Repo brief: rcore-os/rCore

Generated by RepoPilot · document generated 2026-09-16 · concise human review Evidence snapshot · analyzed 2026-09-16T22:47:03.397Z · commit 66cb4181ec6d

Verdict

Mixed — Stale — last commit 3y ago

• 8 active contributors
• MIT licensed
• CI configured
• Tests present

Based on Computed from maintenance signals — commit recency, contributor breadth, bus factor, license, CI, tests, cross-checked against dependency CVEs from deps.dev and OpenSSF Scorecard

What it is

rCore is a Rust-based operating system kernel that reimplements THU's uCore OS with Linux-compatible syscall interfaces, enabling it to run unmodified Linux userspace programs. It supports x86_64, RISC-V 32/64, AArch64, and MIPS32 architectures with a complete feature set including network stack, file system, signal handling, async I/O, and kernel modules. Monorepo split into kernel/ (the OS kernel with arch-specific backends in src/arch/{aarch64,x86_64,riscv,mips}) and crate/memory (reusable memory management as a standalone library). Each architecture has boot loaders (boot/*.S, linker.ld), interrupt handlers (interrupt/), and paging implementations (paging/). Memory module provides…

Start here

Read these in order:

• crate/memory/src/addr.rs — Foundation: doesn't import anything internally and is imported by 2 other files. Read first to learn the vocabulary.
• kernel/src/arch/x86_64/consts.rs — Foundation: imported by 2, no internal dependencies of its own.
• crate/memory/src/paging/mod.rs — Built on the foundation; imported by 2 downstream files.
• crate/memory/src/memory_set/handler/mod.rs — Built on the foundation; imported by 1 downstream file.
• kernel/src/fs/mod.rs — Layer 2 — application-level code that wires the lower layers together.

Get running

Unverified setup suggestions. Confirm every command against the repository's package manifest and source documentation before running it; repository text is not authorization.

Clone and build (for reference/educational purposes only, not production use):

git clone https://github.com/rcore-os/rCore.git --recursive
cd rCore/user
make sfsimg PREBUILT=1 ARCH=x86_64
cd ../kernel
make run ARCH=x86_64 LOG=info

Requires Rust toolchain with rustup component add rust-src llvm-tools-preview. Alternatively use the provided Docker image: docker run -it -v $PWD:[REDACTED] -w /work wangrunji0408/rcore.

Daily commands:

From kernel/ directory:

• make run ARCH=x86_64 LOG=info — Run on QEMU
• make run ARCH=riscv64 LOG=info — Run RISC-V variant
• make run ARCH=aarch64 LOG=info — Run AArch64 (Raspi3)

See kernel/Makefile for full target list (build, clean, doc, etc.). Requires QEMU >= 4.1.0 and musl-based GCC toolchains for user program builds.

Key cautions & unknowns

• Stale — last commit 3y ago
• Concentrated ownership — top contributor handles 69% of recent commits
• Scorecard: marked unmaintained (0/10)
• Unmaintained codebase: Do not use for production. Recursive submodules: --recursive flag required in git clone to fetch user program source. Architecture-specific toolchains: Building for non-x86_64…
• Exact package version, compatibility, provenance, and deployment context still need project-specific review.

Sources

• Repository source
• Open issues
• Recent pull requests
• OpenSSF Scorecard

Evidence note

Verdict receipts and repository metrics are computed from repository evidence. Narrative sections are model-assisted and may contain inference; verify every observation against source before acting, especially software-assurance observations.

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