Rust OS comparison

A comparison of operating systems written in Rust.

There are several open source operating systems written in Rust. Most of them are proofs of concepts. The only system that goes a step further is Redox. It comes with a window manager as well as basic applications like an editor and a file manager. Theseus is approaching maturity with the ability to execute legacy components in a WASM sandboxed environment.

• Redox (repository / homepage)
• Theseus OS (repository / homepage)
• Tock (repository / homepage)
• intermezzOS (repository / homepage)
• ParvaOS (repository)
• reenix (repository)
• rustboot (repository)
• RustOS (repository)
• QuiltOS (repository)
• Tifflin (rust_os) (repository)
• bkernel (repository)
• Quasar (repository)
• SOS (repository)
• MOROS (repository / homepage)
• Fexlix OS (repository)
• Aero (repository)
• Hermit (repository)
• Asterinas (repository)
• Twilight OS (repository)
• Proka OS (repository)

Name	Architectures	Pure Rust	Active?	Kernel architecture	Target	Userpace?	Optional GUI?	Contributors	Filesystem	Network stack	License
Redox	x86, x86_64, ARM64 and RISC-V	yes	yes	Microkernel	General purpose	yes	yes	60	RedoxFS/FAT32/ramfs	smoltcp	MIT
Theseus OS	x86_64, ARM WIP	yes	yes	Safe-language SAS/SPL OS1	General + Embedded	N/A	yes	25	Custom/FAT32	smoltcp	MIT
Tock	Cortex-M, RISC-V, x86	yes	yes	Safe-language SAS/SPL kernel with userspace	embedded	yes	no	264		custom	APL 2 / MIT
intermezzOS	x86_64	no	no	?	PoC	no	no	18	no	?	APL 2 / MIT
ParvaOS	x86_64	yes	yes	Monolithic	General purpose	no	yes	1	ParvaFS	?	GPL-3.0
RustOS	i386	?	no	None	PoC	no	no	10	no	None	APL 2 / MIT
rustboot	i386	?	no	None	PoC	no	no	8	no	None	MIT
bkernel	ARM	yes	no	?	Embedded devices	no	no	4	?	smoltcp	GPL with linking exception
SOS	x86_64	yes	no	Microkernel	PoC	no	no	3	?	None	MIT
reenix	Brown's CS167/9	no	no	Monolithic (current state)	PoC	no	no	3	?	None	unknown
Quasar	x86_64	?	no	?	?	no	no	2	?	None	?
Tifflin	x86_64/amd64	almost	yes	Monolithic	?	?	yes	1	ISO9660	?	2-Clause-BSD
MOROS	x86_64	yes	yes	Monolithic	General purpose	limited	no	1	MFS	smoltcp	MIT
Felix OS	x86_64	yes	yes	?	General purpose	?	no	3	[FAT16] Read Only	None	MIT
Aero	x86_64	?	yes	Monolithic	General purpose	?	yes	10	?	?	GPL
Hermit	x86_64, aarch64	yes	yes	Unikernel	Cloud and HPC	no	no	>30	virtiofs	smoltcp	Apache, BSD
Embassy	many	yes	yes	embedded framework	embedded	n/a	no	388	?	smoltcp	APL2 / MIT / CC 4.0
Hubris	many	yes	yes	message passing kernel	embedded	n/a	no	50	?	smoltcp	MPL 2.0
Asterinas	x86_64		yes	Framekernel	General purpose	?	?	42	?	smoltcp	MPL 2.0
Twilight OS	x86_64	yes	yes	Monolithic	General + Learning	yes	limited	2	MinixFS V3	smoltcp	BSD-3 Clause
Proka OS	x86_64	yes	yes	?	General + Learning	in progress	yes	2	?	?	MIT

Also worth noting: Robigalia, a sel4 userspace, written in Rust.

Blog posts and papers

-Writing the second video game for the Micro:bit in Rust

• Talking Tock Week

  • 5,
  • 4,
  • 3,
  • 2,
  • 1

• Theseus OS Documents

  • Theseus OS Book
  • Theseus OS Source Code Documentation
  • Theseus OS Conference Publications
  • Theseus OS source code on GitHub
  • Theseus OS Technical Blog

• FreeRTOS meets Rust

• Pragmatic Bare Metal Rust

• This week in intermezzOS:

  • 1,
  • 2,
  • 3

• Writing an OS in Rust

  • Returning from Exceptions
  • Allocating Frames
  • Printing to Screen
  • Setup Rust
  • Entering Long Mode
  • A minimal x86 kernel
  • Remap the Kernel
  • Kernel Heap

• This Week in Redox 1 / Redox News

• Redox is Serious

• Reenix: Implementing a Unix-Like Operating System in Rust (PDF)

• Experiences Building an OS in Rust

• Writing an OS in Rust in tiny steps (Steps 1-5)

• My Rust OS will never be finished (and it's a success!)

• Ownership is Theft: Experiences Building an Embedded OS in Rust (PDF)

• Using Rust for an Undergraduate OS Course

• Running Rust on the Rumprun unikernel

• Making Popcorn: Adding a disk to a Rust Rumprun Unikernel

• bkernel: a Rust Operating System

• (x86_64) Why are platform features such as the red zone enabled by default?

• Operating system development wiki

• Create a secure POSIX-compatible userland on top of seL4

• Betriebssystem Redox in Rust geschrieben (German)

Embedded Systems

• Safer microcontrollers almost here
• Exploring ARM inline assembly in Rust
• Bare Metal Rust
  • 3: Configure your PIC to handle interrupts correctly
  • 2: Retarget your compiler so interrupts are not evil
  • 1: Low-level CPU I/O ports
• Rust bare metal on ARM microcontroller
• Blinking an LED with Rust on a Beaglebone Black
• Zinc goals redefined and extended
• Rust on an Arduino Uno
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
• Rust on Arduino Due
• http://embedded.hannobraun.de/
• Raspberry Pi Bare Metal Programming with Rust
• Running Rust code on a BBC micro:bit micro-controller

Footnotes

1. Theseus is a safe-language OS that runs all components within a Single Address Space (SAS) and Single Privilege Level (SPL). ↩