Comparison of operating system kernels: Difference between revisions

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A kernel is a component of a computer operating system.^[1] 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 operating system 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 for a detailed comparison. Linux distributions that have highly modified kernels — for example, real-time computing 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.

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


Kernel name	Programming language	Used in	Creator	Executable format (also see section below)	Type	Integrated firewall	SMP support	Multiple architecture support (also see section below).	Multitasking	Virtualization	Security	Profiling/Debugging	Soft real-time support	Hard real-time support	Can keep RTC in UT^[2]
Amiga Exec		AmigaOS	Commodore International	HUNK	Exokernel (atypical)^[3]	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Amiga Exec SG (2nd Generation)		AmigaOS 4	Hyperion Entertainment	ELF/HUNK	Exokernel (atypical)	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	?
DragonFly BSD kernel	C	DragonFly BSD	Matt Dillon	ELF	hybrid	Ipfirewall, PF	Yes	No	Yes	chroot, jail, vkernel	Unix permissions	DDB, KGDB	?	?	?
FreeBSD kernel	C	FreeBSD, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, Gentoo/FreeBSD, Orbis OS	The FreeBSD Project	ELF, others - platform dependent	monolithic	IPFilter, Ipfirewall, PF	Yes	Yes	Yes	chroot, jail, bhyve	Unix permissions, POSIX.1e and NFSv4 ACLs,^[4]^[5] Capsicum, TrustedBSD MAC, OpenBSM	KDB, DDB, KGDB, DTrace, hwpmc	Yes	?	Yes
GNU Hurd	C	GNU/Hurd (Arch Hurd, Debian GNU/Hurd)	GNU Project/Free Software Foundation	ELF	multiserver microkernel	No	partial	No	Yes	chroot, Xen	Unix permissions, POSIX ACL, POSIX Capabilities	?	?	?	?
GNU Mach	C	part of GNU Hurd, used in GNU/Hurd	GNU Project/Free Software Foundation	ELF	microkernel	No	partial	No	Yes	chroot, Xen	Unix permissions, POSIX ACL, POSIX Capabilities	?	?	?	?
Inferno kernel		Inferno	Bell Labs / Vita Nuova Holdings	?	virtual machine	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	chroot, Xen	?	?	?	?	?
L4		L4	Jochen Liedtke	No	microkernel	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Afterburner/L4 [1], Marzipan [2], capabilities in L4/Fiasco^[6]	L4/Fiasco^[6]	L4/Fiasco^[6]	?	?
Linux kernel	C	Linux (kernel), Android, Ubuntu, CentOS, webOS, Fire OS, Firefox OS, ChromeOS, Syllable Server, Mastodon Linux, OpenBSD/Linux, Plan 9/Linux, Sailfish OS, Tizen, amongst others.	Linus Torvalds^[7]	ELF, others	monolithic	Ipfirewall (1.1 –) ipchains (2.2 –) Netfilter (2.4 – 3.x) nftables (3.13 –) XDP (4.8 –)	Yes	Yes	Yes	cgroups, chroot, Lguest, Xen, KVM, kvm-lite, LXC	Unix permissions, POSIX ACL, POSIX Capabilities, keyctl, LSM (SELinux, SMACK, TOMOYO Linux, AppArmor)	OProfile, kprobe, SystemTap, JProbe, ftrace, KDB, KGDB, kernel marker, perf tools, eBPF	preempt=full, threadirqs	(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT Patch)	Yes
Compute Node Linux		Compute Node Linux	Cray Inc.	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Mach	C	NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP for Mach, Tru64 UNIX and MkLinux	Carnegie Mellon University	Mach-O	microkernel, hybrid kernel	?	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?
MINIX 3 kernel	C	MINIX 3	Andrew S. Tanenbaum	ELF,^[8] a.out^[9]^[10]	microkernel	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Unix permissions	Call profiling, statistical profiling, Minix Debugger (mdb)	No	No	?
NetBSD kernel	C	NetBSD, GNU/kNetBSD (Debian GNU/NetBSD),	The NetBSD Project	ELF, others - platform dependent	monolithic, anykernel using rump kernel architecture	IPFilter, PF, NPF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Xen, chroot	kauth, Unix permissions	DDB, KGDB, tprof	POSIX real-time scheduling extensions	Kernel preemption ^[11]	Yes
NetWare kernel		NetWare	Novell	NLM	hybrid	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
OpenBSD kernel	C	OpenBSD	OpenBSD developers	ELF, others - platform dependent	monolithic	PF	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Unix permissions	?	?	?	?
OS/2 kernel		OS/2 version 2 and above	IBM	LX	hybrid	No	Yes	No PowerPC version developed but never officially released.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?
Plan 9 kernel	C	Plan 9 from Bell Labs	Bell Labs	?	monolithic	ipmux	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
ReactOS kernel	C	ReactOS	ReactOS Foundation	PE	hybrid	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
Rockbox kernel		Rockbox	The Rockbox Project	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
SunOS kernel	C	SunOS	Sun Microsystems	a.out	monolithic	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Unix permissions	?	?	?	?
Solaris kernel	C	Solaris, OpenSolaris, GNU/kOpenSolaris (Nexenta OS)	Sun Microsystems	ELF (32-bit only until Solaris 7 in 1998)	monolithic	IPFilter, PF (since Oracle Solaris 11.3)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Zones, chroot	Unix permissions, ACL, RBAC, Auditing, Privileges, Zones, Trusted Extensions	DTrace, CPU profiling, microstate accounting, perf counters, kernel lock stats, kstats, mdb, kmdb	Real-time scheduler	?	?
Trix kernel		Trix	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	a.out	monolithic	?	Yes	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
Windows NT kernel	C	All Windows NT family systems, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server	Microsoft	PE	hybrid	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Hyper-V	ACL	Event Tracing,^[12] dgbss, kd	Multimedia Class Scheduler Service	No	Unofficial^[13]
Windows 9x kernel	C++	Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me	Microsoft	PE	monolithic
XNU (Darwin kernel)	C, C++	macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, OpenDarwin, PureDarwin GNU/Darwin	Apple Inc.	Mach-O	hybrid	Ipfirewall, PF (starting in Lion)	Yes	Yes	Yes	chroot	Unix permissions, NT/NFSv4 ACLs, TrustedBSD MAC, OpenBSM	KDB, DDB, DTrace	Yes	No	Yes
SPARTAN kernel	C	HelenOS	Jakub Jermar	ELF	microkernel	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
Zircon	C++	Fuchsia OS	Google	ELF	microkernel	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Lguest, Xen, KVM, kvm-lite	Yes	KDB, DDB, GDB	Yes	No	Yes

