Comparison of operating system kernels

Last updated

A kernel is a component of a computer operating system. [1] It serves as an intermediary connecting software to hardware, enabling them to work together seamlessly. [2] A comparison of system kernels can provide insight into the design and architectural choices made by the developers of particular operating systems.

Contents

Comparison criteria

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.

Feature overview

The major contemporary general-purpose kernels are shown in comparison. Only an overview of the technical features is detailed.

Failure analysis and availability

Kernel NameKernel LogSerious system error report Fatal system error reportKernel crash dump Kernel debugger Hardware error detectionSoftware RAID Remote storage replication
CPU hotplug
Memory hotplug
Kernel live patching Kernel live update
DragonFly BSD kernel Yes? Kernel panic ?ddb???????
FreeBSD kernel kern.msgbuf in sysctl? Kernel panic Yes [18] [a] ddb [18] ? GEOM, ZFS (HAST in user-space)No???
Linux kernel kmsg Linux kernel oops Kernel panic / drm_panic kdump [19] [b] KDB / KGDB [20] EDAC (formerly Bluesmoke) md, LVM DRBD [21] [22] Yes [23] Yes [24] livepatch [25] Kexec HandOver / Live Update Orchestrator [26]
NetBSD kernel Yes? Kernel panic ?DDB / KGDB ?RAIDframe, ZFS ?????
OpenBSD kernel Yes? Kernel panic Yes [27] ddb?softraid?????
Solaris kernel Yes?YesSystem core dump [28] [c] mdbereport Solaris Volume Manager, ZFS ?????
Windows NT kernel NT Kernel Logger in ETW Stop Error (Blue Screen of Death) Kernel-mode Dump KD WHEA Storage Spaces / Disk ManagementStorage Replica / DFS Replication??Hotpatch [29] ?
XNU Yes? Kernel panic ?ddb / kdp?AppleRAID?????
Zircon????????????
  1. Can be debugged using kgdb(1)
  2. Can be debugged using crash(8)
  3. Can be debugged using mdb(1)

Scalability and clustering

Kernel NameSupported number of CPU cores NUMA supportComputer cluster interconnect Application checkpointing
/
Process migration
Single system image Clustered file system
Remote direct memory access (RDMA) support InfiniBand support PCI Express
Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB) support
CXL 3.1
inter-host communication with GIM support
DragonFly BSD kernel 256 [30] Partial [30] ????sys_checkpoint [31] planned [32] HAMMER2
FreeBSD kernel1024 [33] Yes [34] Yes [35] Yes [36] Yes [37] ??No pNFS [38]
Linux kernel 8192 [39] Yes [40] YesYesYes [41] NoCheckpoint/Restart(openMosix) pNFS / Ceph / OCFS2 / GFS2
Solaris kernel512 [42] YesYesYes [43] ??NoNo PxFS
Windows NT kernel ?Yes?????NoCluster Shared Volumes

Realtime support

Kernel NameFull kernel preemption Prevent priority inversion (Priority inheritance)Realtime SchedulingRealtime PriorityRealtime I/OCPU IsolationDisable CPU's Interrupt request (IRQ) handling Disable CPU's timer ticks Prevent memory from being swapped out
kernel threads interrupt handlers lock sections kernel spaceuserland
DragonFly BSD kernel ???????????mlock/mlockall system call
FreeBSD kernel ????UMUTEX_PRIO_INHERIT on _umtx_op [44] SCHED_FIFO / SCHED_RR on ULE scheduler [45] rtprio system call [45] [46] ???Yes, since FreeBSD 9.0 [47] mlock/mlockall system call [48] [49]
Linux kernel preempt=full [50] threadirqs PREEMPT_RT [51] RT-mutex / (mutex with Proxy Execution [52] )PI-futexes [53] SCHED_FIFO / SCHED_RR on CFS/EEVDF rtprio system callIOPRIO_CLASS_RT [54] isolcpus [50] irqaffinitynohz_full [55] mlock/mlockall system call
NetBSD kernel ???????????mlock/mlockall system call
OpenBSD kernel ???????????mlock/mlockall system call
Solaris kernel ????Yes [56] ??????mlock/mlockall system call
Windows NT kernel Yes [57] ??AutoBoost [58] ?REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS????Windows 8 and later [59] VirtualLock
XNU ????os_unfair_lock [60] ??????mlock system call
Zircon????????????

