Hermann Härtig
Dresden University of Technology
L4-Based Systems: New Challenges and Opportunities
L4-based systems – as some other micro-kernel-based systems – have found their applications, in real life rather than just in publicly funded research projects. They range from Co-Processor software via high security laptops, OS inspection platforms all the way “up" to complex automotive platforms. Several L4-like micro-kernels and L4-based component frameworks have been built and are in practical usage. To my knowledge, most of these applications have in common that they are in some way too critical to entrust them to larger legacy operating systems.
Various challenges and opportunities remain to be addressed. Examples are the increasing popularity of special purpose and field programable hardware circuits, the extreme complexity of hardware architectures, the potential usage of L4-abstractions as an infrastructure for distributed systems, and the support for partitioned system. I will discuss some of these issues, shortly talk about some ongoing projects namely M3 and Caladan, and mostly raise questions.
Since his formal retirement in 2019, he continues these activities as a senior professor and runs his systems-consulting company helping in various topics related to operating systems, real-time systems and system security.
