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)	✅
UEFI bootloader with GOP animation	✅
Verified Boot (SHA256 key-signed OS binary)	✅
Native Swift splash screen via Linux framebuffer	✅
Linux kernel 7.0 with custom initramfs	✅
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Support (ARM64)	✅
Prebuilt Clang/LLVM toolchain	✅
.ark configuration file format	✅
Android-style build system (envsetup.sh + type command)	✅
Cross-architecture test commands (UEFI/BIOS x86↔ARM64)	✅
Anti-aliased rounded corner rendering	✅
Optimized mouse cursor rendering	✅
CPU & RAM usage monitoring	✅
arkrt as Monolithic PID1 Service	✅
Declarative ArkUI Framework	✅
Service Manager	✅
Package Manager	🔜

Building

Prerequisites

Tool	Purpose
clang (prebuilt, included)	C/C++ compilation (all architectures)
swiftc	Swift compilation
nasm	x86 assembly
python3	Boot image packing & signing
qemu-system-x86_64 / qemu-system-aarch64	Testing & Emulation
mkfs.ext4, mkfs.vfat, mtools, parted	Disk image generation
cpio, gzip	Initramfs packing

Build & Run

cd arkos/

# Step 1: Source the build environment (like Android's envsetup.sh)
source envsetup.sh

# Step 2: Select your target architecture (like Android's lunch)
type arm64          # ARM64 target (Raspberry Pi 4)
type x86_64         # x86_64 target (PC / QEMU)

# Step 3: Build
make                # Full build for selected target

Cross-Architecture Testing

make test-uefi          # Test x86_64 UEFI (KVM on x86 host, TCG on ARM host)
make test-bios          # Test x86_64 BIOS (KVM on x86 host, TCG on ARM host)
make test-uefi-arm64    # Test ARM64 UEFI (KVM on ARM host, TCG on x86 host)
make test-bios-arm64    # Test ARM64 direct kernel boot

Test targets auto-detect the host CPU and use hardware acceleration (KVM) when possible, falling back to software emulation (TCG) for cross-architecture testing.

Raspberry Pi 4 Flashing

To write the compiled ARM64 image to an SD card for real hardware:

sudo dd if=finished/rpi4/rpi4.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress
sync

All compilation uses the prebuilt Clang/LLVM toolchain with target triples:

• x86_64: clang --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
• ARM64: clang --target=aarch64-linux-gnu

Build Output

The build system shows modular progress:

╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║       ArkOS Build System v4.0        ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝

[ 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/ (or finished/rpi4/ for ARM64):

Image	Description
boot.img	Bootloader + animation + kernel + initramfs
sys.img	System partition (frameworks, libraries)
vend.img	Vendor partition (DRM, keys, mirror info)
vbk.img	Verified Boot Key — bootloader verifies sys.img/vend.img signatures
vbmeta.img	Boot metadata — mount configuration (vbmeta.ark)
dtbo.img	Device tree blobs and overlays for the kernel
rpi4.img	(ARM64 only) Flashable SD card image combining all partitions

📁 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
│   ├── rpi4/                # RPi4 boot firmware and config
│   ├── initramfs.img        # Base initramfs image
│   └── *.ark                # Boot configuration files
├── envsetup.sh              # Android-style build environment setup
├── frameworks/              # OS frameworks (DRM, SwiftUI)
├── hardware/                # Hardware-specific configurations
│   └── rpi4/                # Raspberry Pi 4 config (.ark)
├── kernel/                  # Linux kernel source + prebuilt bzImage
├── prebuilts/               # Prebuilt toolchains and SDKs
│   ├── clang/               # LLVM/Clang 22 toolchain
│   ├── Swift/               # Precompiled Swift 6.3.2 runtime & stdlib
│   └── mimalloc.o           # Microsoft mimalloc memory allocator
├── system/                  # Core system components
│   ├── apps/                # System apps (setup_app)
│   ├── display/             # Display compositor (ui_daemon) and boot animation
│   ├── services/            # Service configuration definitions (.serve)
│   ├── sysroot/             # x86_64 system root
│   └── sysrootaarch64/      # ARM64 system root
├── vendor/                  # Vendor-specific files
│   ├── verify/              # Verified Boot keys & signing tools
│   ├── mirror/              # Mirror configuration
│   └── Widewine/            # DRM (Widevine) integration
├── arkrt/                   # ArkOS runtime monolithic daemon (PID1) and libraries
├── 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, arkrt recomputes the hash and compares against signature.bin
4. Mismatch → Kernel Panic (system halts with security warning)
5. Match → Boot continues starting the UI layer and Services

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

📄 License

See LICENSE for details.