Kaneton
Encyclopedia
kaneton is a microkernel
project which aims at providing a very clear, extensible and powerful design. The kaneton project is part of the Opaak
educational trilogy along with the kastor
and kayou
projects.
kernel
works. The kaneton microkernel
was therefore designed and implemented in a way that allows students to very quickly understand how things work.
The project thus comes with documentation and a snapshot which already contains most of the microkernel
code. This way, the student does not waste time implementing C-library-like functions, Makefiles and so on. Note that this choice has been made because kaneton is used for teaching purposes such that students have to develop parts of the microkernel
within a few months. However, someone willing to undertake the project on his free time could very well start a microkernel
from scratch by following the kaneton design.
. The kayou
distributed operating system
is being developed on top of the kaneton microkernel
as kaneton provides features for managing distribution and security
such as capabilities
for protecting objects.
project, for learning more advanced concepts related to operating systems. Throughout the years many people joined the project being for teaching or developing the microkernel
.
kaneton has been used for teaching advanced operating systems courses at EPITA
since its creation in 2005. As of 2011, 400 students have undertaken the kaneton educational project in this school.
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
project which aims at providing a very clear, extensible and powerful design. The kaneton project is part of the Opaak
Opaak
The Opaak educational trilogy aims at providing material for the teaching and self-teaching of operating system concepts ranging from low-level programming, to kernel internals to operating system principles and distributed system paradigms.-kastor:...
educational trilogy along with the kastor
Kastor (kernel)
kastor is the first project of the Opaak educational trilogy which also includes kaneton and kayou. kastor is an introductory project to low-level programming...
and kayou
Kayou
kayou is a distributed operating system project developed on top of the kaneton microkernel in the vein of Amoeba.kayou provides a powerful distribution-oriented interface which enables applications to take advantage of the resources of networked computers...
projects.
Branches
The kaneton project is actually composed of two branches, each with its own objectives.Educational
The kaneton educational project consists in providing everything necessary for students to understand how an operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
kernel
Kernel (computing)
In computing, the kernel is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources...
works. The kaneton microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
was therefore designed and implemented in a way that allows students to very quickly understand how things work.
The project thus comes with documentation and a snapshot which already contains most of the microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
code. This way, the student does not waste time implementing C-library-like functions, Makefiles and so on. Note that this choice has been made because kaneton is used for teaching purposes such that students have to develop parts of the microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
within a few months. However, someone willing to undertake the project on his free time could very well start a microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
from scratch by following the kaneton design.
Research
The kaneton research project aims at building a powerful, reliable and secure microkernelMicrokernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
. The kayou
Kayou
kayou is a distributed operating system project developed on top of the kaneton microkernel in the vein of Amoeba.kayou provides a powerful distribution-oriented interface which enables applications to take advantage of the resources of networked computers...
distributed operating system
Distributed operating system
A distributed operating system is the logical aggregation of operating system software over a collection of independent, networked, communicating, and spatially disseminated computational nodes. Individual system nodes each hold a discrete software subset of the global aggregate operating system...
is being developed on top of the kaneton microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
as kaneton provides features for managing distribution and security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
such as capabilities
Capability-based security
Capability-based security is a concept in the design of secure computing systems, one of the existing security models. A capability is a communicable, unforgeable token of authority. It refers to a value that references an object along with an associated set of access rights...
for protecting objects.
History
The kaneton project was created in 2005 by Julien Quintard and Jean-Pascal Billaud following the students' desire, having undertaken the kastorKastor (kernel)
kastor is the first project of the Opaak educational trilogy which also includes kaneton and kayou. kastor is an introductory project to low-level programming...
project, for learning more advanced concepts related to operating systems. Throughout the years many people joined the project being for teaching or developing the microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
.
kaneton has been used for teaching advanced operating systems courses at EPITA
EPITA
The École Pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées , more commonly known as EPITA is a French higher education institution specialized in the field of computer science and software engineering...
since its creation in 2005. As of 2011, 400 students have undertaken the kaneton educational project in this school.