Howdy Norman and fellow Genodians
Starting off on a honest footing, I'd have to summarize 2024 acknowledging that my "engine" is chronically under-powered for the goals I set to myself each year. In fact those last few months I was struggling when just keeping up with new Genode releases (red queen syndrom, run to stay still), let alone making progress in my code, let alone learning more about Genode and Goa (so as to possibly publish my apps as packages, be they user convenience apps or developer tools) and so on... So I'll refrain from setting goals to myself altogether this time, will just mention a hint or two. "Worst" thing that can happen, next year I end up being actually high-energy and productive and in need of improvising a roadmap on-the-fly *g*.
But -- I still met one of my goals for 2024 though, scoring a solid "yes" on the question "can I use h-on-Genode with Falkon on all my computers". I checked that again with the recent package upgrades prompted by an ABI change: I had to update all related computers in this house, and verified yet again that I can boot up any of them with my USB thumbdrive in seconds, click 'Download' on the relevant package(s), and run Falkon once the download is complete. Cannot ask for more as far as that (specific/narrow) functional aspect is concerned.
For next year now -- last month I started elaborating a scheme whereby I'd implement some sort of Genode-based NAS (Network Attached Storage) for this household, but looking around it seems the entry model iMX SoC goes for half a grand, so that'll have to wait until the prices go down massively. Or maybe I'll get a cheap rasp. Pi instead (hopefully they are still cheap these days? they retailed for $35 when I first heard of them eons ago) and use Linux initially.
The most likely thing to occur, and soon, is setting up my Debian laptop with an NFS server (done) and my 'main' developer box as an NFS client (in progress), which should allow me to edit files the way I'm used to, removing a point of friction when working on Genode. Then we'll see if my Genode productivity rises a bit.
As to more distant goals, I'm still interested in my (technically "my wife's" ^^) PinePhone. Now that I got it to run Sculpt OS, after finding a micro-SD-card that actually works with it, and that I'm a Debian user (sort of), there's nothing preventing me any more from doing custom Sculpt OS builds, to try and optimize the system for 2 GB mem usage and so on, and return to testing the basics (phone calls) some more etc.
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As always, kudos to you Norman for having the patience and self-discipline to keep the Genode code base tidy and refactored and trim the technical debt. I wish I could be as efficient in my own code.
- Has Genode's development during 2024 been in your interest?
- Or do you find important aspects neglected?
- How was your practical experience with Genode in 2024?
The aspect that affects me most is the mixer transition, which occured many months ago already but which I'm only now near to tackling (hopefully in early January).
Keeping up to date with Genode releases is now a well-oiled routine for me, and this year was no exception and even improved a bit thanks to Debian Linux.
- Which directions would you regard as most exciting or pressing?
- What are your personal interests and plans for 2025?
Optimizations in the FS stack are something I keep an eye on. I'll never allow myself to say "pressing!" as I know it's a huge endeavour, and one should not rush to optimization before everything is clean and refactored. That said, I think I will be able to help a bit with those in terms of Q.A., seeing as my VFS use-cases are out of the beaten path a little and thus extend the coverage and verification, and given that my project's test suite tends to "push" Genode's vfs a little, in terms of coverage (corner cases) ad in terms of being demanding performance-wise, so as to reveal things of interest in that area.
Cedric