Re:Here’s my favorite operating systems war story, what’s yo...
by jacquesm on Friday May 02, 2014 @07:23AM
(#7685046)
While writing a QnX clone I used DJGPP to bootstrap my fledgling new OS. DJGPP is a 32 bit 'extender', it allows you to write 32 bit code and run it from the 16 bit dos environment of the time. When the basics where in place and the OS was self hosting I made a mistake somewhere and managed to mess up the system to the point where it would no longer self host.
Having to go back to DJGPP, extracting the files from the (now unmountable) filesystem with the latest working version and then getting back to being self hosting was the stuff of nightmares and I considered giving up several times.
I never realized that the holy grail of self-hosting is also a trap-door until it had swung shut behind me!
In the end it all worked out and I got it back, but from then on I made sure to have at least two 'known good' kernels waiting and I checked the toolchain a lot more carefully to avoid bugs introduced by broken compilers.
Having to go back to DJGPP, extracting the files from the (now unmountable) filesystem with the latest working version and then getting back to being self hosting was the stuff of nightmares and I considered giving up several times.
I never realized that the holy grail of self-hosting is also a trap-door until it had swung shut behind me!
In the end it all worked out and I got it back, but from then on I made sure to have at least two 'known good' kernels waiting and I checked the toolchain a lot more carefully to avoid bugs introduced by broken compilers.
Lessons learned the hard way for sure.