6 ms·

Qemu.js – a proof-of-concept port of QEMU to web browser using WASM JIT (2019)

138 points by mepian 4y ago

mepian 4y ago
The demo, based on an older version: https://atrosinenko.github.io/qemujs-demo/ https://atrosinenko.github.io/qemujs-demo/ Two articles about the project in Russian (Google Translate is helpful): https://habr.com/en/articles/315770/ https://habr.com/en/articles/315770/ https://habr.com/en/articles/451306/ https://habr.com/en/articles/451306/
btown 4y ago
(2019)
- dang 4y ago
  Added. Thanks!
Mandatum 4y ago
This is amazing. The implications of this will result in some very interesting restrictions in corporate networks.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  > The implications of this will result in some very interesting restrictions in corporate networks. Why? Browsers are already capable of running arbitrary code
- _8j50 4y ago
  Browser-in-browser phishing is already trending
  - segfaultbuserr 4y ago
    For those who are new to this, the classic article on this kind of phishing is The Line of Death [0]. Basically, the phishing site can create false title and URL bars. [0] https://textslashplain.com/2017/01/14/the-line-of-death/ https://textslashplain.com/2017/01/14/the-line-of-death/
yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
> This rewrite is still even more work-in-progress than the original one and still does not support block devices. Unfortunate (if understandable; none of this is criticism!). What does it do for disk, then? Or is it early enough to just not solve that and only use a bare kernel+initrd?
skrowl 4y ago
[dead]
jabbany 4y ago
Reminds me of https://bellard.org/jslinux/ https://bellard.org/jslinux/ (which is linked in the Readme of this project too, and IIRC also is qemu+emscripten) That demo also felt quite crazy back in the day, it even had an option for Win2k!
- mepian 4y ago
  As far as I remember, JSLinux is mostly written from scratch and only uses some pieces of QEMU. It has no JIT, unlike this project.
  - jabbany 4y ago
    Yeah, this is probably right (It's been a long time since I've played with it) Looks like jslinux is based on TEMU which looks to be a "lite" QEMU.
    - Paul-Craft 4y ago
      Lol, maybe Fabrice Bellard is the only "true" full stack programmer in existence....
      - _ache_ 4y ago
        Epic joke.
      - igtztorrero 4y ago
        The 1000x programmer myth is real !!!
  - selcuka 4y ago
    Fabrice Bellard is also the original author of QEMU.
lxe 4y ago
There's also "jslinux" from Fabrice Bellard himself from a while ago which reused parts of QEMU: https://bellard.org/jslinux/ https://bellard.org/jslinux/
taf2 4y ago
Love it does the -nic option use WebRTC?
j45 4y ago
This looks like it should not be lost among all the AI news this year.
- selcuka 4y ago
  It's from 2019.
  - j45 4y ago
    Fair. Has the power inside of web browsers, and the CPUs powering them, and the models they could power in browser increased?
bayesian_horse 4y ago
Would it be possible to translate machine code directly to WASM? Probably somebody already dunnit.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  > machine code i386 x86_64 arm64 https://www.google.com/search?q=x86_64+to+wasm https://www.google.com/search?q=x86_64+to+wasm some interesting stuff like https://github.com/michaelmelanson/wasm-kernel https://github.com/michaelmelanson/wasm-kernel
chaxor 4y ago
This is incredible. Is there any way to use this directly from an encrypted img file on some remote computer (e.g. dropbox url)? It seems that 'network block devices' might help in that area, but it's unclear. Would be neat for industry to have a e2ee repo of many computers that can be streamed encrypted to a browser for working in.
- ianopolous 4y ago
  You could do that running this as a custom app in Peergos [0], and the drive image would just be another file: https://book.peergos.org/features/apps.html https://book.peergos.org/features/apps.html We've done that for doom using another js emulator (jsdosbox): https://github.com/Peergos/example-apps#doom-shareware-running-inside-jsdosbox https://github.com/Peergos/example-apps#doom-shareware-runni... [0] https://peergos.net https://peergos.net
franky47 4y ago
Gary Bernhardt's hilarious predictions [1] are truly becoming closer to completion. [1] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-javascript https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death...
- h4ch1 4y ago
  Thanks for sharing, was a really nice watch!
- belter 4y ago
  Mindblown that we built the Web on this... xs = ['10','10','10'] (3) ['10', '10', '10'] xs.map(parseInt) (3) [10, NaN, 2]
  - franky47 4y ago
    For those who may be baffled at the result, it comes from parseInt accepting two arguments (string & radix), and map providing three per iteration (the value, index and whole array). The whole array is omitted, but the radix passed to parseInt is respectively 0, 1 and 2. Valid radix values are 2 to 36, but somehow 0 is also accepted due to its falsiness, and defaults to base 10. Base 1 is definitely not valid so NaNs out, and 10 in base 2 (binary) is 2. For more of those WTF moments, in JavaScript and other languages, check out "Wat" [1], another hilarious lightning talk by Gary Bernhardt. [1] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

138 points by mepian 4y ago

The demo, based on an older version: https://atrosinenko.github.io/qemujs-demo/ https://atrosinenko.github.io/qemujs-demo/ Two articles about the project in Russian (Google Translate is helpful): https://habr.com/en/articles/315770/ https://habr.com/en/articles/315770/ https://habr.com/en/articles/451306/ https://habr.com/en/articles/451306/

btown 4y ago

(2019)

dang 4y ago
Added. Thanks!

