Mini now boots (q35/KVM) all the way to the getty "Red Bear login:" prompt
on VT2 with zero kernel panics. Root-cause fixes across submodules + config:
- config: 00_base.service zsh->mkdir (a full shell startup hangs an init
oneshot; the earlier 'echo/mkdir also hang' result was a silent config
override running zsh). 00_ptyd.service notify->{scheme=pty} (ptyd signals
readiness via its scheme fd; notify made init block on a byte forever).
- kernel: wrmsr_safe/rdmsr_safe #GP recovery so /scheme/sys/msr can't panic
the kernel (cpufreqd's P-state MSR write #GP'd on KVM, halting the boot
before login). base: ptyd scheme type + hwd ACPI enum -> debug (noise).
installer: warn on config [[files]] override. relibc/bootloader: prior
getrlimit + warning-demotion pointers.
- build-redbear.sh: fix host-fstools staleness (installer/redoxfs never
rebuilt on source change), prefix rebuild-every-build (touch libc.a), add
concurrent-build flock.
Submodule pointers: base 8aa8616d, installer 460d9530, kernel 155d01b1,
relibc a7663b3a, bootloader 6e119641.
Multiple fixes to make redbear-bare actually build and progress
through boot:
config/redbear-bare.toml:
- filesystem_size: 96 -> 192 MiB. The bare image packages ~153 MiB
of installed content (zsh, base, base-initfs, kernel, relibc,
userutils, libgcc, libstdcxx, plus coreutils/extrautils/etc.),
so 96 MiB triggers installer ENOSPC during commit.
- Override 31_debug_console.service with postinstall=true so the
override wins over minimal.toml's version that uses
/scheme/debug/no-preserve (which busy-loops when the debug
scheme returns ENODEV in the bare initfs).
recipes/core/base-initfs/recipe.toml:
- bare_initfs() now only references BINS in the base workspace
(init, logd, ramfs, randd, zerod, ptyd). getty is removed from
BINS because it lives in userutils, not base.
- Copy getty from the sysroot into the initfs after the cargo
build (analogous to the existing redoxfs/ion/driver-manager
sysroot copies).
- Filter the init.d copy under REDBEAR_BARE_INITFS to keep only
services for binaries we actually built (logd, randd, zerod,
runtime.target, ramfs@.service, 90_initfs.target, 50_rootfs).
The mainline 23 services reference fbcond/vesad/acpid/pcid/
fbbootlogd/hwd/inputd which aren't in the bare BINS, so
init would try to start them and busy-loop.
- Synthesize minimal 00_ptyd.service and 30_getty.service units
in the initfs since they're built/copied but not in the
mainline init.initfs.d.
- Override 00_runtime.target to add ptyd and getty as weak
requires (the mainline target references nulld/rtcd which we
filtered out).
Address 4 gaps in the new redbear-bare target per review:
Gap 1: add REDBEAR_BARE_INITFS env var to base-initfs recipe. When
set, BINS=init logd ramfs randd zerod ptyd getty instead of 22+
daemons/drivers. The bare target can now opt into the truly-minimal
initfs via the env var.
Gap 2: add ptyd and getty to the cp case-list so they go to /initfs/bin
not /initfs/lib/drivers. Without this, the getty 2 service cannot
start because ptyd (which it requires) isn't in the initfs.
Gap 3: add /etc/issue (pre-login banner) and /etc/motd (post-login
message) to the bare config. Standard Unix login surface polish.
Gap 4: trim packages in the bare config. Override ca-certificates,
pkgutils, kibi (from minimal.toml) to empty. Bare only needs:
zsh, coreutils, base, base-initfs, kernel, relibc, userutils,
libgcc, libstdcxx.
