kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learn ...

is a component of a computer

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

. A comparison of system kernels can provide insight into the design and architectural choices made by the developers of particular operating systems.

Comparison criteria

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of widely used and currently available

kernels. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. Even though there are a large number and variety of available Linux distributions, all of these kernels are grouped under a single entry in these tables, due to the differences among them being of the patch level. See

comparison of Linux distributions Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, includi ...

for a detailed comparison. Linux distributions that have highly modified kernels — for example,

real-time computing Real-time computing (RTC) is the computer science term for hardware and software systems subject to a "real-time constraint", for example from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within specified time constrai ...

kernels — should be listed separately. There are also a wide variety of minor BSD operating systems, many of which can be found at

comparison of BSD operating systems There are a number of Unix-like operating systems based on or descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) series of Unix variant options. The three most notable descendants in current use are FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, which are all ...

. The tables specifically do not include subjective viewpoints on the merits of each kernel or operating system.

Feature overview

The major contemporary general-purpose

kernels Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

are shown in comparison. Only an overview of the technical features is detailed.

Transport protocol support

In-kernel security

In-kernel virtualization

In-kernel server support

Binary format support

A comparison of OS support for different

binary format A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document file ...

s ( executables):

File system support

Physical

file system In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

Networked file system support

Supported CPU instruction sets and microarchitectures

Supported GPU processors

Supported kernel execution environment

This table indicates, for each kernel, what operating systems' executable images and device drivers can be run by that kernel.

Supported cipher algorithms

This may be usable on some situations like file system encrypting.

Supported compression algorithms

This may be usable on some situations like compression file system.

Supported message digest algorithms

Supported Bluetooth protocols

Footnotes

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Kernels Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

Computing platforms Operating system kernels