Jukka Larja (roskakori2006.delete@this.gmail.com) on March 16, 2021 11:22 am wrote:
> dmcq (dmcq.delete@this.fano.co.uk) on March 16, 2021 9:17 am wrote:
>
> > However then I go on to
> > wondering what kind of thing would mean that we didn't have megabytes of code in the kernel and yet could
> > do things as efficiently or better and support most current programs without disruptive changes? As far
> > as I can see if you want to avoid copying lots of data it seems capabilities are the way - that brings
> > other problems of course but I think they would be easier to manage and contain.
>
> Do you honestly think OS kernels are the most relevant (or even very relevant) security issue
> we are dealing with? I'm not an expert, but seems to me that just about all newsworthy security
> issues (that aren't about hardware) are not kernel related. Personally I'm mostly worried about
> stuff that will happily run with user privileges, e.g. inside a browser or email client.
>
> -JLarja

Ah the good old appeal to worse problems. Yep there's more users that do things wrong than operating systems. And I certainly consider in some circumstances that I just need to be two steps better than the low hanging fruit. Operating systems will be around for quite a while yet. We should try and get systems working well rather than just freezing the hardware as designed for the problems of half a century ago when our society didn't really depend on them to be anything but calculators and bookkeepers.