I'm interested in learning how to build a small operating system and found a comprehensive OS development wiki, but I'm unsure how to approach it. Does it provide a step-by-step path for creating an OS from scratch, or is it mainly a collection of theory and implementation guides? Can one person realistically build a small hobby OS, and is there a recommended roadmap or sequence of tutorials to follow? I'd also like to know what background knowledge is necessary. Should I learn C, assembly, computer architecture, memory management, or even compiler construction before starting? I'm also curious whether learning to build a compiler would meaningfully improve my programming skills, and why even a small operating system can take years to develop.
3 Answers
Start with solid C, then learn enough assembly to understand boot code, calling conventions, context switches, and interrupt handling. You should also understand CPU architecture, memory, pointers, data structures, and how compilers and linkers work. Writing your own compiler is not required for OS development; using an existing compiler is normal. Compiler construction can teach you a lot about programming languages and software design, but it’s a separate challenging project rather than a prerequisite.
A solo developer can definitely make a hobby operating system. Building a bootloader or a kernel that displays text is achievable fairly quickly, but adding reliable drivers, process management, virtual memory, filesystems, networking, and a usable development environment takes a lot of testing and debugging. That’s why even a small but reasonably complete OS can become a multi-year project.
The material covers both theory and practical implementation for major OS components, including boot processes, interrupts, memory management, scheduling, and filesystems. However, it isn’t a single linear course, so you’ll need to follow the introductory and getting-started pages first, then explore the topics required by whatever you’re building next. The beginner-mistakes guide is also worth reading early.
I’ll focus on C and assembly first. I’d still like to learn compiler construction eventually, but it sounds like I can treat it as a separate project instead of something required before starting the OS.