Red Bear OS
A microkernel operating system written in Rust, derived from Redox OS
---
## What is Red Bear OS?
Red Bear OS is a general-purpose, Unix-like operating system with a **microkernel architecture**, written in **Rust**. It is a full fork of Redox OS, frozen at release 0.1.0, with added hardware support, filesystem drivers, and a KDE Plasma desktop path.
**Goals**:
- **AMD & Intel parity** — first-class support for both platforms on bare metal
- **KDE Plasma desktop** — Wayland-based desktop environment via the KWin compositor
- **Hardware GPU acceleration** — AMD GPU (amdgpu) and Intel GPU drivers via `redox-drm`
- **Modern subsystems** — USB, Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, ext4, GRUB, D-Bus
- **Offline-first builds** — reproducible from archived, BLAKE3-verified sources
## Our Git Server
Red Bear OS lives on a self-hosted Gitea instance at **https://gitea.redbearos.org**.
This is the canonical home for the fork — there is no GitHub / GitLab / Codeberg
mirror that is authoritative.
| Field | Value |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------|
| Host | `https://gitea.redbearos.org` |
| User | `vasilito` |
| Token | *(session-only — never stored in repo)* |
| Web UI | `https://gitea.redbearos.org/vasilito` |
| Main repo| `https://gitea.redbearos.org/vasilito/RedBear-OS` |
> **Token policy.** The `vasilito` token is a per-session credential and **must
> never** be committed to any tracked file. Use `git credential.helper` (store /
> cache / libsecret), `~/.netrc`, or `$REDBEAR_GITEA_TOKEN` env var. See
> [`local/AGENTS.md` § Our Git Server](./local/AGENTS.md) for the full operator
> runbook, mirror list, API reference, and recovery procedure.
## Quick Start
### Prerequisites
Linux x86_64 host with Rust nightly, QEMU, nasm, and standard build tools.
See the [Redox Build Guide](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/podman-build.html) for full setup.
### Build & Run
```bash
# Clone (read-only)
git clone https://gitea.redbearos.org/vasilito/RedBear-OS.git
cd RedBear-OS
# Authenticated clone (one-off) — supply token via env var, not literal here
git clone https://vasilito:${REDBEAR_GITEA_TOKEN}@gitea.redbearos.org/vasilito/RedBear-OS.git
# Recommended: use the Red Bear wrapper
./local/scripts/build-redbear.sh redbear-mini # Text-only target
./local/scripts/build-redbear.sh redbear-full # Desktop-capable target
# Boot in QEMU with the resulting image
make qemu
```
> **Build script:** `local/scripts/build-redbear.sh` is the canonical entry point. Bare
> `make all` works but bypasses the `.config` checking and `REDBEAR_ALLOW_PROTECTED_FETCH=1`
> gates that `build-redbear.sh` enforces. See `AGENTS.md` § Build Commands for full details.
### Public Scripts
| Script | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| `local/scripts/build-redbear.sh` | **Canonical** build wrapper for redbear-mini/full/grub |
| `scripts/run.sh` | Build and run in QEMU (`-b` to build, `-c ` for target) |
| `scripts/build-iso.sh` | Build a live ISO for bare-metal boot |
| `scripts/build-all-isos.sh` | Build all live ISO targets |
| `scripts/network-boot.sh` | PXE network boot helper |
| `scripts/dual-boot.sh` | Dual-boot installation helper |
### Config Targets
| Target | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `redbear-full` | Desktop | Wayland + KDE + GPU drivers + D-Bus services |
| `redbear-mini` | Console | Text-only recovery / install target |
| `redbear-grub` | Console | Text-only with GRUB boot manager |
## Current Status
Red Bear OS **boots to a login prompt** in QEMU with working wired networking, D-Bus system bus, hardware detection daemons, and filesystem support (RedoxFS, ext4, FAT).
| Area | Status |
|------|--------|
| Boot (ACPI/x2APIC/SMP) | ✅ Bare-metal proven |
| Userspace drivers (PCI, storage, net) | ✅ Working in QEMU |
| D-Bus system bus + services | ✅ Working (login1, PolicyKit, UDisks, UPower) |
| ext4 / FAT filesystems | ✅ Compiles, installer-wired |
| POSIX gaps (relibc) | 🚧 Bounded Wayland-facing support |
| DRM/KMS display drivers | 🚧 AMD + Intel compile; HW validation pending |
| Wayland compositor | 🚧 Bounded proof; Qt6/KF6 clients crash at init |
| KDE Plasma desktop | 🔄 In progress (Qt6/KF6 compile; KWin/QML blocked) |
| Wi‑Fi / Bluetooth | 📋 Planned (architected, implementation pending) |
## How It Works
Red Bear OS uses a **userspace driver model** — all drivers run as unprivileged daemons:
```
Kernel (microkernel)
└── schemes: memory, irq, event, pipe, debug
└── Driver daemons (userspace)
├── pcid → PCI enumeration
├── e1000d → Intel ethernet
├── xhcid → USB controller
└── vesad → Display framebuffer
```
The kernel provides minimal services (memory, interrupts, IPC). Everything else — filesystems, networking, graphics, input — runs in userspace.
## Documentation
- [Implementation Plan](docs/07-RED-BEAR-OS-IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.md) — roadmap and execution model
- [Desktop Path Plan](local/docs/CONSOLE-TO-KDE-DESKTOP-PLAN.md) — kernel → DRM → Mesa → Wayland → KDE
- [D-Bus Integration](local/docs/DBUS-INTEGRATION-PLAN.md) — session bus architecture
- [USB Plan](local/docs/USB-IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.md) — USB stack design
- [Wi‑Fi Plan](local/docs/WIFI-IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.md) — wireless architecture
- [Bluetooth Plan](local/docs/BLUETOOTH-IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.md) — BT stack design
- [Documentation Index](docs/README.md) — full doc map
## Contributing
Red Bear OS uses a **full fork** model. Upstream Redox sources are frozen and archived. All custom work lives in `local/`:
```
local/
├── patches/ # Durable changes to upstream source trees
├── recipes/ # Custom packages (drivers, GPU, system)
├── docs/ # Integration and planning docs
└── scripts/ # Build, test, and release tooling
```
We welcome contributions made with or without AI assistance — we care about **quality**, not how the code was produced.
## License
[MIT](./LICENSE) — same as upstream Redox OS.