A kernel is a component of a computer operating system. [1] A comparison of system kernels can provide insight into the design and architectural choices made by the developers of particular operating systems.
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of widely used and currently available operating system kernels. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.
Even though there are a large number and variety of available Linux distributions, all of these kernels are grouped under a single entry in these tables, due to the differences among them being of the patch level. See comparison of Linux distributions for a detailed comparison. Linux distributions that have highly modified kernels — for example, real-time computing kernels — should be listed separately. There are also a wide variety of minor BSD operating systems, many of which can be found at comparison of BSD operating systems.
The tables specifically do not include subjective viewpoints on the merits of each kernel or operating system.
The major contemporary general-purpose kernels are shown in comparison. Only an overview of the technical features is detailed.
Kernel Name | TCP | UDP | SCTP | DCCP |
---|---|---|---|---|
DragonFly BSD kernel | Yes | Yes | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Optional |
Linux kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
NetBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
OpenBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Solaris kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Windows NT kernel | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
XNU | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Zircon | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Kernel Name | Container (no resource management, no security) | Container (no resource management) | Container (resource management) | Paravirtualization | Full virtualization | User-space execution | Kernel as Library | Kernel as Kernel Driver | Hypervisor-Enforced Kernel Partitioning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux | chroot | LXC | Virtio, Hyper-V (guest only), Xen (guest only), VMI (guest only), kvm-lite, lguest | KVM | UML | (LKL) | (coLinux) | No | |
DragonFly BSD kernel | chroot | jail | No | No | vkernel | ? | ? | No | |
FreeBSD kernel | chroot | jail | Virtio, Xen (guest only) | BHyVe (KVM) | ? | ? | ? | No | |
NetBSD kernel | chroot | (sysjail (discontinued)) | No | Virtio and Xen | No | ? | Rump kernel | ? | No |
Solaris kernel | chroot | Solaris Containers / Zones | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | |
Windows NT kernel | AppContainers, Job Objects, Windows Server Containers | Hyper-V | Project Drawbridge | No | Virtual Secure Mode, Device Guard, Credential Guard [16] | ||||
XNU | chroot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Kernel Name | HTTP | FTP | NFS | CIFS | Name server | Transport-layer load balancer | Application-layer load balancer | 9P | TLS proxy | WAF | Memcached server |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux kernel | (TUX web server patch) | (TUX web server patch) | knfsd | ksmbd | ? | IP Virtual Server | (KTCPVS) | (patch available) | SOL_TLS [17] | (Tempesta FW) [18] | (kmemcached) |
DragonFly BSD kernel | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes [19] | ? | No | No | ? | ? |
FreeBSD kernel | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes [20] | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Solaris kernel | ? | ? | Yes | Yes [21] | ? | Yes [22] | Yes [22] | ? | KSSL | ? | ? |
Windows NT kernel | HTTP.sys | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
XNU | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
A comparison of OS support for different binary formats (executables):
Kernel Name | a.out | ECOFF | ELF | FDPIC ELF binaries (mmu less) | flat binaries (superH) | HUNK | Mach-O | Misc (wrapper based, like interpreters) | PE | SOM (PA-RISC, HP-UX) | NLM | PEF | DOS COM | MZ | LE | LX | NE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amiga Exec | No | No | Yes [23] | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
DragonFly BSD kernel | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
HP-UX kernel | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Linux kernel | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Some [24] | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MINIX 3 kernel | Some [9] [10] | No | Yes [8] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NetBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OpenBSD kernel | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ReactOS kernel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Solaris kernel | Yes [25] | No | Yes [26] | No | No | No | No | No | Some [27] | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows NT kernel | No | No | Yes with WSL | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes on x86 | Yes on x86 | ? | ? | Yes on x86 |
XNU | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Physical file systems:
Kernel | Acorn ADFS | Amiga FFS | APFS | BeFS | BFS | cramfs | EFS | ext2 | ext3 | ext4 | F2FS | FAT | FreeVxFS | HFS | HFS+ | HPFS | ISO 9660 | JFFS | JFFS2 | JFS | MINIX fs | NSS | NTFS | OCFS | QNX4 FS | System V FS | UDF | UFS | XFS | ZFS | ReiserFS | Reiser4 | Btrfs | HAMMER | Tux3 | exFAT | ReFS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DragonFly BSD kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | limited write | No | No | No | read only | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | limited write | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | read only | Yes | read only | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
Linux kernel | Yes [28] | Yes | Yes [29] | read only | Yes | Yes | read only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | read only | Yes | limited write (only with empty journal) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Full R/W with additional userspace driver) [30] | Yes | Yes [28] [31] | write support? | Yes | Yes [28] | Yes | both FUSE and native | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
