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Build DreamOS in Windows(Cygwin)

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Emily edited this page Jan 28, 2017 · 7 revisions

Build DreamOS in Cygwin

This guide will help you to build DreamOS in Windows platform using Cygwin environment.

Cygwin

First, download and install Cygwin environment.

Cygwin package manager

Installing Cygwin you will see a package manager. It is needed to add some essential software, particulary for cross compiling.

  • Choose Category in View select box and in search box write gcc-core.

Do not press enter or you will go ahead to install cygwin, the package list refreshes automatically on keydown.

There will be some packages in Devel category.

  • Click to the "skip" label of gcc-core: GNU Compiler Collection (C, OpenMP)

Do not select other gcc software, we don't need them

  • Now search g++
  • Select only gcc-g++: GNU Compiler Collection (C++)
  • Now search make
  • Select only make: The GNU version of the 'make' utility
  • Now search autoconf
  • Select the latest autoconf version (now it's 2.69)

Cross compiler

To build DreamOs in Cygwin, we need a cross-compiler because the native gcc is able to produce only binaries/objects in PE format (windows exe). DreamOS kernel executable follows ELF format.

This tutorial is useful also for developers that need to build a cross-compiler for linux box. The only difference consists in searching software using your distro package manager (apt, yumi).

Like before, we need additional software from Cygwin package.

  • Search bison
  • Select it in Devel category
  • Search flex
  • Select it in Devel category
  • Search gmp
  • Select it in Libs category
  • Search libgmp-devel
  • Select it in Libs category
  • Search mpfr
  • Select it in Libs category
  • Search libmpfr-devel
  • Select it in Libs category
  • Search mpc
  • Select libmpc3 in Libs category
  • Select also libmpc-devel in the same category
  • Search texinfo
  • Select it in Devel category
  • Search isl
  • Select it in Libs category
  • Select also libisl-devel in the same category
  • Search cloog
  • Select cloog-isl in Libs category
  • Select libcloog-isl-devel in Devel category

Finally click to "Forward" button and finish Cygwin installation.

Binutils & GCC version

What version of GCC and binutils we should compile? It depends on your version of native GCC. Normally it is a good idea to compile the next version of GCC. If you type:

gcc --version

in Cygwin terminal, you will see your version of native GCC.

Let's consider you have version 5.4.0, we will compile the next (GCC 6.1.0).

About binutils, we need to get the right version, working with the GCC we have chosen.

In this page you can find all successful build tests. For example, if you choose to compile GCC 6.1.0 you will need Binutils 2.27.

  • Get your chosen version of GCC here
  • Get your chosen version of Binutils here

Build the compiler

We will assume

  • GCC and Binutils source code in $HOME/src/
  • All generated binaries written to /opt/cross (manually create this folder)
  • Target platform i686-elf

Type

export PREFIX="/opt/cross" 
export TARGET=i686-elf 
export PATH="$PREFIX/bin:$PATH"

Tip: To compile quicker, if you have got multicore cpu, add -j #CPU option to make

For example:

make -j 2 <other options>

If you have 2 cores, and so on.

Binutils

cd $HOME/src
mkdir build-binutils
cd build-binutils
../binutils-x.y.z/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix="$PREFIX" --with-sysroot --disable-nls --disable-werror
make
make install

GCC

First we need to download essential source code needed for GCC, if you haven't got it in our environment.

cd gcc-x.y.z
contrib/download_prerequisites

After download finishes start to build

cd $HOME/src
which -- $TARGET-as || echo $TARGET-as is not in the PATH

mkdir build-gcc
cd build-gcc
../gcc-x.y.z/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix="$PREFIX" --disable-nls --enable-languages=c,c++ --without-headers
make all-gcc
make all-target-libgcc
make install-gcc
make install-target-libgcc

Testing the cross compiler

If everything worked well, typing

i686-elf-gcc --version

will show the version of your cross compiler :)

IMPORTANT: append C:\"cygwin path"\opt\cross\bin\ to your Windows PATH otherwise the cross compiler will be not available restarting terminal.

Software for DreamOS build

To build DreamOS we need to download and install some software for Windows:

  • Bochs (emulator)
  • Ext2Fsd (ext2/ext3 filesystem drivers for Windows, needs reboot)
  • Git (to get DreamOS repository)
  • Nasm (assembler)
  • Imdisk (virtual floppy image mount)

IMPORTANT: After installing this software, remember to append Bochs, Git and Nasm executable path to Windows PATH variable.

Get DreamOS

To clone DreamOS repository, type:

cd $HOME
git clone https://github.com/inuyasha82/DreamOs

in cygwin terminal.

Edit .bochsrc

Now if you have got the DreamOS folder, you will se a file named .bochsrc. Open it with an editor.

Replace line

display_library: x

With

display_library: win32

Replace line

#mouse: enabled=1, type=ps2

With

mouse: enabled=0, toggle=f12

Assuming C:\Program Files\Bochs-2.6.8\ is your bochs installation path: Replace line

romimage: file=/home/vetinari/utils/bochs-2.6.7/bios/BIOS-bochs-latest

with

romimage: file="C:\Program Files (x86)\Bochs-2.6.8\BIOS-bochs-latest"

Replace line

vgaromimage: file=/home/vetinari/utils/bochs-2.6.7/bios/VGABIOS-lgpl-latest

with

vgaromimage: file="C:\Program Files (x86)\Bochs-2.6.8\VGABIOS-lgpl-latest"

Replace line

update_freq=10

with

update_freq=40

to have better video frequency performance

Comment line

gdbstub: enabled=1, port=1234, text_base=0, data_base=0, bss_base=0

Test DreamOS

./start.sh --compile bochs

Enjoy DreamOS :D

IMPORTANT: never open Cygwin terminal as administrator or you will be into trouble!

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