Transport protocol support

Kernel Name Internet layer (L3) Transport layer (L4) L4S Congestion controls
IPv4 IPv6 IPSec TCP Multipath TCP UDP UDP-Lite SCTP DCCP QUIC Accurate ECN (AccECN)TCP PragueDual-Queue Coupled Active Queue Management
DragonFly BSD kernel YesYes?Yes?YesNoNoNo????
FreeBSD kernel YesYesYes [61] YesUnofficial patch exists [62] YesYes [63] Yes [64] Unofficial patches exist [65] [66] [67] [68] ????
Linux kernel YesYesYesYesPartial [69] Yesdropped in 7.1 [70] Yesdropped in 6.16 [71] Unofficial [72] Yes [73] [74] (Linux kernel tree with L4S patches)DualPI2 qdisc [75] [76]
NetBSD kernel YesYesYesYes?Yes?YesYes????
OpenBSD kernel YesYes?Yes?YesNoNoNo????
Solaris kernel YesYesYes [77] Yes?YesNoYesNo????
Windows NT kernel YesYesYes [78] Yes?Yes?No?????
XNU YesYes?YesYesYesNoNoNo????
Zircon???Yes?Yes?YesYes????
Kernel Name Data link layer (L2)L2 over L2L2 segmentationlayer 2.5 (L2.5)L2 over L2.5L2 over L3L3 over L3L2 over L4
PPP Ethernet PPPoE IEEE 802.1Q (VLAN) IEEE 802.1ad (QinQ) MPLS VLL Epipe (VPWS) L2TPv3 L2 GRE L3 GRE Mobile IP Minimal Tunneling [79] IP in IP (IPIP) [80] 6in4 (SIT) [81] PPTP L2TP VXLAN
DragonFly BSD kernel Yes [82] Yes?Yes [83] ?????Yes [84] gif [85] ???
FreeBSD kernel Legacy kernel PPP [86] [a] and netgraph-based kernel PPP [87] YesYes [88] Yes [89] ?????Yes [90] Yes [91] gif [92] ??Yes [93]
Linux kernel Yes [94] Yes [95] Yes [96] Yes [97] Yes [98] ?Yes [99] ?Yes [100] NoYes [101] Yes [102] No [b] Yes [103] Yes [104]
NetBSD kernel Yes [105] YesYes [106] Yes [107] ?Yes [108] ?l2tp interface [109] ?Yes [110] gif [111] ???
OpenBSD kernel Yes [112] YesYes [113] Yes [114] svlan [114] ?mpw [115] ?egre [116] Yes [116] No?gif [117] ??Yes [118]
Solaris kernel Yes [119] YesYes [120] Yes??????NoYes?No [b] No [b] Yes
Windows NT kernel ?Yesraspppoe.sys [121] ??????Yes [122] Noipinip.sys [123] No [124] raspptp.sys [125] rasl2tp.sys [125] Yes
XNU YesYes?Yes??????Nogif???
Zircon????????????????
  1. Dropped since FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE
  2. 1 2 3 Implemented in user-space only

Inter-process communication support

Kernel Name Signal Messaging Shared memory Stream-orientedKernel-assisted Remote Procedure Call
Message queue (Mailbox)between kernel and userspaceAnonymousNamed Pipe Local socket Pseudo terminal
Anonymous pipe Named pipe
FreeBSD kernelYes POSIX/ System V AF_ROUTE and AF_NETLINK sockets [126] [127] SHM_ANON [128] YesBidirectional [129] YesAF_UNIXposix_openpt [130] , and UNIX 98 and BSD-style compatibility module [131] ?
XNU Yes POSIX AF_ROUTE and AF_SYSTEM sockets, Mach IPC?YesUnidirectionalYesAF_UNIXUNIX 98 and BSD Mach IPC
DragonFly BSD kernelYes???YesBidirectionalYesAF_UNIXUNIX 98 and BSD [132] ?
NetBSD kernelYes?AF_ROUTE sockets?YesUnidirectionalYesAF_UNIXUNIX 98, BSD and OpenBSD (ptm) [133] [134] ?
OpenBSD kernelYes?AF_ROUTE sockets?YesBidirectionalYesAF_UNIXBSD and OpenBSD (ptm) [135] ?
Linux YesPOSIX/System V AF_NETLINK sockets memfd POSIX/System VUnidirectionalYesAF_UNIXUNIX 98 and BSD Binder
Solaris kernelYesPOSIX/System V??YesBidirectional [136] YesAF_UNIXUNIX 98 and BSD Doors
Windows NT kernel ? MailSlot [137] ?? Yes Unidirectional NPFS AF_UNIX [138] No ALPC

