Why does FreeBSD not use the Linux kernel?

Jacques Foucry jacques+freebsd at foucry.net
Thu Jun 18 06:52:05 UTC 2020


Le mercredi 17 juin 2020 à 12:29:46 (-0700), Michael Sierchio à écrit:
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 11:37 AM Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:55:14 -0700, Michael Sierchio wrote:
> >
> 
> 
> > > The chief difference from my perspective is that it is possible in
> > FreeBSD
> > > to create a monolithic kernel and prohibit the loading of kernel modules,
> > > foiling one step in the chain of a rootkit.  It's especially convenient
> > for
> > > embedded devices, security appliances, etc.
> >
> > Before the KLD infrastructure became that universal,
> > it was quite common to create your kernel configuration
> > file specifically for the hardware you wanted to run
> > the system on, and add kernel features as needed, so
> > everything and _only_ the needed components would be
> > in the resulting kernel.
> >
> > Another option was to create a very minimalistic kernel,
> > then build and load only the modules needed.
> >
> > Today the GENERIC kernel supports a lot of hardware
> > out of the box, and required modules can often be
> > loaded automatically, initiated by userland processes,
> > if you want (like from a rc.conf setting or even
> > dynamically via devd).
> >
> > You can still choose what fits your needs best. :-)
> >
> 
> Exactly and precisely.  The custom kernel that contains only hardware
> options that are present is a fraction of the size of GENERIC.

And to understand how-to, reading the Micheal W. Lucas book " Absolute FreeBSD
3rd Edition" is a very useful.

-- 
Jacques Foucry


More information about the freebsd-questions mailing list