Hello,

hereby I'd like to share my impressions from FOSDEM this year.

I looked forward to FOSDEM very much - in particular to the microkernel devroom - and all I can say is that it was a pleasure to attend. Thanks to everyone who contributed to it! The following points stood out to me:

* The topics in the devroom were nicely diverse, ranging from kernel design, over the use of microkernels in microcontrollers (F9), entertaining experience stories (MINIX), to practical walk throughs (HURD). Even though the projects are not directly working together in term of code developments, the collaborative spirit was clearly there. What a nice and friendly gathering!

* I found David Teller's (Redox) take on explaining the benefits of microkernels quite refreshing - highlighting practical aspects like an easier upgrade path for system components compared to monolithic systems. As a side node, it was stunning to see the popularity of the Redox project according to crowd watching the talk.

* Martin Decky (HelenOS) briefly presented the idea of forming an open-source microkernel umbrella organization, i.e., to increase the chance of acceptance to GSoC. Admittedly, we (Genode Labs) haven't planned to apply to GSoC (we tried once but were rejected with no feedback). However, personally, I'd support the idea of a joint application of the larger community. Martin and Jakub proposed to use the FOSDEM devroom and thereby the same community that is behind microkernel.info as umbrella organization. This sounds sensible to me as this community already exists to the mutual benefit of everyone involved, and is open for everyone to join. I wonder, do you (the people of the Genode community) have an opinion about this idea, and GSoC in general?

* I got very excited about the presentation of the WireGuard project, which is a new take on virtual private networking for the Linux kernel. Not only was the presentation a joy to follow, the project seems to be a perfect fit for a distributed Genode system. It addresses my main concern about existing open-source solutions like OpenVPN and IPSec, namely their daunting complexity. I am not a VPN expert though. From those of you who are familiar with both VPN solutions and Genode, I'd love to hear your thoughts on WireGuard!

* I found the SAFE network talk very inspiring in that the project presents a holistic architectural solution to many problems that plague the internet today. Since having watched the talk, I wonder if it would make any sense to have the SAFE launcher available on Genode?

Again, thanks to all participants of the devroom (especially Josef), and for the many vivid discussions at FOSDEM. See you next year!

Cheers Norman