Building

This document describes the build process for the Kyronix’s kernel (codename k9). It is the root of the Building section, linking to containerized and native build methods.

Prerequisites

The kernel targets the x86_64 architecture and requires the following toolchain:

C11 compiler (gcc or x86_64-elf-gcc)
GNU ld (or x86_64-elf-ld)
make
xorriso (for ISO generation)
mkfs.ext2 (for disk image creation)
cpio (for initrd packaging)

The build system uses Kconfig for kernel configuration. The generated header kernel/config.h is auto-created from kernel/Kconfig via scripts/kconfig/conf.

Build Targets

Target	Description
`make all`	Builds kernel ELF, initrd, and disk image (default)
`make iso`	Builds persistent bootable ISO
`make live-iso`	Builds live ISO (no persistent disk)
`make test-iso`	Builds test ISO with testrunner initrd
`make test-disk`	Creates a 16 MiB ext2 test disk image
`make test-initrd`	Builds test initrd with userspace test suite
`make kallsyms`	Regenerates the kernel symbol table from `kernel.elf`
`make nconfig`	Opens interactive ncurses-based kernel configuration

Build Output

Artifact	Path
Kernel ELF	`dist/kernel.elf`
Persistent ISO	`dist/kkyronix-<VERSION>-INDEV-amd64.iso`
Live ISO	`dist/kkyronix-<VERSION>-INDEV-amd64-live.iso`
Test ISO	`dist/kkyronix-<VERSION>-INDEV-amd64-test.iso`
Initrd	`dist/initrd.cpio`
Disk image	`dist/disk.img`

Compiler Flags

The kernel is compiled with the following critical flags:

-std=c11 -O2 -ffreestanding -fno-stack-protector
-m64 -march=x86-64 -mno-sse -mno-sse2 -mno-mmx -mno-80387
-mno-red-zone -mcmodel=kernel
-fno-pic -fno-pie -fno-omit-frame-pointer

IMPORTANT: SSE and MMX are disabled in C flags but enabled at runtime via cpu_enable_sse() for FPU context switching. The linker script is linker.ld.

Container Builds

The Makefile supports building inside a container (Podman or Docker) by setting the CRUNTIME variable. See with-cbuildrt, with Docker, or without containers for details.

make all CRUNTIME=podman
make iso CRUNTIME=docker

QEMU Run Targets

Target	Description
`make run`	Graphical QEMU with KVM, virtio-net, AHCI disk
`make run-serial`	Serial-only QEMU (no display)
`make run-disk`	Direct disk boot (no ISO)
`make run-uefi`	UEFI boot with OVMF
`make live-run`	Live session from live ISO
`make test-run`	Test runner in QEMU

NOTE: Run targets do NOT rebuild. Execute make iso (or equivalent) first.

The test framework uses a custom testrunner init that boots the kernel, runs test binaries from the test initrd, and reports results via serial output. Memory leak detection is performed via kmemleak during test runs.

make test-iso && make test-run-log

The test-run-log target captures serial output to test.log and checks for ALL TESTS PASSED and zero KMEMLEAK reports.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-22

Kyronix Documentation