In-kernel security

Kernel
File access control Disable memory execution support
Kernel ASLR
Mandatory access control Capability-based security
In-kernel
key management
Audit API Sandbox SYN flood protection UDP flood protection Ping flood protection Smurf attack protection Network Behavior Analysis
Linux
Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX ACL YesYes LSM (SELinux, SMACK, TOMOYO Linux, AppArmor)Yes keyctl fanotify / inotify SELinux Sandbox, seccomp SYN cookies hashlimit module / intermediate lockless queues [139] ICMP rate limitingreverse path filteringNetfilter
FreeBSD kernel
Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX and NFSv4 ACL YesYes TrustedBSD MAC [140] In-kernel privilege division, and Capsicum? OpenBSM / inotify [141] Capsicum, MAC framework [142] [143] SYN cookies ?ICMP rate limiting??
Solaris kernel
Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX ACL, NFSv4 ACL Default? Solaris Trusted Extensions Process privileges [144] ????????
Windows NT kernel
Access control list DEP Yes Mandatory Integrity Control Process security tokens, and AppContainersNoYesWindows Event LogYes [145] Yes???
XNU
Traditional Unix permissions, NT/NFSv4 ACL [146] YesYes TrustedBSD MAC ?? OpenBSM Apple XNU Sandbox?????
Kernel Code signing Prevent BYOVD attackRuntime integrity checkingApplication WhitelistingVerifying
Kernel (Secure Boot)Kernel driverApplicationblock devicefilesystem
LinuxYesModule signature verification [147] IMA / EVM [148] ?(Linux Kernel Runtime Guard [149] )? dm-verity [150] [151] fs-verity [152] [153]
FreeBSD kernel????????
NetBSD kernel????? veriexec [154] ??
Solaris kernel????????
Windows NT kernelYesKernel-Mode Code Signing [155] ?Vulnerable Driver Blocklist [156] PatchGuard [a] , HyperGuard [b] AppLocker [154] ? Windows Resource Protection
XNU? kext signing ??Kernel Patch Protection [157] ???
  1. a.k.a. Kernel Patch Protection
  2. a.k.a. Secure Kernel PatchGuard

In-kernel virtualization

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 DriverHypervisor-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 kernelchroot jail NoNovkernel??No
FreeBSD kernelchroot jail Virtio, Xen [158] bhyve ???No
NetBSD kernelchroot(sysjail (discontinued))NoVirtio, Xen [159] No? Rump kernel ?No
OpenBSD kernelchrootNoNoXen (guest only) [160] Yes [161] NoNoNoNo
Solaris kernelchroot Solaris Containers / Zones NoNoNo??No
Windows NT kernelAppContainers, Job Objects, Windows Server ContainersHyper-V Project Drawbridge NoVirtual Secure Mode, Device Guard, Credential Guard [162]
XNUchroot???Yes [163] ???No

In-kernel server support

Kernel Name HTTP FTP NFS CIFS Name server Transport-layer load balancerApplication-layer load balancer 9P TLS proxy WAF Memcached server
Linux kernel (TUX web server patch)(TUX web server patch)knfsd ksmbd [164] [165] ? IP Virtual Server (KTCPVS)(patch available)SOL_TLS [166] (Tempesta FW) [167] (kmemcached)
DragonFly BSD kernel NoNoUp to NFS v3Yes?Yes [168] ?NoNo??
FreeBSD kernel NoNoYes [169] [170] [171] NoNoYes [172] NoNoktls [173] ??
Solaris kernel ??YesYes [174] ?Yes [175] Yes [175] ? KSSL ??
Windows NT kernel HTTP.sys ??Yes?YesYesNo???
XNU NoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNo??

