[cap-talk] kernel object knowledge

[Peter Amstutz]

On Sat, Jun 09, 2007 at 11:57:24PM +0200, Pierre THIERRY wrote:
> Scribit Bill Frantz dies 29/05/2007 hora 22:57:
> > Take the USB port as an example.  While the driver for the port needs
> > to be trusted by any code that depends on a device on that USB bus, it
> > may be possible to have separate drivers for each device on the bus,
> > all of which communicate through the port driver.
> 
> There was a discussion on this possibility on a HURD ML some time ago.
> In fact, I'm sure capability-based OSes will make OS development much
> more fun and less dangerous. Much code than needed to run within the
> kernel and could crash the whole system and destroy data will now be
> possible not only to isolate and plug in easily, but will be possible to
> be at the user's discretion.
> 
> For example, an USB bus driver that multiplexes data sent to USB devices
> could make it possible to give to the user that is currently logged on a
> terminal the ability to run USB devices plugged on the terminal with a
> driver provided by himself. That opens a lot of possibilies.

It certainly seems that capabilities and microkernel/message passing 
operating systems should go hand in hand.  However, I believe the 
traditional criticism of microkernels is not that they don't work, but 
it is hard to make them work efficiently.  Of course, by reducing or 
eliminating the layer of security checking that would otherwise need to 
occur on every system call, perhaps capabilities can breath new life 
into microkernel designs?

-- 
[   Peter Amstutz  ][ tetron at interreality.org ][ peter.amstutz at gdit.com ]
[Lead Programmer][Interreality Project][Virtual Reality for the Internet]
[ VOS: Next Generation Internet Communication][ http://interreality.org ]
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