virtual, user-mode kernel

Here's an idea for a google SoC project: 
enabling the kernel to run on top of itself, as a userland process.

"Reduces the engineering cycle time for testing new kernel code
 from 5 minutes to 5 seconds."  -- Matthew Dillon

This is outside of the strict R1 scope, but if it can be done, if it 
can speed up kernel and device driver development and debugging, get 
more eyes on the virtual memory implementation and also make new 
interesting uses of Haiku possible, and as icing on the cake, someone 
else can do it for us / someone here can get paid doing it, why not?

DragonFlyBSD:
Reasons for wanting to have a working virtual kernel
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00082.html

A few questions and answers
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/users/2007-01/msg00237.html

Performance ans system resources
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00107.html

Use of memory
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00157.html
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00039.html

Short-term goals		
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00010.html

A few tickets
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00002.html

Function conflicts between kernel and libc
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2006-12/msg00018.html
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2006-12/msg00030.html
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2006-12/msg00039.html

Man page
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command=vkernel&section=ANY

Production uses for virtual kernels
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-01/msg00054.html

"Checkpointing" vkernels
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/kernel/2007-02/msg00079.html

Linux:
http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/kernel.html
http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-mode_Linux

/Jonas.


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