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Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by UltraViolence on Monday October 31, 2022 @10:06AM (#33405853)
Why would you need an OS when you're running on bare metal? Isn't the whole idea of an Operating System managing shared and limited resources?
Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by progbits on Monday October 31, 2022 @10:18AM (#33406038)
It's also about hardware abstraction. You don't want to rewrite your network stack for each platform but the unikernel can handle that.

It doesn't have to be unikernel either, Linux without anything else, your code being PID 1 is also good: no cruft and extra services that can be security holes, but great platform support, optimized network stack etc.

Of course if you just run on one hardware why not, just write the drivers you need.

Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by skrtskrt on Monday October 31, 2022 @12:30PM (#33408171)
How would something like this support logging, telemetry, debugging, etc as part of enterprise-grade software clusters if it has “no other services”?
Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by ComputerGuru on Monday October 31, 2022 @12:48PM (#33408531)
It manages the services itself. Your app is one level down the totem pole. The http bit is just another service managed by your app.
Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by 1vuio0pswjnm7 on Monday October 31, 2022 @05:22PM (#33413389)
An OS includes a kernel. A kernel cannot control hardware without drivers.

What if one could run an application without a full kernel, using only the drivers needed for a single application.

It is not a full kernel with a full set of drivers. Maybe we can call it a "unikernel".

Re:RustyHermit – A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel by intelVISA on Monday October 31, 2022 @07:22PM (#33414773)
Yeah an OS seems redundant here if you can just write freestanding bins.