Transport protocol support

Kernel Name	TCP	UDP	SCTP	DCCP
DragonFly BSD kernel	Yes	Yes	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Optional
Linux kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
NetBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OpenBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	?	?
Solaris kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Windows NT kernel	Yes	Yes	No	?
XNU	Yes	Yes	No	No
Zircon	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

In-kernel security

Kernel Name	File access control	Disable memory execution support	Kernel ASLR	Mandatory access control	Capability-based security	In-kernel key management	Audit API	Sandbox	SYN flood protection	UDP flood protection	Ping flood protection	Smurf attack protection	Network Behavior Analysis
Linux	Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX ACL	Yes	Yes	LSM (SELinux, SMACK, TOMOYO Linux, AppArmor)	seccomp	keyctl	fanotify	SELinux Sandbox, seccomp	SYN cookies	hash tables	ICMP rate limiting	reverse path filtering	Netfilter
FreeBSD Kernel	Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX and NFSv4 ACL	Yes	Yes	TrustedBSD MAC	Capsicum	?	OpenBSM	Capsicum, MAC framework	SYN cookies	?	?	?	?
Solaris Kernel	Traditional Unix permissions, POSIX ACL, NFSv4 ACL	Default	?	Solaris Trusted Extensions	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Windows NT kernel	Access control list	DEP	Yes	Mandatory Integrity Control	AppContainers	No	Yes	Windows Event Log	Yes^[14]	Yes	?	?	?
XNU	Traditional Unix permissions, NT/NFSv4 ACL^[15]	Yes	Yes	TrustedBSD MAC	?	?	OpenBSM	Apple XNU Sandbox	?	?	?	?	?

