Exokernel Ideas

Simple exokernel system in Figure 1.

Principles:

• separate protection and management.

• applications allocate resources.

• exokernels use physical names.

• each application controls (and gives up control) of its own resources.

• exokernels make system information available to applications.

Xok provides these abstractions. "The key to these exokernel software abstractions is that they neither hinder low-level access to hardware resources nor unduly restrict the semantics of the protected abstractions they enable."