Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I know they are no different since they are one and the same. Now imagine your unikernel application is running inside of a vehicle and there is a bug in the head-up display code. Without re-inventing DTrace and kdb from Solaris / illumos from scratch, how would you debug your unikernel application in order to find and even fix the bug? (With kdb, it can be done on the fly.)



Sokaris/Ilumnos don't run inside vehicles, maybe one day they will. Can you give an actual production example?

Unikernels on the other hand, do actually run on vehicles. There are a few embedded runtimes based on the same architecture.

They have debugging support to attach to graphical debugger, probes, JTAGs, and a few other vendor specific tools.

Of course someone trying to sell me Solaris/Illumnos, will have prejudice to anything else.


Can you give an actual production example?

Inside of a vehicle, not yet; production example, yes.

Back in the day, there was a kernel bug which prevented Solaris 10 installer from booting on systems with a Pentium III processor. The workaround was to boot the kernel with -k, let it crash and drop into kdb, then patch a certain kernel structure and drop out of the debugger, continuing execution. The same mechanism would work in a car or a Boeing 787, which I understand were actually running Solaris as the control & navigation system.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: