run/noux_vim yields black SDL window on linux_x86

[Jookia]

On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 11:27:45AM +0200, Norman Feske wrote:
> Hi Alex,
> 
> On 17.09.2015 10:41, Alexander Senier wrote:
> > I'm trying to run some more elaborate demos on with Linux as the base
> > system. My host is a Debian Stretch (x86_64), I'm on master which I
> > checked out this morning (5cf8c49c).
> > 
> > When trying to run 'noux_vim', a completely black SDL window (no text or
> > anything) shows up. The following is output on the command line:
> > 
> > $ make run/noux_vim
> 
> unfortunately, all but the simplest noux scenarios don't work on Linux.
> Ironically, 'fork' is not implemented on this base platform. On regular
> L4-like microkernels, it is possible to remotely manipulate address
> spaces. So the noux runtime is able to copy the address space of the
> forking noux process to another one. The Linux kernel does not allow us
> to do that (well, at least when not using ptrace or a similar hook).
> 
> Consequently, implementing fork on Linux calls for a different
> implementation where the noux process itself plays a more active role
> (i.e., issuing the Linux clone syscall directly, copying the locally
> implemented region-manager structures). It is actually quite tricky. So
> far, I found that the hassle wasn't worth the effort.
> 
> The plain noux.run script does work because is solely executes 'ls',
> which does not rely on fork. In contrast, the noux_vim.run scenario
> requires fork because Vim temporarily spawns a shell at startup.
> 
> Do you deem noux as critical in your Linux-based scenario? If yes, we
> should investigate to best way how to go forward.
> 
> Cheers
> Norman

Sorry to jump in, but running noux_vim in qemu with base.foc32 as the platform
also gives a black screen. Could this be related?