================================================ Genode Labs Newsletter - August / September 2015 ================================================ Content 1. The Muen Separation Kernel as Genode base platform 2. Genode OS Framework 15.08 released 1. The Muen Separation Kernel as Genode base platform ----------------------------------------------------- Separation kernels represent the most extreme form of kernel architectures with respect to software complexity. Such kernels are designed to partition the underlying hardware platform into a static set of domains. In contrast to a microkernel, no dynamic management of resources is performed at runtime. Resources like memory and CPU time are assigned to the domains at system- integration time. On the one hand, the rigidity of this approach limits its application areas. On the other hand, it allows the kernel to become even less complex than a microkernel, and thereby aid its thorough evaluation or even its formal verification. This, in turn, makes separation kernels attractive in application areas with high-assurance requirements. Most separation kernels are proprietary software. However, with Muen, there exists an open-source separation kernel for the x86 architecture. Muen is developed by Codelabs in Switzerland. Apart from being open source, it is unique because it is implemented in the SPARK programming language, which guarantees the absence of implementation bugs like buffer overflows or integer overflows. Website of the Muen Separation Kernel: http://muen.sk Thanks to the close collaboration between the Muen developers and our team, the assurance of the Muen separation kernel can now be combined with the rich component infrastructure provided by Genode. From Genode's perspective, Muen is another architecture for our custom base-hw kernel. In fact, with Genode on Muen, a microkernel-based system is running within the static boundaries of one Muen partition. This way, the component isolation enforced by the base-hw kernel and the static isolation boundaries enforced by Muen form two lines of defense for protecting security-critical system functions from untrusted code sandboxed within a Genode subsystem. 2. Genode OS Framework 15.08 released ------------------------------------- Whereby the added support for the Muen separation is the flagship feature of Genode 15.08, the August release brings a vast number of improvements across the entire framework. Motivated by our increasing use of Genode/NOVA as our day-to-day OS, we addressed long-standing shortcomings of the NOVA kernel with respect to its kernel-memory management. At the user-facing side, the GUI stack became more flexible and versatile, improving the interactive usability, introducing tools for monitoring the system behavior, and optimizing the graphics performance. Furthermore, we enhanced the integration of VirtualBox with Genode/NOVA by adding audio input and output, enabling the dynamic resizing of guest OS windows, and supporting guest-provided mouse pointer shapes. These and many more improvements are covered by our detailed release documentation: http://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/15.08 About the newsletter -------------------- If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in our projects, we would appreciate you to forward this email. If you received this newsletter as a forwarded email, you may subscribe to the newsletter here: http://genode-labs.com/newsletter In the case of receiving this newsletter unintended, you can cancel your subscription at any time by replying to this email with the subject set to "unsubscribe". Best regards -- Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske Genode Labs http://www.genode-labs.com · http://genode.org Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
