Hi,

I've been taking a closer look at the D programming language lately, and I must say it's nothing more than brilliant. The reason why I post this message is simple. I'm just wondering how hard it would be to port the compiler to another operating system? I'm talking about SkyOS (http://www.skyos.org/), a relatively new operating system still in development. It has to be pointed out that I'm not a member of the actual SkyOS crew. I'm just a member of it's community. A member who wants to help with the software development, because every operating system needs good software. SkyOS currently support both C and C++, but based on my experiments with D so far, getting D ported to SkyOS would surely boost my productivity. I might also get some people working on a class library for SkyOS, which would make more people in the community start using D too. So, back to my question. What steps would have to be taken to make this possible, and how long would it take?
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Casper Ellingsen wrote:

> question. What steps would have to be taken to make this possible, and how long would it take?

If you can use the GCC you might want to patch a 3.4 GCC with D support and customly build this. After that you will have to add OS specific parts to the Phobos library (which you might know is the equvivalent to libc of the C programming language, but much nicer).

I've read some stuff about SkyOS but never got the time to actually try it out.

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"Wolfgang Draxinger" <wdraxinger@darkstargames.de> wrote
> Casper Ellingsen wrote:
>
>> question. What steps would have to be taken to make this possible, and how long would it take?
>
> If you can use the GCC you might want to patch a 3.4 GCC with D support and customly build this. After that you will have to add OS specific parts to the Phobos library (which you might know is the equvivalent to libc of the C programming language, but much nicer).

I'd highly recommend porting Ares first. It's tiny by comparison (so, less work!) yet has everything the compiler needs for its runtime support.

Casper Ellingsen wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've been taking a closer look at the D programming language lately, and I  must say it's nothing more than brilliant. The reason why I post this  message is simple. I'm just wondering how hard it would be to port the  compiler to another operating system? I'm talking about SkyOS  (http://www.skyos.org/), a relatively new operating system still in  development. It has to be pointed out that I'm not a member of the actual  SkyOS crew. I'm just a member of it's community. A member who wants to  help with the software development, because every operating system needs  good software. SkyOS currently support both C and C++, but based on my  experiments with D so far, getting D ported to SkyOS would surely boost my  productivity. I might also get some people working on a class library for  SkyOS, which would make more people in the community start using D too.  So, back to my question. What steps would have to be taken to make this  possible, and how long would it take?

This SkyOS looks übercool :D Too bad it's closed source. I just don't get it - how do these guys have resources to do it all from scratch?? And I've always though that Linux development was fast.

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:42:34 +0100, Jari-Matti Mäkelä <jmjmak@invalid_utu.fi> wrote:

> This SkyOS looks übercool :D Too bad it's closed source. I just don't get it - how do these guys have resources to do it all from scratch?? And I've always though that Linux development was fast.

Will it amaze you even more if I told you that one single guy wrote the entire OS core by himself? ;)

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On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:09:37 +0100, Kris <fu@bar.com> wrote:

> "Wolfgang Draxinger" <wdraxinger@darkstargames.de> wrote
>> Casper Ellingsen wrote:
>>
>>> question. What steps would have to be taken to make this
>>> possible, and how long would it take?
>>
>> If you can use the GCC you might want to patch a 3.4 GCC with D
>> support and customly build this. After that you will have to add
>> OS specific parts to the Phobos library (which you might know is
>> the equvivalent to libc of the C programming language, but much
>> nicer).
>
> I'd highly recommend porting Ares first. It's tiny by comparison (so, less
> work!) yet has everything the compiler needs for its runtime support.
>
>

Yes, GCC is already ported to SkyOS, so that might work. How hard is it to patch it with D support? And are the patch and Ares (or Phobos) all that need to be done?

