FOSDEM 2024

FOSDEM 2024 was a blast! Our team was there presenting our work around unikernels, and their interaction with the cloud-native world.

The first presentation took place in the Containers devroom, where we described the challenges of securing containers within VM or microVM sandboxes and the complexities of resource optimization on physical nodes. We presented urunc, a CRI-compatible container runtime spawning unikernels packaged in OCI images. The talk highlighted urunc’s internals, covering hypervisor support, network and storage handling, and integration with high-level orchestration frameworks like Kubernetes, while also addressing network setup implications when combining unikernels and generic containers in a k8s context.

In the Microkernel devroom, we continued our exploration of unikernels with a focus on modularity. The team presented bunny, a novel build system aimed at simplifying the Unikernel building process. bunny adopts a layered approach, making use of the modular aspect of Unikernels. Each component represents a distinct layer, eliminating the need for users to manually build dependencies. This approach allows for the creation of minimal and specialized Unikernel images tailored for individual applications.

These presentations highlight our commitment to simplify and optimize application delivery in diverse, heterogeneous infrastructure, providing valuable insights into security and system optimization in the evolving landscape of container technology.

Find below the slides and video recordings of the presentations, along with links to the devrooms full schedule.

• A Modular Approach to Effortless and Dependency-Aware Unikernel Building, Microkernel and Component-based OS devroom session slides video devroom
• From Containers to Unikernels: Navigating Integration Challenges in Cloud-Native Environments, Containers devroom session slides video devroom

FOSDEM

FOSDEM stands for “Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting.” It is one of the largest gatherings of open-source developers and enthusiasts in the world. FOSDEM is an annual event that takes place in ULB Solbosch Campus, Brussels, Belgium, typically in late January or early February.

The conference provides a platform for developers, contributors, and users of free and open-source software to come together, share knowledge, collaborate on projects, and discuss the latest developments in the open-source community. FOSDEM is known for its diverse range of talks, developer rooms, and stands, covering a wide array of topics related to open-source software, including programming languages, operating systems, security, networking, and more.

FOSDEM is a free event, organized by volunteers, and it attracts participants from around the globe. The conference aims to foster collaboration and promote the principles of free and open-source software within the technology community.

Although statistics are not out yet, this year, getting into the talks was harder than ever. Rooms were filling up even 30’ before the scheduled talks. As an indication, almost 855 events are recorded and are being transcoded to be available for online viewing. Our estimation is that there were almost 10000 people in ULB.