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uniOS

uniOS is a custom x86-64 operating system written in freestanding C++20. It boots through the in-tree Meridian UEFI bootloader and starts a native desktop userspace session.

uniOS

Current System

  • Bootloader: Meridian, an in-tree x86-64 UEFI loader.
  • Boot handoff: Repo-owned BootInfo structure passed from Meridian to the kernel.
  • Build system: Meson + LLVM using toolchains/llvm.ini.
  • Default boot image: boot.img, a raw disk image with an EFI system partition and a writable UNI_DATA FAT32 partition.
  • Desktop session: /bin/init.elf launches the window manager, menubar, dock, and userspace applications.
  • Userspace: Native ELF programs under src/usr/, with libc wrappers, a GUI library, shell, terminal, and desktop apps.
  • Filesystems: Boot content from unifs.img; persistent data from FAT32 mounted at /data when available.
  • Drivers and subsystems: Paging, heap allocation, preemptive scheduling, syscalls, VFS, PCI, ACPI/APIC, PS/2 input, USB/xHCI, USB HID, USB mass storage, e1000, RTL8139, IPv4, TCP, UDP, DHCP, DNS, AC97, HDA, and framebuffer display output.

Repository Layout

  • src/bootloader/: Meridian UEFI bootloader.
  • src/kernel/, src/mm/, src/fs/, src/net/, src/drivers/: Kernel and subsystem code.
  • src/usr/: Userspace runtime, libc subset, GUI library, shell, window manager, desktop services, and apps.
  • include/: Kernel, driver, boot, and UAPI headers.
  • rootfs/: Authored runtime files and config templates staged into unifs.img.
  • appicons/, assets/, cursors/: Source assets used by the asset tools.
  • docs/: Project site.
  • docs/reference/: Architecture, shell scripting, and asset format notes.
  • tools/: Image, filesystem, rootfs staging, asset conversion, and QEMU helper scripts.
  • toolchains/: Meson cross-file configuration.

Runtime Asset Formats

uniOS uses generated binary asset formats in the runtime image:

  • .uoic: Icon packages.
  • .uocu: Cursor packages.
  • .uof: Font files.
  • .uowp: Wallpaper packages.

The default wallpaper package is generated from assets/wallpapers/wp_light.svg and assets/wallpapers/wp_dark.svg, staged as /usr/share/wallpapers/default.uowp.

Build Requirements

  • meson and ninja
  • clang, clang++, ld.lld, llvm-ar, and llvm-strip
  • nasm
  • qemu-system-x86_64 and OVMF UEFI firmware
  • python3 with Pillow and CairoSVG packages

Configure and Build

Release image:

meson setup build/release --cross-file toolchains/llvm.ini --buildtype release
meson compile -C build/release boot-disk iso

Debug image:

meson setup build/debug --cross-file toolchains/llvm.ini --buildtype debug
meson compile -C build/debug boot-disk iso
meson test -C build/debug --suite smoke --print-errorlogs

Common Run Targets

meson compile -C build/release run          # Standard QEMU run
meson compile -C build/release run-serial   # Run with serial console
meson compile -C build/release run-headless # Run without VGA output
meson compile -C build/release run-usb      # Run with USB storage emulation
meson compile -C build/release run-qemu-net # Run with network bridge
meson compile -C build/release run-qemu-full # Run with all features

Developer Checks

meson compile -C build/debug lint
meson compile -C build/debug analyze

Boot Images

The build system generates two primary boot targets:

  • boot.img: A raw disk image with an EFI system partition and a pre-allocated, writable UNI_DATA FAT32 partition. This is the recommended image for most users.
  • uniOS.iso: A UEFI-bootable ISO9660 image intended for CD/DVD or VM ISO boot testing.

Both images use the same Meridian loader and kernel. While the ISO media itself is read-only, uniOS will automatically discover and mount any accessible UNI_DATA partition for persistent storage.

For real hardware, write boot.img to a USB drive as a raw disk image.

Runtime Paths

  • System settings: /data/SYSTEM.CFG (fallback: /etc/system.conf)
  • Wallpaper settings: /data/WALLPAPR.CFG (fallback: /etc/wallpaper.conf)
  • Default wallpaper: /usr/share/wallpapers/default.uowp
  • Persistent data: Mounted at /data from FAT32 volume UNI_DATA

Documentation

License

MIT