Binary format support

A comparison of OS kernel support for different binary formats (executables):

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 NoNoYes [176] NoNoYesNoNoNoNo???????
DragonFly BSD kernelNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
FreeBSD kernelYesNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
HP-UX kernelNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNo?????
Linux Dropped [177] [178] YesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYes?No?????
MINIX 3 Some [13] [14] NoYes [12] NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo?????
NetBSD kernelYesYesYes???Dropped [179] ?Yes????????
OpenBSD kernel??Yes??????????????
ReactOS kernel????????Yes????????
Solaris kernelYes [180] NoYes [181] NoNoNoNoNoNoNo???????
Windows NT kernelNoNoYes with WSL NoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNo [a] No [a] ??No [a]
XNU NoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
  1. 1 2 3 Supported by Win32 subsystem in user-space on x86

File system support

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 NoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNolimited writeNoNoNoread onlyYesNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNo
FreeBSD kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesYesYesNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoSupport dropped since 10.0-RELEASE [182] [183] NoNoNoYesYesread onlyYesread onlyNoNoNoNo?No
Linux kernel Yes
[184]
YesUnofficial
[185]
read onlyYesYesread onlyYesYesYesYesYesread onlyYeslimited write (only with empty journal)YesYesYesYesYesYesYesFull read/write support since 5.15 [186] YesYes
[184]
[187]
write support?YesYes
[184]
Yes3rd-party moduleYesYesYesNoYesYesNo
MINIX 3 kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoTools available, cannot mountNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
NetBSD kernel???????????????????????????Yes?Yes???????
NetWare kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo?No
OpenBSD kernelNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoRead onlyNoNoNoRead onlyYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
ReactOS kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoNoYes
[188]
Yes
[188]
Yes
[188]
NoYes
[188]
NoNoNoNoYes
[188]
NoNoNoNoNoRead onlyNoNoNoYes
[188]
NoNoNoNoNoYes [189] [188] NoNoNoNo
Solaris kernel ??No????Yes???Yes????Yes????NoNo???YesYes?YesNoNoNoNoNo?No
Windows NT kernel ??Unofficial
[185]
????Unofficial
[190]
Unofficial
[191]
Unofficial
[191]
NoYes?Unofficial
[185]
Unofficial
[185]
NoYes????NoYes???Yes??NoNoNoUnofficial
[192]
NoNoYesYes
XNU NoNoYesNoNoNoNoUnofficial
[193]
Unofficial
[193]
NoNoYesNoYesYesNoYesNoNoNoNoNoRead onlyNoNoNoYesYesNoOfficial support was abandoned; 3rd-party modules availableNoNoNoNoNoYesNo

Networked file system support

Kernel Name NFS AFS CIFS Coda 9P Ceph
DragonFly BSD kernel Up to NFSv3NoYesNoNoNo
FreeBSD kernel Yes [171] [194] YesYes [195] YesNoYes
Linux kernel YesYesYesYesYesYes
NetBSD kernelUp to NFSv3?????
OpenBSD kernelUp to NFSv3?????
Solaris kernel YesYesYesNoNoNo
Windows NT kernel Up to NFSv3 [196] YesYesNoNoNo
XNU YesYesYesNoNoNo

Pseudo file system support

Kernel Name Device File System Process File System (procfs)Interface for user-space file systems
DragonFly BSD kerneldevfsYes FUSE
FreeBSD kerneldevfs [197] Obsoleted [198] FUSE [199]
Linux devtmpfsYes FUSE
NetBSD kernelNoYes PUFFS
OpenBSD kernelNoNo FUSE
Solaris kerneldevfsYes FUSE (3rd-party implementation)
XNU devfsNo FUSE (Unofficial implementation)

