stage0

The master repository for this work is located at: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/stage0/ If you wish to contribute: pull requests can be made at https://github.com/oriansj/stage0 and https://gitlab.com/janneke/stage0 or patches/diffs can be sent via email to Jeremiah (at) pdp10 [dot] guru or join us on libera.chat’s #bootstrappable or update the wiki at https://bootstrapping.miraheze.org/wiki/Stage0 Those wishing to work on POSIX ports of stage0 can do so here: https://github.com/oriansj/stage0-posix Those wishing to do work with CPM/DOS porting let me know (I have some easy work for you) Goal This is a set of manually created hex programs in a Cthulhu Path to madness fashion. Which only have the goal of creating a bootstrapping path to a C compiler capable of compiling GCC, with only the explicit requirement of a single 1 KByte binary or less. Additionally, all code must be able to be understood by 70% of the population of programmers. If the code can not be understood by that volume, it needs to be altered until it satisfies the above requirement. Also found within This repo contains a few of my false start pieces that may be of interest to people who want to independently create the root binary. I welcome all bug fixes and code that aids in the above stated goal. A link to the successful POSIX ports for x86, AMD64 and AArch64 in the POSIX submodule FYI I’ll be adding more code and documentation as I build pieces. ALL code in this REPO is under the GPLv3 or Later. In order to build stage0 and all the pieces, one only needs to run make all. Each individual piece can be built by simply running make $piece with $piece being replaced by the actual part you want to make. The only pieces that have any external dependencies are the Web IDE (Python3+CherryPy), libvm (GCC) and vm (GCC+GNU getopt) Those wishing to work in Python, please checkout https://github.com/markjenkins/knightpies He does an amazing job Future Software Add more ports to more hardware platforms. Hardware Implement the Knight processor in FPGA and then convert into TTL. Need to know information This repository utilizes submodules, so you need to clone this repository using `git clone –recursive`. If you have already cloned it run `git submodule update –init` or after a pull be sure to do: `git submodule update –recursive` stage0 The stage0 is the ultimate lowest level of bootstrap that is useful for systems without firmware, operating systems nor any other provided software functionality. Those with such capabilities can skip this stage as it requires human input. Hex0_monitor The Hex0_monitor provides dual functionality: It assembles hex0 programs manually typed in It writes the characters, providing minimal text input functionality. The first is essential for creating of the root binaries. The second is essential for creating source files before you have an editor. The distinction is important because only the Hex0 assembler in stage1 is built by the Hex0_monitor and from that point onwards it is used as a minimal text editor until a more advanced text editor can be bootstrapped. stage1 The stage1 is dependent on the availability of text source files and at least a hex0 monitor or assembler. The steps in this stage can be fully automated should one trust their automation or performed manually on any hardware they trust. Regardless of which method selected, the resulting binaries MUST be identical. Hex0 The Hex0 assembler or stage1_assembler-0 is the head node of the stage1 bootstrap. Its functionality is reduced compared to the stage0 monitor simply because it only performs half of the required functions; that of generating binaries from hex0 source files. Its most important features of note are: ; line comments and As careful notes are essential for this stage. Hex1 The Hex1 assembler or stage1_assembler-1 is the next logical extension of the Hex0 assembler, single character labels and relative displacement using a prefix. In this case labels start with : thus the label a must be written :a and the prefix for relative offsets is @ thus the pointer must be written @a Further because of the mescc-tools standardization of syntax @label indicates a 16bit relative displacement. Alternative architectures porting this need not limit themselves to 16bit displacements should they so choose, rather they must provide at least 1 size of displacement or if they so desire, they may skip and write their Hex2 assembler in Hex0 but as it is a much larger program, I recommend against it. Hex2 The Hex2 assembler or stage1_assembler-2 or hex2_linker is as complex of a hex language that is both meaningful and worth the effort. Hex2’s important advances over Hex1 are as follows: Support for long labels (Minimal 42 chars, ideally unlimited) Support for Absolute addressing ($label for 16bit absolute addresses) Support for Alternative pointer sizes (%label for 32bit relative and &label for 32bit absolute addresses) Optionally support for !label (8bit relative addressing) and ?label (Architecture specific size/properties) and/or @label1>label2 %label1>label2 displacements may be implemented should the specific architecture require it for human readable hex2 source files (such as ELF headers). M0 M0 or M0-macro or M1-macro is the minimal string replacement program with string processing functionality required to convert an Assembly like syntax into Hex2 programs that can be compiled. Its rules are merely an extension of Hex2 with the goal of reducing the amount of hex that one would need to write. The 3 essential pieces are: DEFINE STRING1 HEX_CHARACTERS (No extra whitespace nor \t or \n inside definition) “Raw strings” allow every character except ” as there is no support for string escapes, including NULL; which are converted to Hex chars for Hex2 To convert back to the chars inside of the “quotes” with the addition of a traili