Mastodawn

"Linux has also been ported to itself. You can now run the kernel as a userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML)."

"Today, we’ll explore how you can start an unconventional VM by running a Linux kernel as a process within the Linux kernel itself. This approach doesn’t require installing virtualization software like QEMU, nor does it need root privileges, which opens up some intriguing possibilities."

https://popovicu.com/posts/linux-vm-without-vm-software-user-mode/

What could possibly go wrong.

#UserModeLinux #linux

Linux VM without VM software - User Mode Linux

Quick demonstration of using User Mode Linux (UML) to run a Linux VM inside Linux's userspace, without additional VM software or even root permissions

David Cantrell 🏏Oct 11, 2024

Migration complete (I think) off of the old #UML #UserModeLinux VM. Its 22nd birthday would have been in two weeks time. I'll keep it running for a few days before turning it off just in case I find there's something important it's still doing. Migrating email (to @fastmail) was remarkably painless because I fired all the other users a few months back. Bye bye #Bytemark!

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David Cantrell 🏏Sep 28, 2024

In case you're wondering just how old this is ... the VM is running in #UML - #UserModeLinux, not the more modern #Xen, or the more modern #KVM, or the more modern #CloudWitchcraft It has been running, with a few upgrades, for over 20 years. It has had over 20 years in which to accrete undocumented customisations and works *perfectly*, which is why I've been procrastinating about this migration for years.

Darkstar Oct 18, 2019

User Mode Linux version 5.2 has been uploaded to Debian Unstable

Wow, it has been many years since I did make use of User Mode Linux.
Used it in those days to create a Slackware environment on my Debian box. This was in the era when Debian suddenly stopped supporting the GIF format...

#UserModeLinux #Debian

https://www.researchut.com/blog/user-mode-linux-52/

User Mode Linux 5.2

User Mode Linux 5.2 User Mode Linux version 5.2 has been uploaded to Debian Unstable and will soon be available on the supported architectures. This upload took more time than usual as I ran into a build time failure caused by newer PCAP library. Thanks to active upstream developers, this got sorted out quick. In the longer run, we may have a much better fix for it. What is User Mode Linux a.