June 10, 2021 · 39 minute read This article is part of the Bootstrapping series, in which I start from a 512-byte seed and try to bootstrap a practical system. Software is full of circular dependencies if you look deep enough. Compilers written in the language they compile are the most obvious example, but not the only one. To compile a kernel, you need a running kernel. Linkers, build systems, shells. Even text editors, if you want to write the code instead of just downloading it. How do you b...