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Jari-Matti Mäkelä wrote:
> Casper Ellingsen wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've been taking a closer look at the D programming language lately, and I  must say it's nothing more than brilliant. The reason why I post this  message is simple. I'm just wondering how hard it would be to port the  compiler to another operating system? I'm talking about SkyOS  (http://www.skyos.org/), a relatively new operating system still in  development. It has to be pointed out that I'm not a member of the actual  SkyOS crew. I'm just a member of it's community. A member who wants to  help with the software development, because every operating system needs  good software. SkyOS currently support both C and C++, but based on my  experiments with D so far, getting D ported to SkyOS would surely boost my  productivity. I might also get some people working on a class library for  SkyOS, which would make more people in the community start using D too.  So, back to my question. What steps would have to be taken to make this  possible, and how long would it take?
> 
> 
> This SkyOS looks übercool :D Too bad it's closed source. I just don't get it - how do these guys have resources to do it all from scratch?? And I've always though that Linux development was fast.

SkyOS isn't free. You buy the option of being a beta tester to the tune of $30 US (that's where they get the resources ;) ).  I've bought into it and have derived mild enjoyment from the experience (I periodically install updates in my vmware machine).  But it still has a ways to go. I know there are people that gripe about its being closed source.  It doesn't matter to me either way since I couldn't use it for day to day work anyway.  Most of the software ported to it, of course, is open source.

I don't think it would be a big deal to get gdc working on it.  Perhaps it would be nifty; frankly, though, I don't think it would be any more exciting or special than having D on any other C based OS.  I think it's just more of the same. Granted, I would never dissuade anyone from trying to port it.  Getting D anywhere and everywhere is a good thing.

On the other hand, when we see a OS built with D integrated with DDL, GC, and serialization libraries in the core... now that will be exciting.

That said, as hopless as these dreams may be, there are a few C-based OSes that I'd _really_ like to see adopt the D language:  Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Amiga DE.

WM5/Pocket PC uses the MS Visual C\C++ compiler.  I know of no "official" gcc port to it, although I know there are some outdated gcc packages floating about that few people know about.  D doesn't have a chance on it without a solid gcc port.  Microsoft seems to have successful monopoly on Pocket PC's with there compiler suite.  I'd say it's almost hopeless to see D show up there.

Palm OS is dying, if not dead, although its API may turn Linux based soon -- I don't know how long that will last.  D doesn't look like it will make it there unless Palm suddenly becomes successful again.  But there certainly is a mostly up-to-date gcc available on that platform.

AmigaDE uses a customized gcc chain that compiles to VPcode (a platform independent assembler language invented by TAO, an embedded operating systems developer), but I have no knowledge of whether the current rendition supports a recent gcc port.  Furthermore, as fascinating as AmigaDE is, it's market is miniscule and probably won't attract much attention, especially because developers can't enter the club or get the SDK's without a tedious NDA.

Ah well... plenty of time to dream on.

:)

-JJR

Casper Ellingsen wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've been taking a closer look at the D programming language lately, and I  must say it's nothing more than brilliant. The reason why I post this  message is simple. I'm just wondering how hard it would be to port the  compiler to another operating system? I'm talking about SkyOS  (http://www.skyos.org/), a relatively new operating system still in  development. It has to be pointed out that I'm not a member of the actual  SkyOS crew. I'm just a member of it's community. A member who wants to  help with the software development, because every operating system needs  good software. SkyOS currently support both C and C++, but based on my  experiments with D so far, getting D ported to SkyOS would surely boost my  productivity. I might also get some people working on a class library for  SkyOS, which would make more people in the community start using D too.  So, back to my question. What steps would have to be taken to make this  possible, and how long would it take?

Yes! This is what I am waiting for long time - SkyOS. Some time ago I asked about D compiler in the SkyOS forum. It would be wanderful :)

bobef wrote:
> Casper Ellingsen wrote:
> 
>> I've been taking a closer look at the D programming language lately, and I  must say it's nothing more than brilliant. The reason why I post this  message is simple. I'm just wondering how hard it would be to port the  compiler to another operating system? I'm talking about SkyOS  (http://www.skyos.org/), a relatively new operating system still in  development.
> 
> Yes! This is what I am waiting for long time - SkyOS. Some time ago I asked about D compiler in the SkyOS forum. It would be wanderful :)

I think it would be excellent to get D on SkyOS. Especially this early in its life!

I'm sure the SkyOS crowd (hopefully both developers and future users) would fall in love with D (just as about everybody else who've ever taken a test drive)!

And D could thus gain a new vector for taking over the world. :-)

What CPU is it? (The url for skyos doesn't work.)