Genode OS Framework release 21.02

The current release comes as a conglomerate of new features, additional ARM SoC support for Pine-A64-LTS SBC, and optimizations. Most prominently, network drivers for Ethernet and WiFi beside graphics and input drivers are now pluggable at runtime, which enables restart and update of these drivers without directly affecting network-application stacks. Besides increased system robustness via online monitoring and transparent restarting, this extends the options for power management by shutting down unused devices dynamically. Speaking of networking, Genode now includes mobile-communication infrastructure for USB LTE modems conforming to the MBIM interface. Also, the release features a first experimental version of VirtualBox 6.1, which is going to supersede our aging port of version 5.

Beyond these highlights, we packed dozens more improvements into this release including an update of our RISC-V support to privileged ISA 1.10, OpenSSL 1.1.1i, power-gating of PCI devices on x86, and enhanced USB pass-through for VirtualBox enabling audio headsets. The complete release documentation can be found at the usual place