Build invocation:
REDBEAR_BARE_INITFS=1 make live CONFIG_NAME=redbear-bare
(NO AI attribution)
Phase 4.3 patch-loss audit (the user's recurring concern about
'very important patches due to build system deficiencies') revealed
that since Round 4, the operator's own diagnosis work had made 2
patches obsolete. Per the user's 'upstream preferred' policy, when
the operator's own work supersedes a Red Bear patch, we archive.
P0-canary (operator-superseded):
- Original: Phase 1.0A absorbed the canary diagnostic into kernel
commit 6e9613e6 ('diag: serial canary characters at kernel init
checkpoints')
- Obsoleted by: 66a5243f ('diag: remove all diagnostic serial canary
chars and info! debug logging')
- Reason: After the kernel build stabilized, the operator removed the
diagnostic noise. The canary's purpose (early-boot serial output)
is no longer needed.
P5-context-mod-sched (operator-abandoned):
- Original: Patches re-export SchedPolicy in src/context/mod.rs
- Obsoleted by: dc51e67d ('fix: remove unresolved SchedPolicy import
(leftover from reverted ACPI commit)')
- Reason: The patch adds 'SchedPolicy' to a re-export but the
SchedPolicy type itself doesn't exist in the fork. The patch
is incomplete without a corresponding type definition; the
operator's failed attempt to add the type was reverted.
Both moves follow AGENTS.md principle:
'When upstream Redox already provides a package, crate, or
subsystem for functionality that also exists in Red Bear local
code, prefer the upstream Redox version by default.'
The patches were the operator's own work; when the operator decided
the work was no longer needed (cleanup, feature reversion), the
patches were retired. 'Upstream preferred' in spirit: Red Bear
prefers clean, well-tested upstream-equivalent functionality over
locally-maintained diagnostic noise and half-finished features.
After this commit:
Active patches: 119 (was 121)
Archived: 96 in legacy-superseded-2026-07-12/
All forks: 0 orphans
Updates the local/sources/base submodule pointer to pick up the
PIIX4 IDE BAR quirk + vgaarb logging + archiso loop_mnt, and
updates the base-initfs recipe to cross-compile loop_mnt before
the redox-initfs-ar archive step.
See local/sources/base commit 2055dcd for the individual
changes.
P2-2: Login rate limiting (userutils/login.rs):
- Tracks consecutive failures, resets on success
- 3+ failures: exponential delay up to 30 seconds
- Applies to both password and blank-password login paths
P2-3: Network stack in initfs (base-initfs + service files):
- Added e1000d, rtl8168d to base-initfs BINS
- 60_smolnetd.service: network stack in initfs
- 61_dhcpd.service: DHCP client in initfs
- Network available before switch_root
Part of COMPREHENSIVE-FIX-AND-IMPROVEMENT-PLAN Phases P2.
- Use full 40-char commit hash in base recipe.toml so the cookbook's
caching logic correctly recognizes already-fetched sources (short
hashes always missed the cache, causing patches to re-apply on top
of already-patched source).
- Add git clean -fd before git reset --hard in fetch.rs so untracked
files from previous patch applications are removed before re-patching.
- Remove ehcid/ohcid/uhcid from base-initfs BINS list (same fix as
base recipe, these drivers don't exist in the current upstream).
With these fixes, redbear-live-mini builds and boots to login prompt in QEMU.
Derivative of Redox OS (https://www.redox-os.org) adding:
- AMD GPU driver (amdgpu) via LinuxKPI compat layer
- ext4 filesystem support (ext4d scheme daemon)
- ACPI fixes for AMD bare metal (x2APIC, DMAR, IVRS, MCFG)
- Custom branding (hostname, os-release, boot identity)
Build system is full upstream Redox with RBOS overlay in local/.
Patches for kernel, base, and relibc are symlinked from local/patches/
and protected from make clean/distclean. Custom recipes live in
local/recipes/ with symlinks into the recipes/ search path.
Build: make all CONFIG_NAME=redbear-full
Sync: ./local/scripts/sync-upstream.sh
vasilito