MINIX 3 kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Tools available, cannot mount | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
NetBSD kernel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NetWare kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
OpenBSD kernel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ReactOS kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [32] | Yes [32] | Yes [32] | No | Yes [32] | No | No | No | No | Yes [32] | No | No | No | No | No | Read only | No | No | No | Yes [32] | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [33] | No | No | No | No |
Solaris kernel | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
Windows NT kernel | ? | ? | Yes [29] | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes [34] | Yes [35] | Yes [35] | No | Yes | ? | Yes [29] | Yes [29] | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | Yes [33] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
XNU | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes [36] | Yes [36] | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Read-Only | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | read only | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Kernel Name | NFS | AFS | CIFS | Coda | 9P | Ceph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DragonFly BSD kernel | up to NFSv3 | No | Yes | No | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Linux kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
NetBSD kernel | up to NFSv3 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OpenBSD kernel | up to NFSv3 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Solaris kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Windows NT kernel | up to NFSv3 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
XNU | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
kernel | HP | Softbank, ARM Holdings | Intel | MIPS | IBM | Renesas Electronics | Oracle | NXP | Analog Devices | Xilinx | Cadence | Canon, Axis Comm. | Socionext | Microchip, Atmel | CML, Hyperstone | Intel, Altera | WDC | Sunplus Technology | NVIDIA | TI | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VAX | Alpha | PA-RISC | ARM | x86 | i960 | IA-64 | MIPS | PowerPC | S/390 | z/Arch | H8300 | M16C | M32R | 78K | V850 | SuperH | SPARC | m68k | Blackfin (no-mmu) | MicroBlaze | Xtensa | ETRAX CRIS | FR-V | MN10300 | AVR32 | E1 (no-mmu) | Nios (no-mmu) | Nios II | WDC 65C816 | S+core | Tilera | C6X | |||||||||||
mmu | no-mmu | x86 | x86-64 | mmu | no-mmu | 32-bit | 64-bit | mmu | no-mmu | 32-bit | 64-bit | no-mmu | mmu | no-mmu | mmu | no-mmu | mmu | no-mmu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
DragonFly BSD kernel | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | No | 6.4 and below only [37] | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | 10.4 and below only [37] | projected to end in 14.x [37] | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 12.x and below only [37] | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Linux kernel | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 4.16 and below only [38] | No | 2.6 and below only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4.16 and below only [38] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4.16 and below only [38] | 4.16 and below only [38] | 4.16 and below only [38] | 4.12 and below only | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | 4.16 and below only [38] | 4.16 and below only [38] | Yes |
MINIX 3 kernel | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | In progress | No | No | In progress | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
NetBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No [39] | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No [39] | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No [39] | Yes | Yes | No [39] | Yes | No [39] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NetWare kernel | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OpenBSD kernel | last supported release 5.8 [40] | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Rockbox kernel | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Solaris kernel | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows NT kernel | No | NT 5.0 RC1 and below only | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | XP and 2003-2008 R2 only | NT 4.0 and below only | No | NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 only | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Windows CE kernel | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | ? | No | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
XNU | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SPARTAN kernel | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
FreeRTOS kernel | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes [41] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes [41] | ? | ? | No | Yes [41] | ? | ? | Yes [41] | Yes [41] | ? | Yes [41] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes [41] | Yes [41] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes [41] | ? | ? | ? | Yes [41] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zircon | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Kernel name | Intel | NVIDIA | AMD | ARM | Qualcomm | Imagination Technologies | Broadcom | VeriSilicon |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intel HD/Iris Graphics | GeForce/Quadro/Tesla | Radeon | Mali | Adreno | PowerVR | VideoCore4 | Vivante | |
Linux kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2D only [42] [43] | Yes | Yes |
Windows NT kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Windows Phone 8.x, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows on ARM | Yes [44] | No [45] | Yes |
XNU | via I/O Kit (macOS only) | via I/O Kit (macOS only) | No | via I/O Kit (iOS only) | No | No |
This table indicates, for each kernel, what operating systems' executable images and device drivers can be run by that kernel.
