The Unix KISS: A Case Study

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the historical and technical aspects of UNIX design, highlighting deviations from original simplicity principles, analyzing shared library usage, and comparing microkernel and monolithic architectures through statistical tests.

Contribution

It provides a statistical analysis of shared libraries in UNIX systems and questions assumptions about microkernel complexity versus monolithic designs.

Findings

Shared libraries often exist without clear necessity.

Microkernels do not necessarily have fewer context switches than monolithic kernels.

Historical practices have diverged from original UNIX simplicity principles.

Abstract

In this paper we show that the initial philosophy used in designing and developing UNIX in early times has been forgotten due to "fast practices". We question the leitmotif that microkernels, though being by design adherent to the KISS principle, have a number of context switches higher than their monolithic counterparts, running a test suite and verify the results with standard statistical validation tests. We advocate a wiser distribution of shared libraries by statistically analyzing the weight of each shared object in a typical UNIX system, showing that the majority of shared libraries exist in a common space for no real evidence of need. Finally we examine the UNIX heritage with an historical point of view, noticing how habits swiftly replaced the intents of the original authors, moving the focus from the earliest purpose of is avoiding complications, keeping a system simple to use and maintain.