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OS · Kernel · Systems

Unikernel Linux (UKL)

Collaborated to develop the initial Linux kernel target for a unikernel-style execution model, enabling a single application to link directly with the kernel and run with supervisor privileges in a unified address space.

0syscall boundary crossings on hot path
1unified address space
2xdeployment targets (VM + bare-metal)

Technical Approach

01

Direct Application–Kernel Linkage

The application and kernel are compiled as a single binary. Function calls that would normally cross the user/kernel boundary become direct calls, eliminating the syscall overhead for latency-sensitive paths.

02

Kernel Build System Modifications

The Linux kernel build system was modified to support linking an external application as a kernel target, preserving standard kernel configuration and module infrastructure.

03

Bare-metal and Virtualized Deployments

The resulting image runs on both bare-metal hardware and inside a hypervisor, making it suitable for both embedded deployments and cloud VM environments where tight performance control is needed.