16 bits-per-
pixel alpha channel blending
- The XHCI (USB 3) driver is now aware of extra 'scratchpad buffer' bits
introduced in the 1.1 specification.
- The entire operating system is generally more internationalized, and aware
of appropriate character sets (a.k.a code pages) and fonts to use for keyboard
mappings and translation strings.
- Added per-user keymap and character set settings, using the environment
variables ENV_KEYMAP and ENV_CHARSET.
- Added a new Russian translation, and fonts and character set data for
iso-8859-5 (Russian).
- Added a new Turkish translation, and fonts and character set data for
iso-8859-9 (Turkish).
- Added Russian and Turkish keyboard mappings
- Added language-specific kernel.conf files for Russian and Turkish.
- Automatic keymap selection mapped to language codes in
/system/config/keymap.conf
- The kernel's keyboard code will now use the character set appropriate to the
language specified in the keymap data.
- New kernel functions kernelCharsetToUnicode() and kernelCharsetFromUnicode()
(charsetToUnicode and charsetFromUnicode in user space), and a configuration
file /system/config/charset.conf to map language codes to character sets.
- The new keymap file format version 2 adds a version number, and the mapped
values are now stored as unicode. Keymap files now include shift-altgr maps.
- New character set handling - <sys/charset.h>
- Added per-window and per-component character set selection, and new kernel
functions kernelWindowSetCharSet() and kernelWindowComponentSetCharSet()
(windowSetCharSet and windowComponentSetCharSet in user space) for setting
them.
- Implemented a compression/decompression library, libcompress, with initial
support for the DEFLATE algorithm and Gzip and Tar file formats.
Functionality is defined in <sys/compress.h>, <sys/deflate.h>, <sys/gzip.h>,
and <sys/tar.h>.
- The kernel loader can now recognize/classify TAR archive files.
- Overhauled the fonts system. Version 2 of VBF font file headers have been
modified to contain standardized information about the font family, style,
points, charset, dimensions, etc. Kernel fonts are now dynamic and Unicode-
based, and contain information about what character sets are supported by the
in-memory instance.
- There is a new kernelFontGet() function replacing kernelFontLoadSystem(),
where the caller specifies the font family, style, size, and perhaps desired
character set (otherwise that can be determined from the environment) and
receives a kernel pointer/object key. kernelFontGet() scans the in-memory
structures for the desired qualities, character set, etc., and dynamically
loads more from individual font files as necessary to supplement the in-memory
version. That way, VBF fonts can contain smaller character sets (ASCII 0-127,
ISO-8859-X 128-255, etc.).
- Added a performance timer library (libtimer) that can be used to measure
time spent in individual functions. See <sys/timer.h>.
- Integrated PPM image support courtesy of Giuseppe Gatta's (nextvolume on the
Visopsys forum). The kernel loader can now recognize/classify PPM images.
- Added scrolling to the text-mode vshCursorMenu so that we can use it to do
things like partition type selection for MS-DOS labels in the Disk Manager (has
way too many choices for the current vshCursorMenu).
- The 'mkdir' command now accepts a -p option to create parent directories
recursively.
- Added a -h (halt) command line option to the 'shutdown' program,which
behaves like the -r (reboot) option and shuts down and/or powers off the
system without prompting the user in graphics mode.
- Added <sys/bmp.h>, <sys/ico.h>, and <sys/jpg.h> header files, which replace
a lot of what was previously found in the corresponding kernel headers.
- Moved a number of additional definitions for both kernel and user space into
system header files. These include values and strings for colors
(sys/color.h), mouse input (sys/mouse.h), user logins (sys/user.h),
and the GUI (sys/desktop.h and sys/window.h).
- Added <sys/lang.h> with a number of 2-letter language codes
- Added the system header file <sys/png.h>.
- Tidied up the kernelProcessorX86.h macros and moved them to
<sys/processor.h> for use by user space and library code (such as memcpy(),
memset(), crt0.c, and the timer library). Each X86 instruction used is a
macro. To the extent possible, more complex operations are composed
exclusively of other macros. Also added a macro for copying data backwards
(direction flag set) and processor macros are now used in the libc memmove()
function.
- Changed the name of the 'Lance' ethernet driver (kernelLanceDriver) to
kernelNetworkPcNetDriver.
- Implemented the strtol(), strtoll(), strtoul(), and strtoull() C library
functions.
- The kernelGraphicDrawText() function now has an (optional) character set
parameter
- kernelWindowShellRefresh() now returns void.
- Fixed: The Disk Manager now checks for mounted partitions before doing
'delete all'
- Fixed: Destroying a component from a still-live window could cause crashes
as soon as the user moved the mouse.
- Fixed: The Calculator program was not correctly performing square root and
factorial operations.
- Fixed: The 'clock' program was was showing the weekday (+1) and day of the
month (-1) incorrectly since 0.77.
- Fixed: Error messages from the 'iconwin' program attempting to load non-
existent language-specific versions of config files.
- Fixed: The EXT filesystem driver's interpretation of the inode 'blocks'
field was incorrect.
- Fixed: EHCI handling of full-speed USB 2.0 hubs was incorrect due to an
error in the specification.
- Fixed: The USB keyboard driver no longer assumes any particular buffer
ordering of keystroke data.
- Fixed: A small issue in the setting of endpoint contexts while configuring
XHCI device slots.
- Fixed: A bug in the XHCI driver in which certain class-specific device
requests could be confused with standard USB requests. In particular, setting
keyboard lights would cause keyboard devices to be erroneously re-configured.
- Fixed: Booting from a debug build ISO image could fail. Removed the
processorRepInPortXX() and processorRepOutPortXX() macros from
<sys/processor.h>. They were only being used by the IDE driver, and seemed to
be causing corruption in debug mode.
- Fixed: A bug in the kernelWindowFocus() function wherein the focusWindow
variable would remain set to the previous value if the new window can't focus.
- Fixed: The kernelWindowSetSize() function wasn't working correctly unless
window layout had already been done, and kernelWindowSetVisible() was called
afterward.
- Fixed: The kernelStackTrace() function has been corrected for live-tracing
the current process.

[ronaldlees]

That took a long time to read!

Anyway, thanks for the update info. Sure seems like it'll be fun to see the results of all that hard work, after you've uploaded the revision.