XIRTUS SYSTEMS RESEARCH GROUP FIG. P1 PRINCIPLE 1 OF 6

Small Kernel, Readable Tree

JUSTIFICATION GATE must demonstrate necessity KERNEL CORE xirtux/sys — deliberate constraint VM SCHED VFS IPC AUDIO DRM USB BT SOURCE TREE /usr/src/sys — approximately 18,000 lines, readable in one sitting approved APPROVED: REJECTED: (no demonstrated operator need) READABLE IN ONE SITTING

FIG. P1 — Kernel subsystem approval model. Solid lines indicate justified subsystems accepted into the kernel tree. Dashed red lines indicate proposals rejected at the justification gate. The kernel source tree targets ~18,000 lines of C — small enough to be read and understood by an experienced operator in a single session.

ENGINEERING CONSTRAINT: Every subsystem must pass the justification gate — a design review that demands a demonstrated operator problem and a minimal implementation. Code added without justification is removed at the next release boundary. See src/SYS_CONSTRAINTS.

See Also
DIAGRAM FIG. P1 / PRINCIPLE 1: SMALL KERNEL
LAMP NOMINAL HRS: 1,247