Genode OS Framework release 16.11 Nov 30, 2016Version 16.11 revisits the most fundamental low-level protocols of the framework to further improve its scalability, refines the virtual networking facilities, adds support for smart cards, and improves the NOVA kernel. The fundamental mechanism of Genode is the interplay between parent and child components. This interplay remained unchanged since the very first version more than ten years ago. With the current release, we ultimately took the chance to revisit those low-level aspects of the framework in the light of the design of modern components. Specifically, we replaced the former fully synchronous model of interaction with asynchronous communication. Even though this change is barely visible at the API level of the framework, it greatly eases the validation of the framework's most crucial components and facilitates the scaling-up of Genode-based systems. As the second prominent improvement, we refined the design and configuration interface of the recently introduced network routing facilities. Whereas the initial version was primarily concerned with the details of network packet processing, the new version is tailored to the most prominent use cases and towards the ease of use. Further highlights of the current release are the added support for using smart cards, kernel improvements of the NOVA hypervisor, updated VirtualBox versions, and a virtual file system for generating time-based passwords. The topics are covered in more detail by the release documentation of version 16.11... |
