[echochar]

Thanks for commenting.

I experimented with small C compilers but UNIX is too intertwined with too many "standard" C libraries. I would like to see a UNIX that used some other libraries, if for nothing else as a proof of concept; e.g., maybe use some of djb's libraries. musl is a good start.

Eventually I decided to just include "as" in the userlands in my small systems instead. I have a library of small asm routines that I keep available, similar to C's "standard" libraries but not taking up the enormous space they do.

But I think the easy way to do socket IPC is just include socat or some other alternative like tcpserver or a small httpd.

Statically compiling socat is made easy and I really admire how the author makes it possible to add/subtract features when compiling. It's the antithesis of forcing the user to accept the kitchen sink, which alas is the norm. Smart.

If the systems you are targeting have a RAM based filesystem that you can mount and transfer files to, and enough RAM to spare, you should be able to run a static binary from RAM that can listen on a socket and run scripts/programs.