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I gave a presentation on SeL4 for my local OWASP chapter. I'll have to see if I can dig it up. The project truly is a nice piece of kit, but I would hesitate t

I gave a presentation on SeL4 for my local OWASP chapter. I'll have to see if I can dig it up. The project truly is a nice piece of kit, but I would hesitate to consider it as a replacement for Linux, especially for general purpose computing. Though that isn't to say microkernels are terrible for it in general. RedoxOS seems to be making some inroads lately and it uses a microkernel written in Rust.

vacuity 2y ago
The question is always "how big of a replacement are we talking?" Redox seems to be committed to interoperate well with POSIX, which naturally informs its design decisions. And there's a huge difference between having technical capabilities and succeeding. Although if Redox does succeed, it would already be a good step. seL4 is even more extreme in these qualities: its technical advantages are superb, but so far (and I think this will continue) it does not have what it takes, whatever that encompasses, to be the Next Big Thing. Ignoring political considerations, I think microkernels will be successful, and rightfully so.
snvzz 2y ago
>I would hesitate to consider it as a replacement for Linux It would depend on the scenario. Of course, Linux is easier to work with but OTOH there are requirements which only seL4 can satisfy. There's a lot required on top of seL4 for it to be actually useful. Fortunately, there has been a lot of Open Source work there as well. This is where seL4 is in a much better position than just a few years ago. For static scenarios, there's LionsOS[0], quite usable already. For dynamic scenarios, there's the Provably Secure, General-Purpose Operating System[1], which is still early stages. Both can be found in the Projects page[2] at trustworthy systems, which is linked in the seL4 website. 0. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/LionsOS/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/LionsOS/ 1. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/smos/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/smos/ 2. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/
- TheAmazingRace 2y ago
  Thank you kindly for providing these links. I do hope that microkernels take off in a big way for general purpose computing someday.

vacuity 2y ago

The question is always "how big of a replacement are we talking?" Redox seems to be committed to interoperate well with POSIX, which naturally informs its design decisions. And there's a huge difference between having technical capabilities and succeeding. Although if Redox does succeed, it would already be a good step. seL4 is even more extreme in these qualities: its technical advantages are superb, but so far (and I think this will continue) it does not have what it takes, whatever that encompasses, to be the Next Big Thing. Ignoring political considerations, I think microkernels will be successful, and rightfully so.

snvzz 2y ago

>I would hesitate to consider it as a replacement for Linux It would depend on the scenario. Of course, Linux is easier to work with but OTOH there are requirements which only seL4 can satisfy. There's a lot required on top of seL4 for it to be actually useful. Fortunately, there has been a lot of Open Source work there as well. This is where seL4 is in a much better position than just a few years ago. For static scenarios, there's LionsOS[0], quite usable already. For dynamic scenarios, there's the Provably Secure, General-Purpose Operating System[1], which is still early stages. Both can be found in the Projects page[2] at trustworthy systems, which is linked in the seL4 website. 0. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/LionsOS/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/LionsOS/ 1. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/smos/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/smos/ 2. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/

TheAmazingRace 2y ago
Thank you kindly for providing these links. I do hope that microkernels take off in a big way for general purpose computing someday.