Kernel name | Linux | Darwin | Windows NT | FreeBSD | NetBSD | Solaris | OSF/1 | Amiga Unix | SunOS | BSD/OS | iBCS2 systems | IRIX | Ultrix | NDIS | SVR4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FreeBSD kernel | Yes [46] | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [46] | Yes [46] |
Linux kernel | Yes | No | (Longene) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | (NDISwrapper) | No |
NetBSD kernel | Yes [47] | No? ? | No? ? | Yes [47] | Yes | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [47] | Yes [48] | Yes |
OpenBSD kernel | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes |
Windows NT kernel | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
ReactOS kernel | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
XNU | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
This may be usable on some situations like file system encrypting.
Kernel name | DES | AES | Blowfish | Triple DES | Serpent | Twofish | CAST-128 | DES-X | IDEA | RC2 | RC5 | SEED | Skipjack | TEA | XTEA | CAST-256 | RC4 | Camellia | Anubis | KHAZAD | Salsa20 | FCrypt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DragonFly BSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
FreeBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Linux | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows NT kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
macOS XNU Kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
This may be usable on some situations like compression file system.
Kernel name | Deflate | zlib | LZO | LZJB | gzip | zstd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
NetBSD kernel | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Solaris kernel | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Kernel name | CRC-32 (IEEE) | CRC32c | MD2 | MD4 | MD5 | SHA-1 | SHA-2 | SHA-3 | Michael MIC | Poly1305 | RIPEMD-128 | RIPEMD-160 | RIPEMD-256 | RIPEMD-320 | Tiger | Whirlpool | HMAC | MDC-2 | GOST | LASH | VMAC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux | Yes [49] [50] | Yes [51] | No | Yes [52] | Yes [53] | Yes [54] | Yes [55] | Partial [56] | Yes [57] | Yes [58] | Yes [59] | Yes [60] | Yes [61] | Yes [62] | Yes [63] | Yes [64] | Yes [65] | No | No | No | Yes [66] |
Solaris kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Windows NT kernel | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
FreeBSD kernel | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XNU kernel | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Kernel name | CRC-32 (IEEE) | CRC32c | MD2 | MD4 | MD5 | SHA-1 | SHA-2 | SHA-3 | Michael MIC | Poly1305 | RIPEMD-128 | RIPEMD-160 | RIPEMD-256 | RIPEMD-320 | Tiger | Whirlpool | HMAC | MDC2 | GOST | LASH | VMAC |
Kernel name | ACL | SCO | LMP | HCI | L2CAP | BNEP | RFComm. | SDP | TCP | AVTCP | AVDTP | OBEX | CMTP | HIDP | HCRP | CAPI | PPP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FreeBSD kernel | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Linux | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
macOS XNU Kernel | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Kernel name | ACL | SCO | LMP | HCI | L2CAP | BNEP | RFComm. | SDP | TCP | AVTCP | AVDTP | OBEX | CMTP | HIDP | HCRP | CAPI | PPP |
Kernel name | Audio system | in-kernel mixer | in-kernel filter |
---|---|---|---|
Linux | ALSA | ? | ? |
Windows NT kernel | MME / WDM audio / Kernel Streaming (KS) | dropped (KMixer.sys) | KS Filters |
FreeBSD kernel | OSS API | VCHANs in OSS API | ? |
NetBSD kernel | native (Sun-like) / OSS API [67] | audio_system [68] | ? |
Solaris kernel | Sun audio API / OSS API | Yes | ? |
SynAttack protection is enabled by default and cannot be disabled
The ACLs used in Macintosh OS X and Sun's Solaris operating system are similar to those in Windows to ensure they work well together.
The architectures on the chopping block for Linux 4.17 are Blackfin, CRIS, FRV, M32R, Metag, MN10300, Score, and Tile
In computing, the Executable and Linkable Format is a common standard file format for executable files, object code, shared libraries, and core dumps. First published in the specification for the application binary interface (ABI) of the Unix operating system version named System V Release 4 (SVR4), and later in the Tool Interface Standard, it was quickly accepted among different vendors of Unix systems. In 1999, it was chosen as the standard binary file format for Unix and Unix-like systems on x86 processors by the 86open project.
MINIX is a Unix-like operating system based on a microkernel architecture. Since version 2.0, it has been POSIX compliant.
ext2, or second extended file system, is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by French software developer Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext). Having been designed according to the same principles as the Berkeley Fast File System from BSD, it was the first commercial-grade filesystem for Linux.
