These are reverse-engineered PowerPC assembly sources of the Mac OS NanoKernel. The work of reversing this unusual operating system kernel has been part of the CDG5 project.

Different git branches of this repository build different versions of the NanoKernel. The master branch builds a byte-perfect copy of the first public release, which is found in the ROM of the first "Piltdown Man" series of Power Macintoshes. Other master-* branches build subsequent versions, through the multitasking v2.x series right up to the final public v2.28 release.

A binary of the NanoKernel shipped inside the 4 MB mask ROM of every "OldWorld" PowerPC Mac, and inside the disk-based "Mac OS ROM" file for "NewWorld" PowerPC Macs. Mac OS 8.6 and later also shipped with a disk-based kernel in the System file (resource 'krnl' 0), which can replace the running ROM-based kernel part-way through the boot process OldWorld system.

Building

These sources can be built by Apple's PPCAsm assembler with the help of ksherlock's mpw runtime environment. A Python script neatly wraps the build process and provides commentary on the standard output. The NanoKernel binary is packaged into several useful formats named NanoKernelBuild*.

./EasyBuild

Running Release History

PDM 601 1.0

all 1994 Power Macs (6100/7100/8100 and Workgroup Servers)

PDM 601 1.1

early-1995 PDM spec bump

Cordyceps 6

built 1995-03-24 Power Mac/Performa 5200, 5300, 6200, 6300

TNT 0.1, PBX 603 0.0

1995-04-21 Power Mac 7200, 7500, 8500, 9500
1995-05-18 Power Mac 7200, 7500, 8500, 9500
1995-06-29 PowerBook 2300 (and 500 series PowerPC upgrade)

Alchemy 0.1

1996-01-26 Power Mac/Performa 6400

Gazelle 0.1

1996-11-14 Power Mac 6500

Gossamer 0

1997-11-10 Power Macintosh G3

GRX 0.1

1998 Wallstreet PowerBooks

elliotnunn/NanoKernel