I’ve made significant progress toward the completion of a new, non-POSIX-oriented unikernel library in the form of a baremetal C99 runtime, but even as I’m cruising down the home stretch I think I will put the project aside. Sure, my unikernel library would be tighter and lighter than the rest, if I finished it, but it really doesn’t add all that much, and working on it means I haven’t been making any progress on the stuff that is truly unique to my vision.

IncludeOS is marketed as a cloud-service tool, but when I look at what they’re actually building, it looks very much like what I’m doing. Their project is C++, mine is C; their architecture is a bit more full-featured, where mine is deliberately minimal… but it’s still basically the same idea, and I generally agree with all of their architectural choices. So… why not join forces? I can always dust off my fleet-kernel later, if there’s some problem it would solve better; one of the great things about this VM/unikernel architecture is that you can have as many kernel architectures as you like running simultaneously.

The part I really need to build, in order to get my vision for fleet off the ground, is the router/shell system that will make unikernel-based programs useful as everyday workstation tools. I’ve grown increasingly antsy as development of my unikernel library has dragged on, preventing me from getting to the shell; it’s time to refocus and get on with it.

Maybe I can contribute some of my stuff to IncludeOS along the way, too.