Supported CPU instruction sets and microarchitectures

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
mmuno-mmu64-bit mmux86x86-64mmuno-mmu32-bit64-bitmmuno-mmu32-bit64-bitno-mmummuno-mmummuno-mmummuno-mmu
DragonFly BSD kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
FreeBSD kernel No6.4 and below only [200] NoYes?YesYesYesNo10.4 and below only [200] projected to end in 14.x [200] NoYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo12.x and below only [200] ?NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Linux kernel NoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNo6.7 and below onlyYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNo4.16 and below only [201] No2.6 and below onlyYesYesYesYesYesYesYes4.16 and below only [201] YesYesYes4.16 and below only [201] 4.16 and below only [201] 4.16 and below only [201] 4.12 and below onlyNoNoYesYesNo4.16 and below only [201] 4.16 and below only [201] Yes
MINIX 3 kernel ?NoNoYes?NoYesIn progressNoNoIn progress?NoNoNoNoNo?No?NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
NetBSD kernel YesYesYesYesNo [202] YesYesYes?YesYesNo [202] YesNoNoNo?????YesNo [202] YesYesNo [202] YesNo [202] ????????????????
NetWare kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoYesNo?NoNoNoNoNoNoNo?????NoNoNoNoNoNoNo????????????????
OpenBSD kernel last supported release 5.8 [203] YesYesYes?YesYesYes?NoYes?YesNoNoNo?????Yes?YesYes?YesYes????????????????
Rockbox kernel ???Yes??????Yes????No?????Yes????Yes?????????????????
Solaris kernel NoNoNoNoNoNoDropped since Oracle Solaris 11 (11/11) [204] Yes?NoNoNoOnly in Solaris 2.5.1NoNoOnly available as a separated version of OpenSolaris ?????NoNoDropped since Solaris 10 [205] Yes?NoNo????????????????
Windows NT kernel NoNT 5.0 RC1 and below onlyNoYesNoYesYesYesNo XP and 2003-2008 R2 only NT 4.0 and below onlyNo NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 onlyNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Windows CE kernel NoNoNoYes??Yes?NoNoYes?NoNoNoNoNo?No?NoYes?NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
XNU NoNoNoYes?YesYesYes?NoNoNoYesYesNoNo?????NoNoNoNoNoNoNo????????????????
SPARTAN kernel ?NoNoYes??YesYes?YesYes?YesNoNoNo?????NoNoYesYes?NoNo????????????????
FreeRTOS kernel ????Yes [206] ???????Yes [206] ??NoYes [206] ??Yes [206] Yes [206] ?Yes [206] ?????Yes [206] Yes [206] ?????Yes [206] ???Yes [206] ????
VMkernelNoNoNoNoNoYes [207] Dropped since VMware ESXi 4.0 [208] [209] Yes [208] NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo [206] NoNoNoNo
ZirconNoNoNoYesYes?NoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo

Supported GPU processors

Kernel nameIntelNVIDIAAMD RadeonARM Mali Qualcomm Imagination Technologies Broadcom VeriSilicon Apple
GMA [a] GT [b] Xe [c] GeForce/ Quadro/ Tesla Xenos/ TeraScale GCN/ RDNA/ CDNA Utgard Midgard/ Bifrost Valhall Adreno PowerVR VideoCore4 Vivante [d] AGX
Linux kernel i915 driverxe driver [210] nouveau (C), Nova (Rust) [211] radeon driveramdgpu driver [212] Lima [213] [214] Panfrost [214] Panthor (C), Tyr (Rust) [215] msm driverimagination driver [216] vc4 driver [217] etnaviv [218] (Asahi driver) [219]
Windows NT kernel Dropped [e] Yes [222] YesDropped [f] YesNo Windows Phone 8.x, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows on ARM Yes [224] No [225] Windows IoT Enterprise on Arm [226] No
XNU Yes (macOS) [227] No [g] No [h] ?NoNovia I/O Kit (iOS only)NoNoiOS/macOS
  1. Intel 9xx/Gxx/Qxx
  2. Intel HD Graphics/Iris/UHD Graphics
  3. Iris Xe Graphics/Intel Arc
  4. Used in NXP i.MX family
  5. Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Drivers were supported up to Windows 8.1. [220] [221]
  6. AMD drivers for pre-GCN GPUs were supported up to Windows 10. [223]
  7. Quadro & GeForce macOS Driver was supported up to macOS High Sierra (10.13). [228]
  8. Radeon Mac Edition drivers were supported up to Mac OS X 10.4. [229] [230] [231]

Supported kernel execution environment

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 [232] NoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoDropped [233] Dropped [234]
Linux kernel YesNo(Longene)NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo(NDISwrapper)No
NetBSD kernel Yes [235] Dropped [179] Dropped [236] [237] Yes [235] YesYes [235] Dropped [238] Yes [235] Yes [235] Yes [235] Dropped [239] Dropped [240] Yes [235] Dropped [241] [242] Dropped [243]
OpenBSD kernel Dropped since OpenBSD 6.0 [244] NoNoDropped since OpenBSD 5.0 [245] Dropped since OpenBSD 4.2 [246] NoNoNoDropped since OpenBSD 4.8 [247] Dropped since OpenBSD 4.8 [247] Dropped since OpenBSD 4.8 [247] NoDropped since OpenBSD 4.8 [247] NoDropped since OpenBSD 5.0 [245]
Windows NT kernel Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 NoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNo
ReactOS kernel NoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo?No
XNU NoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
VMkernelYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo

Supported cipher algorithms

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 kernelYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesYesNoNoNoNo
FreeBSD kernelYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNoYesYesYesNoNoNoNo
LinuxYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoNoNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Windows NT kernelYesYesYesYesNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNo
macOS XNU KernelYesYesYes???Yes??YesYes????YesYes?????

Supported compression algorithms

This may be usable on some situations like compression file system.

Kernel name Deflate LZO LZJB zstd
zlib gzip
LinuxYesYesYesNoYes
NetBSD kernelYesYesYes?Yes
Solaris kernelYes??Yes?

Supported message digest algorithms

Kernel name
CRC-32 (IEEE)
MD2
MD4
MD5
LinuxYes
[248]
[249]
Yes
[250]
NoYes
[251]
Yes
[252]
Yes
[253]
Yes
[254]
Partial
[255]
Yes
[256]
Yes
[257]
Yes
[258]
Yes
[259]
Yes
[260]
Yes
[261]
Yes
[262]
Yes
[263]
Yes
[264]
NoNoNo Yes
[265]
Solaris kernel YesYes YesYesYes YesYes? ? ? ?Yes?? Yes?YesYes? ? ?
Windows NT kernel ?? YesYesYes YesYes? No ? NoNoNoNo NoNoYesNoNo No ?
FreeBSD kernelYesYes?YesYes YesYes? ? ? ?Yes?? Yes?Yes?? ? ?
XNU kernelYes?Yes?Yes Yes?? ? ? ???? ????? ? ?

Supported Bluetooth protocols

Kernel nameACLSCOLMPHCIL2CAPBNEPRFComm.SDPTCPAVTCPAVDTPOBEXCMTPHIDPHCRPCAPIPPP
FreeBSD kernel???YesYes?YesYes???No?????
Linux?Yes [266] ?Yes [266] Yes [266] Yes [266] Yes [266] ?????Yes [266] Yes [266] ???
macOS XNU Kernel????Yes?YesYes???No?????
Kernel nameACLSCOLMPHCIL2CAPBNEPRFComm.SDPTCPAVTCPAVDTPOBEXCMTPHIDPHCRPCAPIPPP

Audio support

Kernel nameAudio systemin-kernel mixerin-kernel filter
Linux ALSA, with optional OSS API compatibility [267] ??
Windows NT kernel MME / WDM audio / Kernel Streaming (KS)Dropped (KMixer.sys)KS Filters
FreeBSD kernel OSS API [268] VCHANs in OSS API [269] ?
NetBSD kernelnative (Sun-like) / OSS API [270] audio_system [271] ?
Solaris kernelSun audio API / OSS API Yes?

Graphics support

Kernel name Framebuffer Display managementHardware Compositing (Multiple Planes)Display MultiplexerColor transformGPU schedulerGPU memory managementin-kernel Remote Desktop
Matrices1D LUT 3D LUT
Linux Linux framebuffer (fbdev) / Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) Kernel Mode Setting (KMS)Plane abstraction in DRM/KMS [272] VGA Switcheroo [273] Linux Color Pipeline API in DRM [274] DRM sched [275] DMA-BUF No
Windows NT kernelDxgkrnl.sysVidPN Manager in Dxgkrnl.sys [276] Multiplane overlay (MPO) in WDDM [277] ?via MHC profile [278] ?VidSch in Dxgkrnl [279] VidMm in Dxgkrnl.sys, Dxgmms1.sys, and Dxgmms2.sys [280] RdpDD.sys / RdpWD.sys

See also

Footnotes

  1. "Kernel Definition". The Linux Information Project. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. "Kernel in Operating System". GeeksforGeeks. 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
  3. IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT
  4. The Amiga hardware lacked support for memory protection, so the strong isolation goals of the microkernel design could not be achieved.[ citation needed ]
  5. The Amiga hardware lacked support for memory protection, so the strong isolation goals of the microkernel design could not be achieved.[ citation needed ]
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  7. setfacl(1)    FreeBSD General Commands Manual
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