| 4 | | == General Questions == |
| | 4 | == Fundamental Concepts == |
| | 5 | |
| | 6 | === What is a microkernel? === |
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| | 8 | In a microkernel operating system certain functionality such as device drivers, file systems and networking is moved out from kernel space to user space. The microkernel itself provides only minimal functionality that is necessary for user processes to run and communicate. This strongly contrasts with the traditional monolithic operating systems that keep most of these functions inside the kernel. The main rationale for designing operating systems along the microkernel lines is that a bug in a kernel driver of a monolithic operating system usually results in the crash of the entire system whereas a bug in a user space driver of a microkernel operating system is confined to the user process in which the driver runs. |
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| | 10 | === What is a multiserver? === |
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| | 12 | Within the scope of microkernel operating systems, a multiserver system spreads the operating system functionality over multiple user processes. Note how this is different from a single-server microkernel that concentrates all these functions into a single user process. |
| | 13 | |
| | 14 | == General HelenOS Questions == |
