Proposal: Add bare metal support to Go

a year ago

Proposal for a new GOOS target named GOOS=none to enable Go runtime execution without OS support.
GOOS=none allows Go applications to run on bare metal, with all necessary support provided by the Go runtime and external driver packages.
Key functions required for GOOS=none include cpuinit, runtime.hwinit, runtime.printk, runtime.initRNG, runtime.getRandomData, runtime.nanotime1, and RAM layout variables.
Optional functions include runtime.Bloc, runtime.Exit, runtime.Idle, and network I/O setup via SocketFunc.
The Go runtime would implement functions like runtime.GetG, runtime.WakeG, and runtime.Wake for interrupt handling.
Compilation remains similar to standard Go binaries, with loading strategies varying by hardware.
The proposal is based on the TamaGo project, which supports bare metal execution on AMD64, ARM, and RISCV64.
TamaGo now supports unmodified Go applications, AMD64 KVM execution, and UEFI applications.
The changes are hardware-independent and unified across architectures, making maintenance reasonable.
Adoption of GOOS=none could expand Go's use in new environments like secure OS, bootloaders, and microVMs.

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