Help finish what Mach started
The kernel, the shell, the file server and the personalities are all in motion, and there is real work to do. Contributing does not require commit access.
Community
A small Discord server is coming. It will be the front door for design discussion, milestone notes and questions, and the place where contributors find each other. When it opens, this page will carry the invite.
Until then the site is the reference: why it exists, where it comes from and where it is going.
What to expect
Few channels. Milestone announcements, kernel design talk, and a place for your boot logs and questions. Moderation will exist from the first day.
Ways to help
Follow and share
Early on, the most useful thing is to tell people who would care. A project this size grows by word of mouth.
Translate
The site is in English and Mexican Spanish. More locales are welcome, if you can carry the tone as well as the words.
Write
Explainers, walkthroughs, and plain accounts of what works and what does not. Documentation is how a small kernel earns trust.
Review the design
If you know Mach, capability systems or IPC internals, informed critique is a contribution. The design is public enough to argue with.
Port software (later)
A ports tree is on the roadmap. When it lands, the shell and core utilities will need people who like moving software onto new systems.
Report bugs (later)
Public builds are planned. When they arrive, precise bug reports will be very welcome.
How we work
Doc-first
The design is written down before it is built. If you can explain why something belongs in the kernel, you are already contributing the way we do.
Claims match the state
"In development" means it. We say what is done, what is partial and what is only a plan, and we expect the same from anyone speaking for the project.
Credit is policy
The project names the people it stands on, from the Mach team to everyone who helps now. If you contribute, you are credited.
Kind and patient
All experience levels are welcome. Arguments about correctness are expected. Unkindness is not.
Kernel in C, servers free
The kernel stays in C. User-space servers may use other languages, Rust included.
The Mach vocabulary
Tasks, threads, ports, messages, rights. A feature that cannot be built from those belongs in a server.
Until the Discord opens, the best preparation is to know the project: read the case, skim the design and meet the people who built Mach.