In-kernel virtualization

Kernel Name	Container (no resource management, no security)	Container (no resource management)	Container (resource management)	Paravirtualization	Full virtualization	User-space execution	Kernel as Library	Kernel as Kernel Driver	Hypervisor-Enforced Kernel Partitioning
Linux	chroot	LXC		Virtio, Hyper-V (guest only), Xen (guest only), VMI (guest only), kvm-lite, lguest	KVM	UML	(LKL)	(coLinux)	No
DragonFly BSD kernel	chroot	jail		No	No	vkernel	?	?	No
FreeBSD kernel	chroot	jail		Virtio, Xen (guest only)	BHyVe (KVM)	?	?	?	No
NetBSD kernel	chroot	(sysjail (discontinued))	No	Virtio and Xen	No	?	Rump kernel	?	No
Solaris kernel	chroot	Solaris Containers / Zones		No	No	No	?	?	No
Windows NT kernel	AppContainers, Job Objects, Windows Server Containers			Hyper-V		Project Drawbridge		No	Virtual Secure Mode, Device Guard, Credential Guard^[16]
XNU	chroot	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No

In-kernel server support

Kernel Name	HTTP	FTP	NFS	CIFS	Name server	Transport-layer load balancer	Application-layer load balancer	9P	TLS proxy	WAF	Memcached server
Linux kernel	(TUX web server patch)	(TUX web server patch)	knfsd	ksmbd	?	IP Virtual Server	(KTCPVS)	(patch available)	SOL_TLS^[17]	(Tempesta FW)^[18]	(kmemcached)
DragonFly BSD kernel	No	No	Yes	Yes	?	Yes^[19]	?	No	No	?	?
FreeBSD kernel	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes^[20]	No	No	No	?	?
Solaris kernel	?	?	Yes	Yes^[21]	?	Yes^[22]	Yes^[22]	?	KSSL	?	?
Windows NT kernel	HTTP.sys	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	?
XNU	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?

Binary format support

A comparison of OS support for different binary formats (executables):

Kernel Name	a.out	ECOFF	ELF	FDPIC ELF binaries (mmu less)	flat binaries (superH)	HUNK	Mach-O	Misc (wrapper based, like interpreters)	PE	SOM (PA-RISC, HP-UX)	NLM	PEF	DOS COM	MZ	LE	LX	NE
Amiga Exec	No	No	Yes^[23]	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
DragonFly BSD kernel	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
HP-UX kernel	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
Linux kernel	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Some^[24]	Yes	?	No	?	?	?	?	?
MINIX 3 kernel	Some^[9]^[10]	No	Yes^[8]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
NetBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
OpenBSD kernel	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
ReactOS kernel	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Solaris kernel	Yes^[25]	No	Yes^[26]	No	No	No	No	No	Some^[27]	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Windows NT kernel	No	No	Yes with WSL	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes on x86	Yes on x86	?	?	Yes on x86
XNU	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

File system support

Physical file systems:

Kernel	Acorn ADFS	Amiga FFS	APFS	BeFS	BFS	cramfs	EFS	ext2	ext3	ext4	F2FS	FAT	FreeVxFS	HFS	HFS+	HPFS	ISO 9660	JFFS	JFFS2	JFS	MINIX fs	NSS	NTFS	OCFS	QNX4 FS	System V FS	UDF	UFS	XFS	ZFS	ReiserFS	Reiser4	Btrfs	HAMMER	Tux3	exFAT	ReFS
DragonFly BSD kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	limited write	No	No	No	read only	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	limited write	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	read only	Yes	read only	No	No	No	No	?	No
Linux kernel	Yes ^[28]	Yes	Yes ^[29]	read only	Yes	Yes	read only	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	read only	Yes	limited write (only with empty journal)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Full R/W with additional userspace driver)^[30]	Yes	Yes ^[28] ^[31]	write support?	Yes	Yes ^[28]	Yes	both FUSE and native	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
MINIX 3 kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Tools available, cannot mount	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
NetBSD kernel	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
NetWare kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	No
OpenBSD kernel	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
ReactOS kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes ^[32]	Yes ^[32]	Yes ^[32]	No	Yes ^[32]	No	No	No	No	Yes ^[32]	No	No	No	No	No	Read only	No	No	No	Yes ^[32]	No	No	No	No	No	Yes ^[33]	No	No	No	No
Solaris kernel	?	?	No	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	No	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?	No
Windows NT kernel	?	?	Yes ^[29]	?	?	?	?	Yes ^[34]	Yes ^[35]	Yes ^[35]	No	Yes	?	Yes ^[29]	Yes ^[29]	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	No	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	No	No	No	Yes ^[33]	No	No	Yes	Yes
XNU	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes ^[36]	Yes ^[36]	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Read-Only	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	read only	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No

