SLK and the J-Kernel

Thorsten von Eicken, Chi-Chao Chang, Grzegorz Czajkowski, Chris Hawblitzel, Deyu Hu

The J-Kernel

Safe language technology can be used for protection within a single address space. This protection is enforced by the language's type system, which ensures that references to objects cannot be forged. A safe language alone, however, lacks many features taken for granted in more traditional operating systems, such as rights revocation, thread protection, resource management, and support for domain termination. The J-Kernel is a portable, Java-based protection system that addresses these issues.

For more information, see Implementing Multiple Protection Domains in Java (also available in postscript format)

SLK

The Safe Language Kernel project is developing an operating system infrastructure for customizable internet servers and application specific gateways. The primary goal of SLK is to allow users to download custom services into servers in the network in a secure yet flexible manner. Just as Java currently enables Web browsers in which users to safely download applets, SLK will enable safe Internet servers into which users can upload servlets. SLK relies on the properties of type-safe languages in order to enforce protection boundaries between applications and the OS itself which means that all code can run in a single address space and at a single hardware privilege level.

For more information, see SLK (note: this information is slightly out of date)