users January 2021

users@lists.genode.org

21 participants
13 discussions

Help with nested signal context warnings
by Colin Parker 17 Feb '21

17 Feb '21

Hello Genodians, I'm hoping someone can help or point me to a good reference for the error that pops up occasionally saying "attempt to handle the same signal context twice (nested)". This happens within some Sculpt components (decorator, depot_query), but also happens in this USB wifi driver I'm trying to make. Mostly I want to understand it - my long explanation is below. My basic understanding is Genode gets upset when waiting for a signal within another signal handler. However, the "natural" way I would like this driver to behave is to be signal driven - all code is responding to some signal or other. However, sometimes one needs to do synchronous IO operations. If it is truly forbidden ever to wait within a signal handler, I considered a few options, but found all to be non-ideal. 1) Use stub signal handlers to insert elements into a work queue and drive everything from an event loop. This seems like reinventing the signal mechanism, but might be what's required. 2) Build state machines to break up synchronous IO operations with no waiting at all. This makes simple-looking operations complicated and increases debugging complexity. 3) Busy-wait for synchronous operations. Probably a big performance penalty, and obviously wasteful. So I proceeded, because I do notice that sometimes it is OK to wait within a handler (i.e. the warning does not occur). But I still get the warning other times, and I can't quite figure out when or why it happens. Initially, I thought that if I separated things out, so that, say, Signal_context A waits, but can only receive signals for Signal_context B or C, it would be OK. Now, I am not totally sure I've actually achieved this, but I think that I have, and I've become suspicious that I don't really understand the "rules." So, is there a way to understand when one can wait safely wait within a signal handler? Is it really as simple as "Signal A cannot be generated while waiting if a handler for A is on the stack?" Does the App vs IO signal distinction come into play (I have both). Also, is there a way to get a Genode app to output a stack trace - I can patch that warning mesage to output a stack trace and at least see what actually happened? Thanks as always to the Genode community for sharing your knowledge with me. Best regards, Colin

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general improvements for Sculpt
by Edoardo Mantovani 09 Feb '21

09 Feb '21

Hello for everyone, Some days ago I've used your os (Sculpt v.20.08) from bootable usb and I remained genuinely impressed regarding its style and its security base idea, after having read some informations on it, I was able to develop some tips which I would like to share with the community: ======================= Language Compatibility ======================= *) there is no support for Italian keyboard, I was able to find only german, french and english .chargen files, for a next update would be great to add other charger files. *) I can give my full support for translating document pages in Italian, this could (apparently) be great for increasing the possible audience, but Honestly I doubt that an Italian community could be created (we are quite far in the security-technological field, No comment on that, please). ======================= BEGINNER FRIENDLY OS? ======================= *) I know that this operating system is not developed to be user friendly, but it could be great to put some helps for beginners, like a graphical instruction box when clicking on certain things in Leitzentrale, a graphical example could be the following: |------------| |-------| | depot | (when clicking on it appears an info box) --> | info | |_______| |-------| (sorry for the bad ASCII image) ======================= GRAPHICS ======================= *) Probably the best point for your os consists on its graph graphics, the idea of Leitzentrale is innovative if we confront it to Windows os or similar, a small hint could be to create the same style for the "file" part, so something which could be similar to graphviz2 output instead of "block representation". { direct link to my idea: https://graphviz-perl.github.io/ see the graph under the "Input file # 17 - t/gen.parse.stt.t" example, s/other_names/folder_names/g } *) small consideration: I find some graphical glitch in the "motif decoration" 's node in Leitzentrale (it flew up and down without any input) [Still studying this..] ======================== DOCUMENTATIONS ======================== *)Your site is pretty cool and interesting, documentation is great but I haven't seen anything on Sculpt, could be great to add like UNIX's manpages system. ========================= WIRELESS SUBSYSTEM ========================= *) I asked for the documentation on it before speaking (Thanks Alexander), it is extremely similar to Linux wireless subsystem, except for a modified libnl support for user space, could I have the source code for it? I would like to study the modification you've apported for libnl. I am pretty fascinated by those modified subsystems. *) It would be great to extend the range for other devices, I saw you implemented only the iwlwifi driver, would be great to implement also brcmf (both HardMac and SoftMac) and even Qualcomm's wireless card, I can give my full support for that. /* *) I have some ideas for controlling the iwlwifi blob, for now I would like to test it on my own, in general it would be great to ""customize"" the "blob loading". */ ======================== Custom Patching system ======================== *) I've seen the potential of the software based hardware management, my biggest hint should be to implement a security patching system with a similar interface to Depot (something like: choose customization part, insert code patch [like linux's kernel system] and process it) | V could be a dangerous door for local-cyber-attacks ======================== TERMINAL DOWNSIDE ======================== *) Using the inspect shell I wasn't able to scroll up, do you know if it's implemented? It should be better to have a scroll bar, ======================= DEPOT SYSTEM ======================= As I understood, depot is like a package manager and the various repositories contains various applications, Here I'll insert my ideas on it: *) Many of those repos are inaccessible even if I am connected to the wireless network: { I am not able to download/fetch the following repos: [-] ehmry [-] blarson [-] rite } *) in general there isn't much variety in the repos, many packages are the same, it would be great to extend the "candidates" list, I can contribute to the development of several CLI apps. *) I can work for inserting some scripting languages interpreter packages inside Genode { [-] Minised [-] lightweight Perl languages (microperl, miniperl or my customized languages) } and maybe adapt them for the OS needs and tasks. *) A quite interesting idea would be to add local depots, In general: -->) We have 2 devices, (featured phones or similar) -->) The first is the client, the second is the depot server -->) through Bluetooth, BLE or even other standards (nfc??) could be cool to use the repository stored in the second phone into the first. [ Obviously this is extremely complex to do: we should set a correct cryptographic key exchange and set an authentication rule, this could lead an ∞ of problems: *) Hijacking or other Bluetooth attacks are possible, the worst case scenario is that an untrusted depot server can inject the device, bypassing the security authentication restriction. If this will be implemented, it MUST be well structured. *) Not every device has the same bluetooth version, with some works it could be implemented a workaround which act like a switch statement: { example: switch(bluetooth_version){ case (version == 5.0 ) {do this} case (version == 4.1 ) {do that} } } *) Obviously it must be implemented a tiny bluetooth subsystem, I suggest using Linux's one. (I have also the 2008-2009 documentation on it). *) This idea could be a great topic for your blog, I can help with the formal verifications (pi calculus?) exposition and with other implementation details. ] I have many other ideas, These are some "fast" considerations for improve the OS quality, my "knowledge CV" is here: (https://github.com/Baseband-processor) Let me know if you have some doubt, Regards and Thanks for you work, Edoardo Mantovani, 2021 -- Edoardo Mantovani Independent security researcher email: Baseband(a)cpan.org Urbino, Italy

