FAQ

Frequently asked questions about ELMOS.

General

What is ELMOS?
A native SDK for building Linux kernels on macOS without VMs.

Why macOS?
Leverages LLVM, Homebrew, and native tools for seamless development.

Supported architectures?
ARM64, ARM, RISC-V (Linux v6.18+).

Installation

Do I need Docker?
No, ELMOS is fully native.

Can I use older macOS?
Requires Sequoia+ for compatibility.

Toolchains

Are toolchains required?
Optional; falls back to LLVM, but recommended for full features.

How long to build toolchain?
30-60 min, depending on hardware.

Kernel Building

Which kernel versions?
v6.18+ with patches for macOS.

Can I use custom configs?
Yes, via menuconfig.

Development

How to develop modules/apps?
Use ./build/elmos module/app create, then make.

Cross-compilation?
Automatic with detected toolchains.

QEMU

Networking in QEMU?
User-mode; host at 10.0.2.2.

Debugging?
Use ./build/elmos qemu debug with GDB.

Contributing

How to contribute?
See Developer Guide.

License?
MIT.