NovaOS

NovaOS is a from-scratch operating system scaffold for NVIDIA compute platforms, with Spark as the first truth platform.

The current scope is intentionally disciplined:

• keep Spark / GB10 as the first hardware oracle
• design the core to survive later x86_64 workstation and server ports
• own the system from the UEFI handoff upward
• define a native boot path, kernel ABI, service model, and fabric contract
• treat unified memory, discrete VRAM, and fabric-connected memory as first-class system resources

This repository starts with the M0-M17 roadmap:

• spark-observe.efi and the platform observatory notes
• stage0 loader and BootInfo direction notes
• Nova Payload v1 headers with explicit load-window, entry-ABI, and body-digest verification for typed stage1.bin and kernel.bin artifacts
• explicit BootInfo presence flags and a persistent NovaVerificationInfoV1 boot-verification record for staged payload checks
• the M0-M2 boot-chain foundation that reaches QEMU kernel entry
• the portability and accelerator-fabric milestones that prepare the codebase for later RTX and Hopper-class ports
• an additive runtime-spine service graph layer for initd, policyd, agentd, intentd, scened, appbridged, shelld, memd, and acceld

The current QEMU handoff chain reaches stage0 post-exit, stage1 entry, kernel entry, and the first in-place initd payload transfer. The Arm64 kernel path now restores validated raw bringup state, binds the typed init.capsule contract to a concrete current bootstrap-task object with capabilities and quota counts, emits early boot-console output, and carries a first syscall-entry scaffold while the broader runtime remains intentionally small and boot-contract-first. Stage0 and stage1 still validate the embedded initd service payload before handoff continues, the loader snapshots that embedded bootstrap payload into the BootInfo v2 sidecar, and the raw live kernel now reuses that explicit launch descriptor to transfer control onto a dedicated bootstrap-task stack with a typed bootstrap context in x0 while hardening the live handoff around EL1 stack selection for in-place bringup. The kernel payload wrapper now also pads the kernel body to an alignment-safe load_offset, so stage1's existing in-place load_base contract no longer lands the live vector table on a misaligned address. That same typed context still carries a transitional same-EL bootstrap kernel-call gate, so the current QEMU lane proves a real initd -> kernel -> initd round-trip without claiming that the final syscall or privilege boundary exists yet. Opt-in same-EL exception diagnostics now exist as a kernel-owned bootstrap_kernel_svc_probe lane plus pre-transfer and payload bootstrap_svc_probe lanes plus a payload bootstrap_trap_probe lane. Those diagnostics are still kept separate from the default green baseline, but the same-EL exception defect is cleared in QEMU: the kernel-owned svc, pre-transfer svc, payload svc, and payload brk probes now return end-to-end, and the kernel-owned svc scalar caller capture matches returned x0/status, x1/value0, and x2/value1. The current QEMU lane still reports current_el=1. This is still not a finished user-task or EL0 boundary.

The 24/7 validation loop leaves local runtime artifacts in artifacts/reports/, including latest-report.md, latest-loop.log, and latest-status.txt for quick inspection without chasing timestamps. Generated report files are intentionally gitignored; run make report in a fresh clone to recreate them.

The workspace intentionally uses Rust 2024 edition crates on the stable toolchain declared in rust-toolchain.toml.

For seamless resume from another Codex session, start with:

• docs/roadmap/START-HERE.md
• docs/roadmap/live-status.md
• docs/roadmap/master-roadmap-checklist.md

The codebase is expected to grow in this order:

1. observability
2. custom loader
3. tiny kernel
4. exception and memory management
5. capability-based services
6. portable accelerator fabric

Keep the scope strict. NovaOS is not a general-purpose desktop, not a Linux distribution, and not a permanent compatibility shim for vendor stacks.