OSklok

OSklok is an open-source operating system project focused on modularity, real-time performance, and security. The project seeks to provide a versatile platform for embedded, desktop, and research use, with an emphasis on deterministic scheduling and an extensible driver and service model.

Initiated by a distributed community of developers in the mid-2010s, the initial release introduced a modular kernel and POSIX-compatible userland. Development is conducted openly on public repositories, with governance by a maintainers council. The license is GPLv3-compatible. The project uses rolling updates alongside stable branches.

OSklok employs a modular kernel design intended to balance performance and extensibility; it offers a real-time scheduler, memory protection, and a driver model that allows user-space drivers. It provides POSIX APIs and support for multiple processor architectures, notably x86_64 and ARM, and uses ELF binaries and a multi-stage boot process. The userland emphasizes microservices and container-like isolation.

Real-time scheduling with deterministic latency, security hardening, a built-in package manager, and optional GUI environment are among its features. It supports containerization via OSklok-Containers and a virtualization layer for sandboxed execution. Networking, filesystem options, and device support aim to be hardware-agnostic through abstraction layers.

With a modest user base, OSklok has found use in education, robotics, and experimental research settings. Benchmarks emphasize predictable latency and low jitter, though hardware compatibility and ecosystem scale remain limited relative to mainstream operating systems. The project continues to publish updates and invites contributor participation. Related topics include real-time operating systems, POSIX compatibility, and open-source kernel architectures.