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by hypertele-Xii 1582 days ago
So it's less of an operating system and more of a single app that runs on metal?
2 comments

Yes. Think of it like depending on a small kernel directly in your build step. So your application gets compiled with everything (including OS interface) that it needs and nothing more. The result is a bootable image that is only capable of running your app.

I think the value isn't in the containerization vs unikernel comparison. If you're using containerization you've accepted certain security risks. Where unikernels have a lot of potential IMO is in high security environments where the security risks of containerization are not acceptable.

Another way to describe it is OS-functionality-as-library.