ExectOS Operating System

The successful integration of the Memory Manager through PR #24 marks a pivotal moment in the development history of ExectOS, representing the culmination of several months of intensive low-level engineering and architectural refinement. As a project that aims to implement a brand-new XT architecture from scratch, the transition from a statically mapped environment to one with dynamic allocation capabilities is not merely a feature addition but a fundamental prerequisite for the maturation of all subsequent kernel services. The implementation of the Memory Manager provides the necessary infrastructure for the kernel to manage system resources with the fluidity required by modern general-purpose operating systems, moving beyond the limitations of pre-allocated buffers and fixed memory regions.

It has been several months since our last update. During this time, development of ExectOS has continued steadily, although much of the work has taken place deep within the kernel and boot process. While the original goal of delivering a fully functional memory manager has not yet been achieved, we believe this is a good moment to inform the community about the progress made and the challenges addressed along the way.

When we first started building ExectOS, we envisioned it as an operating system designed exclusively for UEFI-based systems. Over time, however, we realized that this requirement was an artificial limitation. Today, we are excited to announce that we have begun taking concrete steps toward supporting traditional PC/AT hardware with classic BIOS - broadening the reach of ExectOS to a much wider range of systems.

We are excited to announce the release of XTchain 3.0.2. While this update is relatively minor, it brings several important improvements aimed at enhancing Windows compatibility and streamlining workflows across platforms.

The project’s kernel, bootloader, and all associated modules have been migrated to C++. This transition was a complex and time-consuming effort that we deliberately prioritized over adding new features. Because the codebase was still relatively compact, undertaking this migration at this stage was significantly easier than it would have been later.

In total, the migration involved modifications across 297 files, with 16,671 lines of code added and 13,312 lines removed. The process culminated in the merge of 67 commits. Despite these internal changes, the public interface exposed through XTDK remains fully compatible with C. As a result, developers can write drivers in either C or C++.