# Declare constants used for creating a multiboot header. .set ALIGN, 1<<0 # align loaded modules on page boundaries .set MEMINFO, 1<<1 # provide memory map .set FLAGS, ALIGN | MEMINFO # this is the Multiboot 'flag' field .set MAGIC, 0x1BADB002 # 'magic number' lets bootloader find the header .set CHECKSUM, -(MAGIC + FLAGS) # checksum of above, to prove we are multiboot # Declare a header as in the Multiboot Standard. We put this into a special # section so we can force the header to be in the start of the final program. # You don't need to understand all these details as it is just magic values that # is documented in the multiboot standard. The bootloader will search for this # magic sequence and recognize us as a multiboot kernel. .section .multiboot .align 4 .long MAGIC .long FLAGS .long CHECKSUM # Currently the stack pointer register (esp) points at anything and using it may # cause massive harm. Instead, we'll provide our own stack. We will allocate # room for a small temporary stack by creating a symbol at the bottom of it, # then allocating 16384 bytes for it, and finally creating a symbol at the top. .section .bootstrap_stack, "aw", @nobits stack_bottom: .skip 16384 # 16 KiB stack_top: # The linker script specifies _start as the entry point to the kernel and the # bootloader will jump to this position once the kernel has been loaded. It # doesn't make sense to return from this function as the bootloader is gone. .section .text .global _start .type _start, @function _start: # Welcome to kernel mode! We now have sufficient code for the bootloader to # load and run our operating system. It doesn't do anything interesting yet. # Perhaps we would like to call printf("Hello, World\n"). You should now # realize one of the profound truths about kernel mode: There is nothing # there unless you provide it yourself. There is no printf function. There # is no header. If you want a function, you will have to code it # yourself. And that is one of the best things about kernel development: # you get to make the entire system yourself. You have absolute and complete # power over the machine, there are no security restrictions, no safe # guards, no debugging mechanisms, there is nothing but what you build. # By now, you are perhaps tired of assembly language. You realize some # things simply cannot be done in C, such as making the multiboot header in # the right section and setting up the stack. However, you would like to # write the operating system in a higher level language, such as C or C++. # To that end, the next task is preparing the processor for execution of # such code. C doesn't expect much at this point and we only need to set up # a stack. Note that the processor is not fully initialized yet and stuff # such as floating point instructions are not available yet. # To set up a stack, we simply set the esp register to point to the top of # our stack (as it grows downwards). movl $stack_top, %esp # We are now ready to actually execute C code. We cannot embed that in an # assembly file, so we'll create a kernel.c file in a moment. In that file, # we'll create a C entry point called kernel_main and call it here. call kernel_main # In case the function returns, we'll want to put the computer into an # infinite loop. To do that, we use the clear interrupt ('cli') instruction # to disable interrupts, the halt instruction ('hlt') to stop the CPU until # the next interrupt arrives, and jumping to the halt instruction if it ever # continues execution, just to be safe. We will create a local label rather # than real symbol and jump to there endlessly. cli hlt .Lhang: jmp .Lhang # Set the size of the _start symbol to the current location '.' minus its start. # This is useful when debugging or when you implement call tracing. .size _start, . - _start