Networked file system support

Kernel Name	NFS	AFS	CIFS	Coda	9P	Ceph
DragonFly BSD kernel	up to NFSv3	No	Yes	No	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Linux kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
NetBSD kernel	up to NFSv3	?	?	?	?	?
OpenBSD kernel	up to NFSv3	?	?	?	?	?
Solaris kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Windows NT kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
XNU	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No

Supported CPU instruction sets and microarchitectures

kernel	HP			Softbank, ARM Holdings		Intel				MIPS		IBM				Renesas Electronics							Oracle			NXP		Analog Devices	Xilinx	Cadence		Canon, Axis Comm.	Socionext		Microchip, Atmel	CML, Hyperstone	Intel, Altera			WDC	Sunplus Technology	NVIDIA	TI
	VAX	Alpha	PA-RISC	ARM		x86		i960	IA-64	MIPS		PowerPC		S/390	z/Arch	H8300	M16C	M32R	78K	V850	SuperH		SPARC			m68k		Blackfin (no-mmu)	MicroBlaze	Xtensa		ETRAX CRIS	FR-V	MN10300	AVR32	E1 (no-mmu)	Nios (no-mmu)	Nios II		WDC 65C816	S+core	Tilera	C6X
	VAX	Alpha	PA-RISC	mmu	no-mmu	x86	x86-64	i960	IA-64	mmu	no-mmu	32-bit	64-bit	S/390	z/Arch	H8300	M16C	M32R	78K	V850	mmu	no-mmu	32-bit	64-bit	no-mmu	mmu	no-mmu	Blackfin (no-mmu)	MicroBlaze	mmu	no-mmu	ETRAX CRIS	FR-V	MN10300	AVR32	E1 (no-mmu)	Nios (no-mmu)	mmu	no-mmu	WDC 65C816	S+core	Tilera	C6X
DragonFly BSD kernel	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	No	6.4 and below only^[37]	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	10.4 and below only^[37]	projected to end in 14.x^[37]	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	12.x and below only^[37]	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Linux kernel	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	4.16 and below only^[38]	No	2.6 and below only	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	4.16 and below only^[38]	Yes	Yes	Yes	4.16 and below only^[38]	4.16 and below only^[38]	4.16 and below only^[38]	4.12 and below only	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	4.16 and below only^[38]	4.16 and below only^[38]	Yes
MINIX 3 kernel	?	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	In progress	No	No	In progress	?	No	No	No	No	No	?	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
NetBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No^[39]	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No^[39]	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	No^[39]	Yes	Yes	No^[39]	Yes	No^[39]	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
NetWare kernel	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
OpenBSD kernel	last supported release 5.8^[40]	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Rockbox kernel	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	No	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Solaris kernel	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Windows NT kernel	No	NT 5.0 RC1 and below only	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	XP and 2003-2008 R2 only	NT 4.0 and below only	No	NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 only	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Windows CE kernel	No	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	?	No	No	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No	?	No	?	No	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XNU	No	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
SPARTAN kernel	?	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
FreeRTOS kernel	?	?	?	?	Yes^[41]	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes^[41]	?	?	No	Yes^[41]	?	?	Yes^[41]	Yes^[41]	?	Yes^[41]	?	?	?	?	?	Yes^[41]	Yes^[41]	?	?	?	?	?	Yes^[41]	?	?	?	Yes^[41]	?	?	?	?
Zircon	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Supported GPU processors

