5 ms·

Almost booting an iOS kernel in QEMU

121 points by ProfDreamer 8y ago

mirimir 8y ago
Interesting. I would love virtual iPhones. For testing apps, anonymously. But I doubt that I'd get an invite from Corellium, either :(
Ecco 8y ago
Reads as an ad for Corellium...
return_0e 8y ago
>..but XNU is now open source. Well XNU has always been 'open-source' [1] for some time on Intel machines but its just that ARM support remained closed (until 2017) which is why the darwin-on-arm [2] project existed. But I'm assuming that the OP means that the ARM64 code was recently open-sourced in the XNU sources[3] making a possible open-source ARM port much simpler. I still find it quite interesting to see some regained attempts in emulating iOS; with Corellium being the furthest at doing this. [1] (https://opensource.apple.com https://opensource.apple.com) [2] (https://github.com/darwin-on-arm/xnu https://github.com/darwin-on-arm/xnu) [3] (https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/search?p=5&q=ARM64&unscoped_q=ARM64 https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/search?p=5&q=ARM64&unsco...)
w0utert 8y ago
In a way, it seems strange nobody made a full-blown iPhone/iPad iOS emulator yet. Not a simulator like the one Apple makes, but an emulator like for game systems. I would guess the amount of information available about iPhone hardware and software would make it much easier to emulate than e.g. a gamecube, Wii, PS3, etc, especially for older models. Such an emulator could obviously be used for piracy, but could also be an intersting tool for a homebrew scene (custom firmware, developing iOS apps on Linux & Windows, etc. Is there a practical reason why this would be hard or impossible? Or is it just for fear of Apple's lawyers?
- rjvbk 8y ago
  It seems strange to me that there are no Chinese OEMs selling mobiles with iOS. I mean, I understand it's hard, but is it THAT hard?
  - ofrzeta 8y ago
    You would probably need to hack the OS to disable updates etc to prevent Apple from remotely bricking your device.
    - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
      Wrapping it with a firewall would be the easy part.
    - earenndil 8y ago
      That's be the easiest part. You can just grep the binary for apple domains and replace them with your own.
  - mschuster91 8y ago
    Yeah it is because the CPU and GPU are customized for Apple. You'd have to recreate them (which probably would require a F500 company like Amazon or Google) or write a translation layer similar to WINE (which would need a couple dozen expert coders). Not worth the effort for knockoff phones.
    - rjvbk 8y ago
      Knockoff iPhones would sell like hot bread.
      - p0peax 8y ago
        They still can't run iOS apps from the App Store. They are encrypted when downloaded and only decrypted at runtime. Decrypted apps can be offloaded from a jailbroken phone and then re-uploaded to a pirate store though.

121 points by ProfDreamer 8y ago

Interesting. I would love virtual iPhones. For testing apps, anonymously. But I doubt that I'd get an invite from Corellium, either :(

Ecco 8y ago

Reads as an ad for Corellium...

return_0e 8y ago

>..but XNU is now open source. Well XNU has always been 'open-source' [1] for some time on Intel machines but its just that ARM support remained closed (until 2017) which is why the darwin-on-arm [2] project existed. But I'm assuming that the OP means that the ARM64 code was recently open-sourced in the XNU sources[3] making a possible open-source ARM port much simpler. I still find it quite interesting to see some regained attempts in emulating iOS; with Corellium being the furthest at doing this. [1] (https://opensource.apple.com https://opensource.apple.com) [2] (https://github.com/darwin-on-arm/xnu https://github.com/darwin-on-arm/xnu) [3] (https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/search?p=5&q=ARM64&unscoped_q=ARM64 https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/search?p=5&q=ARM64&unsco...)

w0utert 8y ago

In a way, it seems strange nobody made a full-blown iPhone/iPad iOS emulator yet. Not a simulator like the one Apple makes, but an emulator like for game systems. I would guess the amount of information available about iPhone hardware and software would make it much easier to emulate than e.g. a gamecube, Wii, PS3, etc, especially for older models. Such an emulator could obviously be used for piracy, but could also be an intersting tool for a homebrew scene (custom firmware, developing iOS apps on Linux & Windows, etc. Is there a practical reason why this would be hard or impossible? Or is it just for fear of Apple's lawyers?

rjvbk 8y ago
It seems strange to me that there are no Chinese OEMs selling mobiles with iOS. I mean, I understand it's hard, but is it THAT hard?
- ofrzeta 8y ago
  You would probably need to hack the OS to disable updates etc to prevent Apple from remotely bricking your device.
  - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
    Wrapping it with a firewall would be the easy part.
  - earenndil 8y ago
    That's be the easiest part. You can just grep the binary for apple domains and replace them with your own.
- mschuster91 8y ago
  Yeah it is because the CPU and GPU are customized for Apple. You'd have to recreate them (which probably would require a F500 company like Amazon or Google) or write a translation layer similar to WINE (which would need a couple dozen expert coders). Not worth the effort for knockoff phones.
  - rjvbk 8y ago
    Knockoff iPhones would sell like hot bread.
    - p0peax 8y ago
      They still can't run iOS apps from the App Store. They are encrypted when downloaded and only decrypted at runtime. Decrypted apps can be offloaded from a jailbroken phone and then re-uploaded to a pirate store though.