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A Tale of Four Kernels [pdf] (2008)

A Tale of Four Kernels [pdf] (2008)

4 comments

·March 18, 2025
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Mr-Frog

I've always enjoyed the practical research and projects that happen at the CalPoly schools, my friends who attended always seemed to be doing some very neat hands-on work.

Anecdotally, my occasional interactions with Linux kernel source code have always impressed me with how the project manage to effectively structure such a large C codebase. Until I look at FreeBSD code, which is even more impressively organized. Both of these projects have really helped me think about how to best organize huge complicated systems.

MikeTheGreat

If you're willing to share I'd be interested in hearing more about what you learned. What is it about those two codebases that you've used to inform your own choices?

The kernels are pretty sizeable and pretty specialized pieces of software so it's kinda fascinating that useful lessons for other projects could be extracted from it.

bcantrill

Wow, this has been submitted exactly twice: today -- and 17 years ago.[0] (No comments then either, probably because there isn't too much to say? Even the work itself draws pretty tepid conclusions.)

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=194927

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