Kernel name	Intel	NVIDIA	AMD	ARM	Qualcomm	Imagination Technologies	Broadcom	VeriSilicon
Kernel name	Intel HD/Iris Graphics	GeForce/Quadro/Tesla	Radeon	Mali	Adreno	PowerVR	VideoCore4	Vivante
Linux kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	2D only^[42]^[43]	Yes	Yes
Windows NT kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Windows Phone 8.x, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows on ARM	Yes^[44]	No^[45]	Yes
XNU	via I/O Kit (macOS only)			via I/O Kit (macOS only)	No	via I/O Kit (iOS only)	No	No

Supported kernel execution environment

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

Kernel name	Linux	Darwin	Windows NT	FreeBSD	NetBSD	Solaris	OSF/1	Amiga Unix	SunOS	BSD/OS	iBCS2 systems	IRIX	Ultrix	NDIS	SVR4
FreeBSD kernel	Yes^[46]	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes^[46]	Yes^[46]
Linux kernel	Yes	No	(Longene)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	(NDISwrapper)	No
NetBSD kernel	Yes^[47]	No? [3]?	No? [4]?	Yes^[47]	Yes	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[47]	Yes^[48]	Yes
OpenBSD kernel	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	No	Yes
Windows NT kernel	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
ReactOS kernel	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	No
XNU	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Supported cipher algorithms

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

Kernel name	DES	AES	Blowfish	Triple DES	Serpent	Twofish	CAST-128	DES-X	IDEA	RC2	RC5	SEED	Skipjack	TEA	XTEA	CAST-256	RC4	Camellia	Anubis	KHAZAD	Salsa20	FCrypt
DragonFly BSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
FreeBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Linux	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows NT kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
macOS XNU Kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?

Supported compression algorithms

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

Kernel name	Deflate	zlib	LZO	LZJB	gzip	zstd
Linux	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
NetBSD kernel	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes
Solaris kernel	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?

Supported message digest algorithms

Kernel name	CRC-32 (IEEE)	CRC32c	MD2	MD4	MD5	SHA-1	SHA-2	SHA-3	Michael MIC	Poly1305	RIPEMD-128	RIPEMD-160	RIPEMD-256	RIPEMD-320	Tiger	Whirlpool	HMAC	MDC-2	GOST	LASH	VMAC
Linux	Yes^[49]^[50]	Yes^[51]	No	Yes^[52]	Yes^[53]	Yes^[54]	Yes^[55]	Partial^[56]	Yes^[57]	Yes^[58]	Yes^[59]	Yes^[60]	Yes^[61]	Yes^[62]	Yes^[63]	Yes^[64]	Yes^[65]	No	No	No	Yes^[66]
Solaris kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
Windows NT kernel	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	?
FreeBSD kernel	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	?	?
XNU kernel	Yes	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Kernel name	CRC-32 (IEEE)	CRC32c	MD2	MD4	MD5	SHA-1	SHA-2	SHA-3	Michael MIC	Poly1305	RIPEMD-128	RIPEMD-160	RIPEMD-256	RIPEMD-320	Tiger	Whirlpool	HMAC	MDC2	GOST	LASH	VMAC

Supported Bluetooth protocols

Kernel name	ACL	SCO	LMP	HCI	L2CAP	BNEP	RFComm.	SDP	TCP	AVTCP	AVDTP	OBEX	CMTP	HIDP	HCRP	CAPI	PPP
FreeBSD kernel	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	No	?	?	?	?	?
Linux	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
macOS XNU Kernel	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	No	?	?	?	?	?
Kernel name	ACL	SCO	LMP	HCI	L2CAP	BNEP	RFComm.	SDP	TCP	AVTCP	AVDTP	OBEX	CMTP	HIDP	HCRP	CAPI	PPP

Audio support

Kernel name	Audio system	in-kernel mixer	in-kernel filter
Linux	ALSA	?	?
Windows NT kernel	MME / WDM audio / Kernel Streaming (KS)	dropped (KMixer.sys)	KS Filters
FreeBSD kernel	OSS API	VCHANs in OSS API	?
NetBSD kernel	native (Sun-like) / OSS API^[67]	audio_system^[68]	?
Solaris kernel	Sun audio API / OSS API	Yes	?

