knix

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knix is a 32-bit x86 experimental operating system built from the boot sector all the way to a user-space shell.

It connects the main operating-system pipeline end to end: MBR, Loader, kernel initialization, interrupts, memory management, threads, processes, file system, system calls, and user-program execution.

What You Can See Now

Shell interaction	File-system test

Project Focus

The goal of knix is straightforward: bring up a minimal but real operating system and make the boot process, shell, process management, and file-system workflow directly observable.

• Boots from a raw disk image and enters the kernel through MBR -> Loader -> Kernel.
• Completes basic initialization for protected mode, paging, interrupts, timer, keyboard, and thread scheduling.
• Runs a shell in user space and accesses kernel capabilities through system calls.
• Creates directories, reads and writes files, traverses directories, and runs file-system regression scenarios.
• Executes user programs and covers process-lifecycle operations such as fork / exec / wait / exit.

Quick Start

The current repository uses CMake + Ninja as the build entry point. On the local machine, the recommended CMake binary is the one bundled with CLion Toolbox:

/home/kkkzbh/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/clion/bin/cmake/linux/x64/bin/cmake \
  -S . -B build -G Ninja

/home/kkkzbh/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/clion/bin/cmake/linux/x64/bin/cmake \
  --build build --target osbuild

/home/kkkzbh/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/clion/bin/cmake/linux/x64/bin/cmake \
  --build build --target bochs

After entering the shell, you can try:

ls
pwd
ps
mkdir /tmp
cd /tmp