ARK-OS/arkos

ArkOS

A Linux-based operating system built from scratch — designed to be easy to use, easy to compile, and open for customization.

See ArkOS: Comprehensive System Architecture for more details

✨ Features

Feature	Status
Custom BIOS bootloader (stage1 + stage2)	✅
VESA graphics boot animation (60 FPS expanding dot)	✅
Verified Boot (SHA256 key-signed OS binary)	✅
Native Swift splash screen via Linux framebuffer	✅
Linux kernel 7.0 with custom initramfs	✅
Prebuilt Clang/LLVM toolchain	✅
.ark configuration file format	✅
Modular build system with progress output	✅
Service Manager	🔜
Package Manager	🔜

🏗️ Building

Prerequisites

Tool	Purpose
clang (prebuilt, included)	C compilation
swiftc	Swift compilation
nasm	x86 assembly
python3	Boot image packing & signing
qemu-system-x86_64	Testing
mkfs.ext4	Disk image generation
cpio, gzip	Initramfs packing

Build & Run

cd arkos/
make build    # Compiles everything, generates disk images
make run      # Launches QEMU with the built images (BIOS Mode)
make run-uefi # Launches QEMU in UEFI Mode
make clean    # Removes all build artifacts

Note: UEFI mode (make run-uefi) currently has a few known errors and trying it out is not recommended.

The build system uses the prebuilt Clang toolchain at prebuilts/clang/ for all C compilation. No system compiler dependency.

Build Output

The build system shows modular progress:

╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║       ArkOS Build System v2.0        ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝

[ 1/14] Cleaning previous build
[ 2/14] Creating staging directories
[ 3/14] Integrating frameworks
[ 4/14] Preparing boot files
...
[14/14] Generating disk images

╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║          Build complete! ✓            ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝

Output Images

All images are generated in finished/:

Image	Description
boot.img	Bootloader + animation + kernel + initramfs
sys.img	System partition (frameworks, libraries)
vend.img	Vendor partition (DRM, keys, mirror info)
avb.img	Android Verified Boot metadata
vbmeta.img	Verified boot metadata
dtbo.img	Device tree blob overlay

📁 Project Structure

arkos/
├── boot/                    # Bootloader source & configs
│   ├── source/              # Assembly source (bootloader.asm, stage2.asm) and C source (bootloader.c)
│   │   └── animationframes/ # Pre-generated boot animation frames
│   ├── initramfs.img        # Base initramfs image
│   └── *.ark                # Boot configuration files
├── frameworks/              # OS frameworks (Swift, DRM, SwiftUI)
├── kernel/                  # Linux kernel source + prebuilt bzImage
├── prebuilts/               # Prebuilt toolchains
│   └── clang/               # LLVM/Clang 22 toolchain
├── system/                  # Core system components
│   ├── init.c               # PID 1 init process (Verified Boot)
│   ├── display/             # Display compositor (ui_daemon) and boot animation
│   ├── sha256.c/h           # SHA256 implementation for signing
│   └── fb_helper.c          # Framebuffer ioctl helper
├── vendor/                  # Vendor-specific files
│   ├── verify/              # Verified Boot keys & signing tools
│   ├── mirror/              # Mirror configuration
│   └── Widewine/            # DRM (Widevine) integration
├── arkrt/                   # ArkOS runtime monolithic daemon
├── Makefile                 # Top-level build entry point
└── finished/                # Build output (generated)

🔐 Verified Boot

ArkOS implements a custom Verified Boot chain:

1. The build system reads the signing key from vendor/verify/securebuild.ark
2. sign.py computes SHA256(KEY + arkrt_binary) → signature.bin
3. At boot, init.c recomputes the hash and compares against signature.bin
4. Mismatch → Kernel Panic (system halts with security warning)
5. Match → Boot continues into the arkrt daemon and UI layer

⚠️ Never commit your real signing key to a public repository. Use vendor/verify/key.py to generate new keys.

📄 License

See LICENSE for details.