Graphics support

Kernel name	Framebuffer	display management	GPU scheduler	GPU memory management	in-kernel Remote Desktop
Linux	Linux framebuffer (fbdev) / Direct Rendering Manager	Kernel Mode Setting	DRM sched^[69]	DMA-BUF	No
Windows NT kernel	Dxgkrnl.sys	VidPN Manager in Dxgkrnl.sys^[70]	VidSch in Dxgkrnl^[71]	VidMm in Dxgkrnl.sys, Dxgmms1.sys, and Dxgmms2.sys^[72]	RdpDD.sys / RdpWD.sys

Footnotes

^ "Kernel Definition". The Linux Information Project. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
^ IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT
^ The Amiga hardware lacked support for memory protection, so the strong isolation goals of the microkernel design could not be achieved.^{[citation needed]}
^ "Chapter 14. Security". FreeBSD Handbook.
^ setfacl(1) – FreeBSD General Commands Manual
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Fiasco microkernel - Status". Retrieved January 11, 2013.
^ "Linux Kernel FAQ".
^ ^a ^b Supports ELF since version 3.2.0 "MinixReleases". Minix Wiki. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^ ^a ^b a.out will be phased out in coming releases. van der Kouwe, Erik. "Re: ~Segmentation [Was: Minix3 for sparc]". Minix3 for sparc. Google Groups. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^ ^a ^b Commit to remove a.out utils from minix; only supports running a.out now. Leca, Antoine. "3fb8cb760c9075fab05682b89b1542d66481ba58". minix.git. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^ "Announcing NetBSD 5.0".
^ "Event Tracing". Microsoft Docs. 7 January 2021.
^ "IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT".
^ "Syn attack protection on Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2". June 2010. SynAttack protection is enabled by default and cannot be disabled
^ "Elementary Information Security, Second Edition, Chapter 4 "Sharing Files"" (PDF). Section 4.4 "Microsoft Windows ACLs". The ACLs used in Macintosh OS X and Sun's Solaris operating system are similar to those in Windows to ensure they work well together.
^ "Windows 10 Device Guard and Credential Guard Demystified". Ash's Blog. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
^ doc/Documentation/networking/tls.txt kernel.org
^ "Web security - tempesta-tech/tempesta Wiki". Tempesta Technologies INC. October 31, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
^ Ziehau, Sepherosa (2013-05-22). "socket: Extend SO_REUSEPORT to distribute workload to available sockets". DragonFly Project Source. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
^ Lundberg, Johannes (2018-06-06). "Load balance sockets with new SO_REUSEPORT_LB option". Retrieved 2024-07-31.
^ "OpenSolaris Project Weaves CIFS Server Into the Solaris Kernel". Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
^ ^a ^b Integrated Load Balancer
^ AmigaOS up to version 3.9 could use the ELF format for PowerPC executables and libraries through ppc.library, also known as PowerUP. AmigaOS 4, uses ELF as its native executable format.
^ The Linux kernel can recognize PE binaries through binfmt_misc and run them using Wine
^ to support SunOS 4.x binaries
^ including a Linux compatibility option
^ The Solaris kernel can PE using Wine
^ ^a ^b ^c experimental and dangerous write support
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d additional driver needed
^ The only supported operation is overwriting existing files, without changing the file length so a loop file on a ntfs volume can be written; better write support can be achieved through ntfs-3g, although that is a FUSE filesystem and therefore not strictly a kernel feature
^ write support currently broken
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ReactOS Wiki - File Systems
^ ^a ^b additional driver needed - see https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs
^ additional driver needed - see http://www.fs-driver.org/
^ ^a ^b additional driver needed - see http://www.ext2fsd.com Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Third party module required. Mac OS X Kernel Module available here
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "FreeBSD supported platforms".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Larabel, Michael (2 April 2018). "Linux Set To Shed Nearly 500k Lines Of Code By Dropping Old CPUs - Phoronix". Phoronix. Phoronix Media. Retrieved 2018-04-22. The architectures on the chopping block for Linux 4.17 are Blackfin, CRIS, FRV, M32R, Metag, MN10300, Score, and Tile
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e NetBSD Projects - Support for MMU-less systems
^ "OpenBSD/Vax".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Official FreeRTOS Ports, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
^ The GMA500 GPU has a PowerVR in it. The GMA500 Kconfig, mention that it is a 2D KMS driver.
^ There is also a driver for the dreamcast PowerVR but it is only a Framebuffer driver as explained in the fbdev Kconfig
^ Intel Atom integrated graphics card for Windows 8 tablet is based on a PowerVR
^ Raspberry VideoCore 4 support on Windows Microsoft doesn't have plan for OpenGL on UWP also Broadcom doesn't have plan for DirectX
^ ^a ^b ^c Linux emulation in FreeBSD - 2 A look inside...
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j NetBSD Binary Emulation
^ "Summer of Code:NDIS on NetBSD".
^ "Crc32_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Crc32.c « lib - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Crc32c_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Md4.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Md5.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Sha1_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Sha256_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Sha3_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Michael_mic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Poly1305_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd128.c ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Rmd160.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd256.c ^{[dead link‍]}
^ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd320.c ^{[dead link‍]}
^ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/tgr192.c ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Wp512.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Hmac.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ "Vmac.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".
^ in OSS APIhe_future Improving libossaudio, and the future of OSS in NetBSD. NetBSD Project. April 27, 2020
^ audio_system(9) - NetBSD Manual Pages. NetBSD Project
^ Deadline Scheduling Policy Being Experimented With For Linux Graphics Drivers. Phoronix. December 30, 2024.
^ Introduction to Video Present Networks. Microsoft. December 15, 2021.
^ WDDM Architecture. Microsoft. October 2, 2024.
^ Video Memory Management and GPU Scheduling. Microsoft. July 3, 2024.

[1] "Kernel Definition". The Linux Information Project. Retrieved 4 March 2015.

[2] IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT

[3] The Amiga hardware lacked support for memory protection, so the strong isolation goals of the microkernel design could not be achieved.^{[citation needed]}

[4] "Chapter 14. Security". FreeBSD Handbook.

[5] setfacl(1) – FreeBSD General Commands Manual

[fiasco-status-6] "The Fiasco microkernel - Status". Retrieved January 11, 2013.

[7] "Linux Kernel FAQ".

[minix3-elf-8] Supports ELF since version 3.2.0 "MinixReleases". Minix Wiki. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

[minix3-a.out-phased-out-9] .out will be phased out in coming releases. van der Kouwe, Erik. "Re: ~Segmentation [Was: Minix3 for sparc]". Minix3 for sparc. Google Groups. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

[minix3-a.out-utils-removed-10] Commit to remove a.out utils from minix; only supports running a.out now. Leca, Antoine. "3fb8cb760c9075fab05682b89b1542d66481ba58". minix.git. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

[11] "Announcing NetBSD 5.0".

[12] "Event Tracing". Microsoft Docs. 7 January 2021.

[13] "IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT".

[14] "Syn attack protection on Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2". June 2010. SynAttack protection is enabled by default and cannot be disabled

[15] "Elementary Information Security, Second Edition, Chapter 4 "Sharing Files"" (PDF). Section 4.4 "Microsoft Windows ACLs". The ACLs used in Macintosh OS X and Sun's Solaris operating system are similar to those in Windows to ensure they work well together.

[16] "Windows 10 Device Guard and Credential Guard Demystified". Ash's Blog. Retrieved 2018-03-28.

[17] /Documentation/networking/tls.txt kernel.org

[18] "Web security - tempesta-tech/tempesta Wiki". Tempesta Technologies INC. October 31, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.

[19] Ziehau, Sepherosa (2013-05-22). "socket: Extend SO_REUSEPORT to distribute workload to available sockets". DragonFly Project Source. Retrieved 2024-07-31.

