roxy-loader

Lightweight Rust bootloader for kernel development.

Quick Start

If you want to build your own kernel on top of roxy-loader, start from the template repository:

If you are adapting an existing kernel to use roxy-loader, you can use the template repository as a reference.

For more information, check the README of the template repository

C Support

If you want to use roxy-loader with a C kernel, you can refer to the C template.

[!WARNING] Although roxy-loader officially supports C kernels, it is not recommended. roxy-loader has the best support for Rust kernels.

Interface

This section assumes your kernel follows the same structure as the template repository, or that you are using the template directly.

Framebuffer

The framebuffer is available as bootinfo.framebuffer.

It currently provides:

• ptr(): returns the framebuffer base pointer as *mut u8
• size: total framebuffer size in bytes
• stride: framebuffer stride

Example:

unsafe {
    let ptr = bootinfo.framebuffer.ptr();

    for i in 0..bootinfo.framebuffer.size {
        ptr.add(i).write_volatile(0);
    }
}

Memory Map

Memory map access is not supported yet.

SMP

roxy-loader does not support SMP.

If you need SMP, use the ap-startup crate.

Developing roxy-loader

This repository itself is the loader implementation and its supporting crates.

Requirements

• Rust toolchain from rust-toolchain.toml
• qemu-system-x86_64
• optionally nix if you want to use the provided dev shell

Enter the dev shell with Nix:

nix develop

Or use your local Rust + QEMU installation directly.

Commands

Build and run the basic kernel for quick testing in QEMU:

cargo xrun-basic-kernel

Run host-side and kernel-side tests:

cargo xtest