Mandatum 4y ago

This is amazing. The implications of this will result in some very interesting restrictions in corporate networks.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
> The implications of this will result in some very interesting restrictions in corporate networks. Why? Browsers are already capable of running arbitrary code
_8j50 4y ago
Browser-in-browser phishing is already trending
- segfaultbuserr 4y ago
  For those who are new to this, the classic article on this kind of phishing is The Line of Death [0]. Basically, the phishing site can create false title and URL bars. [0] https://textslashplain.com/2017/01/14/the-line-of-death/ https://textslashplain.com/2017/01/14/the-line-of-death/

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago

> This rewrite is still even more work-in-progress than the original one and still does not support block devices. Unfortunate (if understandable; none of this is criticism!). What does it do for disk, then? Or is it early enough to just not solve that and only use a bare kernel+initrd?

skrowl 4y ago

[dead]

jabbany 4y ago

Reminds me of https://bellard.org/jslinux/ https://bellard.org/jslinux/ (which is linked in the Readme of this project too, and IIRC also is qemu+emscripten) That demo also felt quite crazy back in the day, it even had an option for Win2k!

mepian 4y ago
As far as I remember, JSLinux is mostly written from scratch and only uses some pieces of QEMU. It has no JIT, unlike this project.
- jabbany 4y ago
  Yeah, this is probably right (It's been a long time since I've played with it) Looks like jslinux is based on TEMU which looks to be a "lite" QEMU.
  - Paul-Craft 4y ago
    Lol, maybe Fabrice Bellard is the only "true" full stack programmer in existence....
    - _ache_ 4y ago
      Epic joke.
    - igtztorrero 4y ago
      The 1000x programmer myth is real !!!
- selcuka 4y ago
  Fabrice Bellard is also the original author of QEMU.

lxe 4y ago

There's also "jslinux" from Fabrice Bellard himself from a while ago which reused parts of QEMU: https://bellard.org/jslinux/ https://bellard.org/jslinux/

taf2 4y ago

Love it does the -nic option use WebRTC?

j45 4y ago

This looks like it should not be lost among all the AI news this year.

selcuka 4y ago
It's from 2019.
- j45 4y ago
  Fair. Has the power inside of web browsers, and the CPUs powering them, and the models they could power in browser increased?

bayesian_horse 4y ago

Would it be possible to translate machine code directly to WASM? Probably somebody already dunnit.

MuffinFlavored 4y ago
> machine code i386 x86_64 arm64 https://www.google.com/search?q=x86_64+to+wasm https://www.google.com/search?q=x86_64+to+wasm some interesting stuff like https://github.com/michaelmelanson/wasm-kernel https://github.com/michaelmelanson/wasm-kernel

chaxor 4y ago

This is incredible. Is there any way to use this directly from an encrypted img file on some remote computer (e.g. dropbox url)? It seems that 'network block devices' might help in that area, but it's unclear. Would be neat for industry to have a e2ee repo of many computers that can be streamed encrypted to a browser for working in.

ianopolous 4y ago
You could do that running this as a custom app in Peergos [0], and the drive image would just be another file: https://book.peergos.org/features/apps.html https://book.peergos.org/features/apps.html We've done that for doom using another js emulator (jsdosbox): https://github.com/Peergos/example-apps#doom-shareware-running-inside-jsdosbox https://github.com/Peergos/example-apps#doom-shareware-runni... [0] https://peergos.net https://peergos.net

franky47 4y ago

Gary Bernhardt's hilarious predictions [1] are truly becoming closer to completion. [1] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-javascript https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death...

h4ch1 4y ago
Thanks for sharing, was a really nice watch!
belter 4y ago
Mindblown that we built the Web on this... xs = ['10','10','10'] (3) ['10', '10', '10'] xs.map(parseInt) (3) [10, NaN, 2]
- franky47 4y ago
  For those who may be baffled at the result, it comes from parseInt accepting two arguments (string & radix), and map providing three per iteration (the value, index and whole array). The whole array is omitted, but the radix passed to parseInt is respectively 0, 1 and 2. Valid radix values are 2 to 36, but somehow 0 is also accepted due to its falsiness, and defaults to base 10. Base 1 is definitely not valid so NaNs out, and 10 in base 2 (binary) is 2. For more of those WTF moments, in JavaScript and other languages, check out "Wat" [1], another hilarious lightning talk by Gary Bernhardt. [1] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat