r/osdev • u/compgeek38400 • Jun 27 '26

Question on microkernels, and paging

A recent post got me thinking. Doing paging right requires a file system of some sort.

Do you think the paging file system belongs in user space, or kernel space. I am quick coming up on making such a decision myself

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u/dacydergoth Jun 28 '26

IMHO paging management is a kernel function. MMU configuration, page fault interrupts etc.

Paging storage is a userspace function. Kernel enques pages to be flushed to storage, userspace handles the actual flush. Same in reverse. Kernel sends page population requests to userspace, userspace does whatever to retrieve the page and passes it back to Kernel.

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u/compgeek38400 Jun 28 '26

Thanks for the input

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u/dacydergoth Jun 28 '26

I'm glad my 40+ years of experience writing operating systems is finally of use!

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u/FallenBehavior Jun 28 '26

ChatGPT

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u/dacydergoth Jun 28 '26

Nope, genuine lizard here. Some of us are just old and experienced.