Following a full repo-wide grep and source review of all quirks
files (mod.rs, pci_table.rs, usb_table.rs, dmi.rs, toml_loader.rs,
pci.rs, i2c-hidd/quirks.rs), this companion to QUIRKS-SYSTEM.md
documents the current ground-truth state of the subsystem as of
2026-06-29.
Findings:
- 11 Rust + 6 C consumers of the redox-driver-sys quirks engine
- 1 separate DMI quirks engine in i2c-hidd (uses RON, not TOML)
- 6 dead-code entry points that return empty flags:
* lookup_pci_quirks_full actions (Vec::new)
* lookup_xhci_controller_quirks_full (stub)
* lookup_hid_quirks (stub)
* load_dmi_acpi_quirks (stub)
* load_platform_dmi_quirks (stub, empty PLATFORM_RULES)
* load_drm_panel_orientation (empty PANEL_ORIENTATION_TABLE)
- 4 PciQuirkFlags bits (22-25) have no entry in PCI_FLAG_NAMES,
so they cannot be set via /etc/quirks.d/*.toml
- DMI is consumed in two incompatible ways:
* redox-driver-sys reads /scheme/acpi/dmi as a flat key=value file
* i2c-hidd reads /scheme/acpi/dmi/{system_vendor,...} as per-field
subpaths, and matches case-insensitive
- redbear-quirks stages 10 TOML files to /etc/quirks.d/; the
TOML layer is fully live (this corrects an earlier claim
that it was dormant)
The audit concludes that the system is correctly initialized and
utilized per its design. No redesign is needed; the existing
QUIRKS-SYSTEM.md is mostly accurate but understates how many
defined functions return empty data and how many flag names
are missing from the TOML schema.
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
Quick Start
Prerequisites
Linux x86_64 host with Rust nightly, QEMU, nasm, and standard build tools.
See the Redox Build Guide for full setup.
Build & Run
# Clone
git clone https://gitea.redbearos.org/vasilito/RedBear-OS.git
cd RedBear-OS
# 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.shis the canonical entry point. Baremake allworks but bypasses the.configchecking andREDBEAR_ALLOW_PROTECTED_FETCH=1gates thatbuild-redbear.shenforces. SeeAGENTS.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 <config> 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 — roadmap and execution model
- Desktop Path Plan — kernel → DRM → Mesa → Wayland → KDE
- D-Bus Integration — session bus architecture
- USB Plan — USB stack design
- Wi‑Fi Plan — wireless architecture
- Bluetooth Plan — BT stack design
- Documentation Index — 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 — same as upstream Redox OS.