[20] Lundberg, Johannes (2018-06-06). "Load balance sockets with new SO_REUSEPORT_LB option". Retrieved 2024-07-31.

[21] "OpenSolaris Project Weaves CIFS Server Into the Solaris Kernel". Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2009-08-21.

[Integrated_Load_Balancer-22] Integrated Load Balancer

[23] AmigaOS up to version 3.9 could use the ELF format for PowerPC executables and libraries through ppc.library, also known as PowerUP. AmigaOS 4, uses ELF as its native executable format.

[24] The Linux kernel can recognize PE binaries through binfmt_misc and run them using Wine

[25] to support SunOS 4.x binaries

[26] uding a Linux compatibility option

[27] The Solaris kernel can PE using Wine

[experi-28] xperimental and dangerous write support

[windowsext-29] tional driver needed

[30] The only supported operation is overwriting existing files, without changing the file length so a loop file on a ntfs volume can be written; better write support can be achieved through ntfs-3g, although that is a FUSE filesystem and therefore not strictly a kernel feature

[31] write support currently broken

[reactos-fs-32] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ReactOS Wiki - File Systems

[win-btrfs-33] tional driver needed - see https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs

[windowsextdriver-34] tional driver needed - see http://www.fs-driver.org/

[winext2fsd-35] tional driver needed - see http://www.ext2fsd.com Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine

[Macext-36] Third party module required. Mac OS X Kernel Module available here

[freebsdplatforms-37] "FreeBSD supported platforms".

[phoronix417-38] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Larabel, Michael (2 April 2018). "Linux Set To Shed Nearly 500k Lines Of Code By Dropping Old CPUs - Phoronix". Phoronix. Phoronix Media. Retrieved 2018-04-22. The architectures on the chopping block for Linux 4.17 are Blackfin, CRIS, FRV, M32R, Metag, MN10300, Score, and Tile

[netbsd-nommu-39] NetBSD Projects - Support for MMU-less systems

[40] "OpenBSD/Vax".

[freertos-ports-41] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Official FreeRTOS Ports, Amazon Web Services, Inc.

[gma500-powervr-42] The GMA500 GPU has a PowerVR in it. The GMA500 Kconfig, mention that it is a 2D KMS driver.

[dreamcast-powervr-43] There is also a driver for the dreamcast PowerVR but it is only a Framebuffer driver as explained in the fbdev Kconfig

[intel_gpu-44] Intel Atom integrated graphics card for Windows 8 tablet is based on a PowerVR

[videocore4-windows-45] Raspberry VideoCore 4 support on Windows Microsoft doesn't have plan for OpenGL on UWP also Broadcom doesn't have plan for DirectX

[freebsd-compat-46] Linux emulation in FreeBSD - 2 A look inside...

[netbsd-compat-47] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j NetBSD Binary Emulation

[48] "Summer of Code:NDIS on NetBSD".

[49] "Crc32_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[50] "Crc32.c « lib - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[51] "Crc32c_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[52] "Md4.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[53] "Md5.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[54] "Sha1_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[55] "Sha256_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[56] "Sha3_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[57] "Michael_mic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[58] "Poly1305_generic.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[59] ttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd128.c ^{[dead link‍]}

[60] "Rmd160.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[61] ttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd256.c ^{[dead link‍]}

[62] ttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/rmd320.c ^{[dead link‍]}

[63] ttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/crypto/tgr192.c ^{[dead link‍]}

[64] "Wp512.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[65] "Hmac.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[66] "Vmac.c « crypto - kernel/Git/Torvalds/Linux.git - Linux kernel source tree".

[67] OSS APIhe_future Improving libossaudio, and the future of OSS in NetBSD. NetBSD Project. April 27, 2020

[68] udio_system(9) - NetBSD Manual Pages. NetBSD Project

[69] Deadline Scheduling Policy Being Experimented With For Linux Graphics Drivers. Phoronix. December 30, 2024.

[70] Introduction to Video Present Networks. Microsoft. December 15, 2021.

[71] WDDM Architecture. Microsoft. October 2, 2024.

[72] Video Memory Management and GPU Scheduling. Microsoft. July 3, 2024.

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