ChrisOS Research Project¶

Source branch: main Documentation baseline: da3df29cb397 Publication model: static / revision-bound

Abstract. ChrisOS is an experimental operating-system ecosystem combining an x86-64 higher-half kernel, ChrisC and CLVM, a native compiler/assembler/linker path, ChrisFS, a graphical desktop, software and paravirtual graphics, and the ChrisVM/ChrisCPU emulator. This documentation builds the prerequisites from the physical foundations of computing and connects them to the concrete implementation in main.

Computing layers — The conceptual sequence runs from matter to applications; each layer introduces mechanisms grounded in preceding layers.

Structure of the corpus¶

The corpus separates theory, architecture, implementation, validation, limitations and roadmap. A capability is not treated as proven merely because source exists. The Source Atlas is mechanical; authored chapters explain meaning, invariants, ownership, concurrency, failure modes and subsystem relationships.

ChrisOS overview — High-level organization of the current ecosystem.

Collections¶

Volume	Scope
01-foundations — Physical and digital foundations	Matter, electrical charge, semiconductor devices, MOSFETs, CMOS logic, Boolean algebra, combinational and sequential circuits.
02-computer-architecture — Computer architecture	Datapaths, control, instruction sets, x86-64 execution, privilege, caches, memory hierarchy, buses, MMIO and DMA.
03-boot — Boot and executable formats	Power-on state, firmware, UEFI, Limine, ELF loading, linker layout and the transition into the ChrisOS entry point.
04-kernel — Kernel architecture	Privilege boundaries, monolithic modular organization, exceptions, interrupts, SMP, processes, ELF user execution and system calls.
05-memory — Memory systems	Physical memory allocation, virtual addressing, four-level paging, CR3, TLBs, heaps, ownership and multiprocessor invalidation.
06-storage — Storage and filesystems	Block devices, ATA/AHCI/NVMe/VirtIO concepts, sectors, DMA, filesystem structures, journaling, ChrisFS and installation.
07-language-systems — Languages and toolchains	Lexing, parsing, semantic analysis, intermediate forms, bytecode, JIT compilation and the ChrisC/native toolchain paths.
08-graphics — Graphics systems	Pixels, color, framebuffers, scanout, composition, rasterization, depth, VirtIO-GPU, VirGL and programmable shaders.
09-emulation — Machine emulation and virtualization	Instruction interpretation, architectural state, buses and devices, ChrisVM/ChrisCPU and the boundary to future hardware virtualization.
10-networking — Networking	Network interface devices, packet movement, Ethernet/IP/UDP/TCP concepts and the current VirtIO networking paths.
11-desktop — Desktop and applications	Window management, composition, input routing, built-in ChrisC applications and system workloads.
12-self-hosting — Self-hosting and bootstrap	Compiler bootstrapping, internally produced objects and executables, kernel rebuild milestones and dependency reduction.
13-real-hardware — Installation and real hardware	GPT, ESP, UEFI boot media, hardware profiles, driver evidence and the distinction between emulation and physical-machine support.
14-validation — Validation and reliability	Host tests, QEMU gates, physical-hardware evidence, invariants, fault containment, stability auditing and reproducibility.
15-specifications — Specifications and formats	ChrisVM contracts, ChrisO, boot protocols, filesystem formats, ABIs, graphics protocols and externally defined specifications.
16-history — Architecture history	Revision-bound history of architectural changes, superseded designs and the reasons interfaces moved.

Evidence policy¶

Current source on main.
Reproducible tests and gates on the same revision.
Current in-repository specifications.
Historical audits, identified by their revision.
Roadmap explicitly marked as future work.