Node9 is a hosted 64-bit operating system based on Bell Lab's Inferno OS that
uses the Lua scripting language instead of Limbo and the LuaJIT high-peformance
virtual machine instead of the Dis virtual machine. It also uses the libuv
eventing and I/O library to maintain maximum portability, efficient event
processing and multicore thread management on POSIX and Windows platforms.
It is intended for traditional distributed processing, command and control,
simulation as well as well as cloud management (or anything else really).
One of the key design concepts was to bring the ease of use of dynamic
functional/OO programming to the event-based world. Why program your
event loops using callbacks and baton passing when you can leverage
linear programming of Lua tasks and dynamic scripting capabilities?
Why design your own security and event management framework when you can use
Node9's Inferno-based per-process namespaces and application channels?
Build your distributed applications by linking your compute nodes to
each other over the Inferno/Plan9 9p resource sharing system -- over
SSL encryption if you like. Connect to other applications that can
also use 9p like Go, Java and Chicken Scheme.
Have fun. Rule the world. Build your own Skynet (tm).
Currently Node9 is in the late-alpha, early-beta stages of development.
A number of features need to be finished including the remaining
kernel services and completing the switch from the legacy Inferno
host abstraction layer to libuv (just to name a few).
After a year of part-time development it boots into it's Lua shell and works.
Though it was designed to be portable, currently it only builds on OSX.
It should be simple to tweak for Linux and with a little bit of effort
Windows. In theory it should be portable to anything that LuaJIT and
Libuv have been ported to (POSIX, Windows, Android, x86, ARM, MIPS)
Join in if you like. There's plenty of room for developers, documenters
and demo writers. Read the README and download the code here:
LICENSE
Node9 uses the MIT/X11 license. The licenses of it's dependent libraries
appear to be compatible and are as follows:
The Inferno kernel: Lucent Public License, a strange though permissive license.
(Inferno Limbo apps are under the GPL and are not used)
LuaJIT: Explicitly MIT/X11
LibUV: Essentially MIT/X11
THANKS
Thanks go out to all of the contributing projects, developers and
documenters. Without you this project wouldn't have been possible.
To the original Plan9 and Inferno Developers: Please consider this effort
as a feeble homage to your excellent design.
Plan9:
Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, Dave Presotto and Phil Winterbottom
Inferno:
Sean Dorward, Rob Pike, David Leo Presotto, Dennis M. Ritchie
Howard Trickey, Phil Winterbottom, Charles Forsyth
Lua:
Roberto Ierusalimschy, Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, and Waldemar Celes
LuaJIT:
Mike Pall
LibUV:
See the AUTHORS file in the distribution
LibEV: (libuv predecessor)
Marc Lehmann and Emanuele Giaquinta
Plan9 Theory of Operation:
"Plan9 Kernel Notes" by Francisco J Ballesteros
Inferno Internals:
Principles of Operating Systems, Design + Applications, Brian L Stuart
Inferno Development:
Inferno Programming with Limbo: Phillip Stanley-Marbell
LibUV Introduction:
Nikhil Marathe
Premake:
Jason Perkins
ZeroBraneStudio: The coolest free IDE on planet Earth
Paul Kulchenko
... and to my wife Maggi and son Alek who put up with my strange obsessions.
Jim Burnes, June 11, 2015
