Kerntransport

Kerntransport is a term encountered in software documentation to describe the kernel-level transport interface used to move data and control messages across boundaries within an operating system. It is not a standardized feature of all systems, and its exact meaning varies by project and platform. In general, kerntransport refers to an abstraction that enables different subsystems to communicate efficiently while preserving the protections provided by the kernel.

The core idea behind kerntransport is to provide a transport mechanism that can carry various message types between kernel components or between the kernel and user space processes. In practice, implementations often rely on established primitives such as sockets, shared memory, queues, or device-specific channels. The transport layer may be designed to be protocol-agnostic, allowing different payload formats to share the same underlying communication infrastructure.

Common roles of a kerntransport-like facility include delivering I/O requests from user space into kernel drivers, conveying events or telemetry from drivers to user-space utilities, and transporting internal kernel messages between subsystems. It is typically decoupled from the specifics of the payload, focusing instead on the reliability, ordering guarantees, buffering, and access control required by the system.

Design considerations for kerntransport include performance, safety, and security. Overhead must be minimized, synchronization must be robust, and memory and type safety must be preserved. Error handling and fault isolation are important to prevent failures in one component from affecting others.

Because kerntransport is not a universal standard, its implementation details are platform- and project-specific. Some environments provide explicit kernel-to-user-space channels for management or telemetry, while others treat it as an internal kernel communication facility with no exposed API. See also: inter-process communication, kernel interfaces, device I/O, netlink, shared memory, message passing.