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Network issue
by Dima Sokolov 01 Feb '21

01 Feb '21

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Re: Launchers and clipboard issue
by Dima Sokolov 01 Feb '21

01 Feb '21

Thank you Norman, the launchers start apps normally once I copy the respective default config. But the pasting issue still persists. Here is my relevant /config/clipboard: <config verbose="yes" match_labels="yes"> <flow from="leitzentrale" to="desktop" /> <flow from="desktop" to="leitzentrale" /> <policy label_prefix="leitzentrale" domain="leitzentrale"/> <default-policy domain="desktop"/> </config> My clipboard config is based on the default one - I just changed the verbose setting to "yes". The log shows these messages the first time I try to paste: "This plugin does not support raise()" "This plugin does not support grabbing the keyboard" Every next time, I get this message: "Error: invalid clipboard XML syntax" If I set match_labels to "no", I don't get these messages and pasting works. What would be the proper clipboard config when match_labels is set to "yes"? Best regards, Dima Sokolov

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ARM, VMM and the run example
by fixed-term.peter.jacobi＠sojus-software.de 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

Hi, after trying to understand a little bit deeper at the "arm_vmm.run" file in an effort to expand this to run 2 VMMs parallel, I faced some issues I do not understand well. So I hope to get here your expert help to clarify what I missundersand. 1.- Arm-Run-File: I modified the vmm_arm.run adding a 2nd component vm2 as you can see in the attached file. The result of this you can see in the attached result-file. So no entry point is found for this 2nd component. 2.- Source, wandering through the source structure /repos/os/src/ I found the "terminal_expect_send" in the test directory. What do i expect to find in the os-test-directory structure? Greetings, Peter

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Launchers and clipboard issue
by Dima Sokolov 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

Hello, I'm experiencing an issue using Sculpt OS 20.08. Adding a config section to app launchers prevents certain apps from working: qt5-textedit, falkon, system shell. The component tree shows them as a new component, but no window is opened. The manual says that a <config> node within a launcher overrides the one provided by the package. It seems like overriding <config> here disables some important settings and prevents the apps from running properly. How to extend the default config or replace just a few parts instead of completely overriding it? For qt5-textedit with my custom config section, I get log messages like: "Warning: raise: raise not implemented" "child "text_editor" exited with exit value 1" If I try to do the same by using the "+" menu and adding <config> to a running component (e.g. qt5-textedit) in /config/managed/deploy and restarting the component, it doesn't prevent the app from running. However, adding <config> <clipboard="yes"/> </config> doesn't allow pasting in qt5-textedit and falkon. Neither does <config> <paste="yes"/> </config> in system shell. Pasting into qt5-textedit, falkon and system shell doesn't work with my config and the log shows this: "Error: Invalid clipboard XML syntax" On the other hand, copying works normally, and I can copy text from qt5-textedit, falkon and system shell into an Inspect window. Both copy and paste work inside an Inspect window. What would be the proper configuration for the launchers? Here are the relevant launchers: <launcher pkg="genodelabs/pkg/qt5_textedit/2020-09-18"> <config> <clipboard="yes"/> </config> <route> <service name="File_system"> <child name="ram_fs"/> </service> <service name="Gui"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="Report" label="shape"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="Report" label="clipboard"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="ROM" label_last="clipboard"> <parent/> </service> </route> </launcher> <launcher pkg="cproc/pkg/falkon/2020-10-30"> <route> <service name="File_system" label="config"> <child name="config"/> </service> <service name="File_system" label="downloads"> <child name="ahci-1.fs"/> </service> <service name="Gui"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="Nic"> <child name="nic_router"/> </service> <service name="Report" label="falkon -> shape"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="Report" label="clipboard"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="ROM" label_last="clipboard"> <parent/> </service> <service name="Rtc"> <parent/> </service> </route> <config> <clipboard="yes"/> </config> </launcher> <launcher pkg="genodelabs/pkg/system_shell/2020-09-18"> <route> <service name="Gui"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="File_system" label="config"> <child name="config"/> </service> <service name="File_system" label="report"> <parent label="report"/> </service> <service name="File_system" label="target"> <child name="ram_fs"/> </service> <service name="File_system" label="fonts"> <child name="fonts_fs"/> </service> <service name="ROM" label="vimrc"> <parent label="config -> vimrc"/> </service> <service name="ROM" label="clipboard"> <child name="themed_wm"/> </service> <service name="Report" label_last="clipboard"> <parent/> </service> <service name="RM"> <parent/> </service> </route> <config> <copy="yes"/> <paste="yes"/> </config> </launcher> Best regards, Dima Sokolov

