# haileys/rustboot

A tiny 32 bit kernel written in Rust

Repository: https://github.com/haileys/rustboot
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rustboot
Language: Ruby
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-01-01T04:54:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 59/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 60, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4847, "days_push": 244, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1547, forks 223 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:01.742603+00:00)

## What it is
A tiny 32-bit bare-metal kernel written in Rust that paints the screen red and hangs, serving as a minimal demonstration of OS development in Rust. It is an educational starter project for hobbyist kernel development, requiring QEMU, NASM, and an i386 cross-compiler to build and run.

## Use cases
- learn how to write a bare-metal kernel in Rust
- bootstrap a hobby operating system project
- see a minimal freestanding Rust program example
- experiment with boot sectors and QEMU emulation
- understand how Rust can run without a standard library

## When to choose
- you want a minimal starting point for Rust OS development
- you are learning low-level x86 boot concepts
- you want a tiny example of freestanding Rust code

## When to avoid
- you need a production or maintained kernel
- you want modern Rust toolchain compatibility (it targets Rust 0.7/master circa 2014)
- you need a full-featured OS or driver framework

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: abandoned
- function: embedded, developer-tools
- domain: operating-systems, embedded-systems, programming-languages, tutorials
- platform: windows, cross-platform
- tags: rust, kernel, osdev, bare-metal, qemu, toy-kernel, educational, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- haileys/rustboot (main) score 59

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:01.742603+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:30:29.390954+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/haileys/rustboot (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:01.742603+00:00, sha b943d1b81cc5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.