JACK Audio Connection Kit is a professional sound server API and pair of daemon implementations to provide real-time, low-latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications. JACK was developed by a community of open-source developers led by Paul Davis and has been a key piece of infrastructure and the de facto standard for professional audio software on Linux since its inception in 2002. The server is free software, licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later, while the library is licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later.
In Unix-like operating systems, /dev/random and /dev/urandom are special files that serve as cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generators (CSPRNGs). They allow access to a CSPRNG that is seeded with entropy from environmental noise, collected from device drivers and other sources. /dev/random typically blocked if there was less entropy available than requested; more recently it usually blocks at startup until sufficient entropy has been gathered, then unblocks permanently. The /dev/urandom device typically was never a blocking device, even if the pseudorandom number generator seed was not fully initialized with entropy since boot. Not all operating systems implement the same methods for /dev/random and /dev/urandom.
These tables provide a comparison of operating systems, of computer devices, as listing general and technical information for a number of widely used and currently available PC or handheld operating systems. The article "Usage share of operating systems" provides a broader, and more general, comparison of operating systems that includes servers, mainframes and supercomputers.
Git is a distributed version control system that tracks versions of files. It is often used to control source code by programmers who are developing software collaboratively.
Wireless network cards for computers require control software to make them function. This is a list of the status of some open-source drivers for 802.11 wireless network cards.
These tables compare free software / open-source operating systems. Where not all of the versions support a feature, the first version which supports it is listed.
Minix 3 is a small, Unix-like operating system. It is published under a BSD-3-Clause license and is a successor project to the earlier versions, Minix 1 and 2.
Linux is a generic name for a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution (distro), which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project.
NTFS-3G is an open-source cross-platform implementation of the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system with read/write support. NTFS-3G often uses the FUSE file system interface, so it can run unmodified on many different operating systems. It is runnable on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenSolaris, illumos, BeOS, QNX, WinCE, Nucleus, VxWorks, Haiku, MorphOS, Minix, macOS and OpenBSD. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is a partial fork of ntfsprogs and is under active maintenance and development.
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a free and open-source virtualization module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to function as a hypervisor. It was merged into the mainline Linux kernel in version 2.6.20, which was released on February 5, 2007. KVM requires a processor with hardware virtualization extensions, such as Intel VT or AMD-V. KVM has also been ported to other operating systems such as FreeBSD and illumos in the form of loadable kernel modules.
GNU variants are operating systems based upon the GNU operating system. According to the GNU project and others, these also include most operating systems using the Linux kernel and a few others using BSD-based kernels.
Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student Linus Torvalds to create a new free operating system kernel. The resulting Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of C files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to the 4.15 version in 2018 with more than 23.3 million lines of source code, not counting comments, under the GNU General Public License v2 with a syscall exception meaning anything that uses the kernel via system calls are not subject to the GNU GPL.
The Linux kernel is a free and open source, UNIX-like kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU operating system (OS) which was created to be a free replacement for Unix. Since the late 1990s, it has been included in many operating system distributions, many of which are called Linux. One such Linux kernel operating system is Android which is used in many mobile and embedded devices.
The Remote Network Driver Interface Specification (RNDIS) is a Microsoft proprietary protocol used mostly on top of USB. It provides a virtual Ethernet link to most versions of the Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD operating systems. Multiple revisions of a partial RNDIS specification are available from Microsoft, but Windows implementations have been observed to issue requests not included in that specification, and to have undocumented constraints.
Illumos is a partly free and open-source Unix operating system. It is based on OpenSolaris, which was based on System V Release 4 (SVR4) and the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Illumos comprises a kernel, device drivers, system libraries, and utility software for system administration. This core is now the base for many different open-sourced Illumos distributions, in a similar way in which the Linux kernel is used in different Linux distributions.
OpenZFS is an open-source implementation of the ZFS file system and volume manager initially developed by Sun Microsystems for the Solaris operating system, and is now maintained by the OpenZFS Project. Similar to the original ZFS, the implementation supports features like data compression, data deduplication, copy-on-write clones, snapshots, RAID-Z, and virtual devices that can create filesystems that span multiple disks.
WireGuard is a communication protocol and free and open-source software that implements encrypted virtual private networks (VPNs). It aims to be lighter and better performing than IPsec and OpenVPN, two common tunneling protocols. The WireGuard protocol passes traffic over UDP.