2 1

Error Building "Sculpt-20.08"
by John J. Karcher 27 Jan '21

27 Jan '21

Hello Everyone, I hope this isn't too obvious, but I am trying to build "sculpt-20.08", and have run into a problem. I was able to work around the outdated external "curl" library, but I am stuck on a linker problem. After outputting: MERGE rump_tools.lib.a it generates a lot of messages along the lines of: /usr/bin/ld: /home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/genodelabs/bin/x86_64/rump/2020-09-16.build/var/libcache/rump_tools/lex.yy.o:(.bss+0x240): multiple definition of `locators'; /home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/genodelabs/bin/x86_64/rump/2020-09-16.build/var/libcache/rump_tools/files.o:(.bss+0x210): first defined here Then it ends with: collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make[6]: *** [/home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/genodelabs/src/rump/2020-09-16/lib/mk/rump_tools.mk:88: /home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/genodelabs/bin/x86_64/rump/2020-09-16.build/var/libcache/rump_tools/bin/nbconfig] Error 1 make[5]: *** [var/libdeps:75: rump_tools.lib] Error 2 make[4]: *** [Makefile:296: gen_deps_and_build_targets] Error 2 make[3]: *** [/home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/tool/depot/mk/build_bin_archive:200: /home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/genodelabs/bin/x86_64/rump/2020-09-16.build/bin] Error 1 make[2]: *** [/home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/depot/var/build.mk:300: genodelabs/bin/x86_64/rump/2020-09-16] Error 2 make[1]: *** [/home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/tool/depot/build:134: execute_generated_build_mk_file] Error 2 make: *** [/home/mainuser/Devel/genode_main/genode/tool/depot/create:59: build] Error 2 I've seen better error messages than "Error 1" and "Error 2" in my day. :^) Are those "multiple definition of" messages errors or warnings? Does anyone else have any ideas on this? (I have the complete output, if it's helpful.) Thanks! -- John J. Karcher devuser(a)alternateapproach.com

2 2

Opening apps in dedicated workspaces
by GPT 27 Jan '21

27 Jan '21

Hi, I hope that it is not too late to ask your community to ensure that apps will open in the workspace from which they are called and not in the current workspace. To be more precise, after starting my computer I choose 5 apps to get opened. 2 in workspace 1, 2 in workspace 2 and 1 in workspace 3. Before the completion of their start I choose to be in workspace 4. None of the 5 apps should open in workspace 4! This feature would also be a general option, like: "Allow apps to start in current workspace: false/true". Thanks in advance.

2 1

Stealing focus matter
by GPT 23 Jan '21

23 Jan '21

Hi, I hope that it is not too late to ask your community to consider very seriously the matter of stealing focus that other OS/DEs suffer from. To be more precise, after starting my computer I choose 5 apps to get opened. While they are opening I choose the 2nd one (which opened) to work with. Now, the other 3 apps should complete start without coming forward and interrupt my work. They just appear in the task bar, either flashing, lighting or not. This feature would also be a general option, like: "Allow stealing focus: false/true". Thanks in advance. PS: "Always on Top" is not a SERIOUS solution at all!!! Discussing with some DE developers I was told that it is a matter of OS and not of DE. OS allows app windows to comes up.

2 1

Install Genode on desktop PC
by Edoardo Mantovani 23 Jan '21

23 Jan '21

Hi for everyone! I am new to Genode os, I've tried it for an once and I found it beautiful, but honestly I still don't know if (and how) I can install it on "my hardware's " pc. (I am currently using Sculpt 20-08) Please Helps, Regards, -- Edoardo Mantovani Independent security researcher email: Baseband(a)cpan.org Urbino, Italy

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users January 2021