A micro-kernel API for Linux

Abstract

Writing device drivers, and other programs that interact with hardware, is, typically, hard and error-prone. Due to the architecture of many operating systems in use today, such as Linux, it usually requires writing kernel level code, which is of higher difficulty than regular user space code. Additionally, kernel level code runs in kernel space, meaning that a problem in one kernel component can affect the entire system, making it crash, behave incorrectly, or open up security vulnerabilities. This dissertation proposes an interface for writing these kinds of software in user space on Linux, similar to the interfaces provided by micro-kernel operating systems. It aims to make the process of developing such software easier, and to increase the safety and reliability of the system by reducing the amount of code in kernel space and moving it into isolated user space programs.