Dite overview
Dite, at its most basic level, is a tool for merging multiple object files into output file. This is extermely useful when developing modular operating systems. Most boot loaders are only capable of installing one ELF or binary file, however the operating systems we are developing are compiled into a set of different executable files. This tool provides us with a way for the boot loader to install multipe executables at system boot time.
Example
As an example the L4 operating system needs, at a minimum, a kernel, an initial pager (known as sigma0) and and intial task. The image shows how these three binary files are merged into a single dite image.
Apart from merging, dite also fills out BootInfo headers, and patches the L4 kernel configuration page.
You shouldn't need to invoke dite manually. The build system handles the compilation and use of dite.
History and authors
Dite has been around for a long time, and had a few different people work on it in that time. Its predecessor, dit, was written by Kevin Elphinstone for the U4600 machines. It was later ported to Alpha by Daniel Potts. Simon Winwood did a rewrite as dite which was largely platform independant, and added some new features. Finally it has been hacked on by Ben Leslie and Nicholas FitzRoy-Dale to provide support for L4::Pistachio and the Kenge build system.