Top 8 C Microkernel Projects

rt-thread

19 9,522 9.9 C

RT-Thread is an open source IoT real-time operating system (RTOS).
seL4

60 4,530 9.0 C

The seL4 microkernel

Project mention: From L3 to seL4 what have we learnt in 20 years of L4 microkernels? [video] | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-04-15

> People like to snob Unix but the fact is: the world runs on Unix.
The world you are aware of runs on it.
> Can we really do that much better or is it just hubris?
Yes. Have a look at seL4[1] and Barrelfish too[2], even though that's no longer active. seL4 in particular is powering a lot of highly secure computing systems. There is a surprisingly large sphere outside of Unix/POSIX.
[1] https://sel4.systems/
[2] https://barrelfish.org/

InfluxDB

www.influxdata.com sponsored

Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale. Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.
helenos

6 1,287 8.7 C

A portable microkernel-based multiserver operating system written from scratch.
brutal

10 1,033 5.2 C

🏢 An operating system inspired by brutalist design that combines the ideals of UNIX from the 1970s with modern technology and engineering

Project mention: GNU/Hurd strikes back: How to use the legendary OS in a (somewhat) practical way | news.ycombinator.com | 2023-08-07

Even in the noncommercial world, Hurd's gone precisely nowhere. RedoxOS is a toy and had a GUI within a year or so. Brutal got in within two. SerenityOS not only built a GUI but the beginnings of the first greenfield web browser to gain any semblance of modern standards support in the past several decades. Honestly, what's Hurd doing wrong to flounder so hard?
[0] https://github.com/redox-os/redox/releases/tag/0.0.3
[1] https://github.com/brutal-org/brutal/releases
[2] https://serenityos.org/happy/1st/

ghost

1 559 5.5 C

Ghost, a micro-kernel based hobby operating system. (by maxdev1)
mystikos

2 135 7.3 C

Tools and runtime for launching unmodified container images in Trusted Execution Environments
MoonOS

2 99 0.0 C

MoonOS (just a kernel atm) is a micro kernel designed for the x86_64 and arm architecure.
WorkOS

workos.com sponsored

The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.
lf-os_amd64

1 41 8.5 C

Hobby operating system for amd64 with high ambitions - mirror

NOTE: The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars. The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or since we started tracking (Dec 2020).