MINIX on Apple Silicon

This repository contains a MINIX 3 source tree built with the NetBSD cross-build system (build.sh). The focus of this fork is to build on macOS (Apple Silicon) and produce ARM64 (AArch64) EFI/GPT images suitable for virtualization. An AArch64 MINIX kernel is under active development in this tree.

• build.sh – Top-level NetBSD-style build driver used for cross-building the full system.
• releasetools/ – Helpers for creating bootable images (x86 HDD/ISO, ARM SD images, etc.).
• minix/ – MINIX kernel, servers, drivers, and userland additions.
• share/, lib/, usr.bin/, usr.sbin/, etc. – NetBSD-derived build system and userland sources.

• macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon)
• Xcode Command Line Tools (provides Clang, ld, make, etc.)
  • Install: xcode-select --install
• Disk space: 15–25 GB for a full build (toolchain + objects + images)
• For ARM64 EFI image (optional): autotools to build GRUB (autoconf, automake, libtool, pkg-config) and network access for git to fetch GRUB.

No Homebrew packages are strictly required; build.sh bootstraps its own cross toolchain under obj.<arch>/tooldir.*. If you previously installed GNU tools, they won’t interfere.

This produces an ARM64 EFI/GPT disk image with MINIX userland, an EFI System Partition, and the AArch64 kernel. Boot support is under active development.

1. Build the cross toolchain for ARM64 and the base sets:

./build.sh -U -u -j"$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)" -m evbarm64-el tools
./build.sh -U -u -j"$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)" -m evbarm64-el distribution

Artifacts land under:

• Tools: obj.evbarm64-el/tooldir.Darwin-<ver>-arm64/bin
• Destdir: obj.evbarm64-el/destdir.evbarm64-el
• Release sets: obj.evbarm64-el/releasedir/evbarm64-el/binary/sets

2. Create the ARM64 EFI disk image:

./releasetools/arm64_efi_image.sh

Output: ./minix_arm64_efi.img (raw disk image with ESP + MINIX partitions). The script packages the built AArch64 kernel into boot/minix_default and writes a GRUB arm64 EFI binary and config.

One-liner make target

• From the repo root: make apple-silicon
  • Runs tools + distribution for -m evbarm64-el, then creates minix_arm64_efi.img.

Use the convenience wrapper to build the ARM toolchain/userland and produce an image in one go. It handles both 32‑bit ARM (earm) and ARM64 (AArch64):

Examples

• ARM64 EFI disk image: ./scripts/build-arm.sh --arch arm64
• 32‑bit ARM SD image: ./scripts/build-arm.sh --arch arm
• Build only (no image): ./scripts/build-arm.sh --arch arm64 --no-image

Details

• Builds with ./build.sh -U -u -jN and creates release sets required by the image scripts.
• For --arch arm64, runs releasetools/arm64_efi_image.sh → minix_arm64_efi.img.
• For --arch arm, runs releasetools/arm_sdimage.sh → minix_arm_sd.img.
• Optional flags: --jobs N, --clean (maps to build.sh -r).

Note on “ISO” vs image

• ARM generally boots from disk/SD images rather than ISO. The scripts above generate bootable disk images suited to UEFI VMs (ARM64) or SBCs/virt (ARM 32‑bit).

• Parallels Desktop (Apple Silicon): requires an ARM64 guest. Attach minix_arm64_efi.img as the primary disk of a new UEFI VM and boot.
• QEMU (Apple Silicon host): can boot ARM64 with UEFI firmware. Example:
  • qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt -cpu cortex-a57 -m 1024 -bios QEMU_EFI.fd -drive if=none,file="$(pwd)/minix_arm64_efi.img",format=raw,id=hd0 -device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd0 -serial mon:stdio

• ARM 32‑bit (earm, hardware boards):
  • Build: ./build.sh -U -u -j"$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)" -m evbearm-el tools distribution
  • Image: ./releasetools/arm_sdimage.sh → minix_arm_sd.img
  • Run: use QEMU for ARM (emulation) or real hardware. Not runnable in Parallels on Apple Silicon.
• x86 (legacy/testing): build and image scripts remain available under releasetools/x86_*. Not runnable in Parallels on Apple Silicon; use QEMU/UTM or an Intel Mac.

You can direct build.sh to explicit paths for reproducible builds:

• -D <dir>: set DESTDIR (e.g., ./obj.i386/destdir.i386)
• -R <dir>: set RELEASEDIR (e.g., ./obj.i386/releasedir/i386)
• -T <dir>: set TOOLDIR

Example:

./build.sh -U -u -j"$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)" -m evbarm64-el \
  -D "$PWD/obj.evbarm64-el/destdir.evbarm64-el" \
  -R "$PWD/obj.evbarm64-el/releasedir/evbarm64-el" \
  -T "$PWD/obj.evbarm64-el/tooldir" \
  tools distribution

• -U: unprivileged build (recommended on macOS)
• -u: update (skip clean); use -r to remove TOOLDIR/DESTDIR first
• -jN: parallelism; use $(sysctl -n hw.ncpu) on macOS for N
• Targets: tools, distribution, release

To start fresh after changing compilers or major options:

./build.sh -U -m evbarm64-el -r tools distribution

• Missing compiler or headers on macOS: run xcode-select --install.
• GRUB build for arm64 fails: install autotools (autoconf, automake, libtool, pkg-config) and ensure network access for git.
• Permission errors writing into obj.*: add -U to build unprivileged.
• Stale toolchain after macOS/Xcode updates: rebuild with -r.

This tree contains code under MINIX, NetBSD, and other third-party licenses. See individual file headers and LICENSE.