Toward a production-grade Linux alternative—memory safe, high-performance, and more
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/26be2d18-994d-4658-a1b8-f8959bd88b75
**News:**
* 2025-12-08: **FAST 2026** accepted a paper on a novel secure storage solution having been integrated into Asterinas: _MlsDisk: Trusted Block Storage for TEEs Based on Layered Secure Logging_.
* 2025-10-17: **ICSE 2026** accepted yet another paper about Asterinas: _RusyFuzz: Unhandled Exception Guided Fuzzing for Rust OS Kernel_.
* 2025-10-14: [*CortenMM: Efficient Memory Management with Strong Correctness Guarantees*](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3731569.3764836) received the **Best Paper Award** at **SOSP 2025**.
* 2025-07-23: **SOSP 2025** accepted another Asterinas paper: [*CortenMM: Efficient Memory Management with Strong Correctness Guarantees*](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3731569.3764836).
* 2025-06-18: **USENIX _;login:_ magazine** published [*Asterinas: A Rust-Based Framekernel to Reimagine Linux in the 2020s*](https://www.usenix.org/publications/loginonline/asterinas-rust-based-framekernel-reimagine-linux-2020s).
* 2025-04-30: **USENIX ATC 2025** accepted two Asterinas papers:
1. [*Asterinas: A Linux ABI-Compatible, Rust-Based Framekernel OS with a Small and Sound TCB*](https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc25/presentation/peng-yuke);
2. [*Converos: Practical Model Checking for Verifying Rust OS Kernel Concurrency*](https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc25/presentation/tang).
Congratulations to the Asterinas community🎉🎉🎉
## Introducing Asterinas
The future of operating systems (OSes) belongs to Rust—a modern systems programming language (PL)
that delivers safety, efficiency, and productivity at once.
The open question is not _whether_ OS kernels should transition from C to Rust,
but _how_ we get there.
Linux follows an _incremental_ path.
While the Rust for Linux project has successfully integrated Rust as an official second PL,
this approach faces _inherent friction_.
As a newcomer within a massive C codebase,
Rust must often compromise on safety, efficiency, clarity, and ergonomics
to maintain compatibility with legacy structures.
And while new Rust code can improve what it touches,
it cannot retroactively eliminate _vulnerabilities_ in decades of existing C code.
Asterinas takes a _clean-slate_ approach.
By building a Linux-compatible, general-purpose OS kernel from the ground up in Rust,
we are liberated from the constraints of a legacy C codebase—its interfaces, designs, and assumptions—and from the need to preserve historical compatibility for outdated platforms.
**Languages—including PLs—shape our way of thinking**.
Through the lens of a modern PL, Asterinas rethinks and modernizes the construction of OS kernels:
* **Modern architecture.**
Asterinas pioneers the [_framekernel_](https://asterinas.github.io/book/kernel/the-framekernel-architecture.html) architecture,
combining monolithic-kernel performance with microkernel-inspired separation.
Unsafe Rust is confined to a small, auditable framework called [OSTD](https://asterinas.github.io/api-docs-nightly/ostd/),
while the rest of the kernel is written in safe Rust,
keeping the memory-safety TCB intentionally minimal.
* **Modern design.**
Asterinas learns from Linux's hard-won engineering lessons,
but it is not afraid to deviate when the design warrants it.
For example, Asterinas improves the CPU scalability of its memory management subsystem
with a novel scheme called [CortenMM](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3731569.3764836).
* **Modern code.**
Asterinas's codebase prioritizes safety, clarity, and maintainability.
Performance is pursued aggressively, but never by compromising safety guarantees.
Readability is treated as a feature, not a luxury,
and the codebase is structured to avoid hidden, cross-module coupling.
* **Modern tooling.**
Asterinas ships a purpose-built toolkit, [OSDK](https://asterinas.github.io/book/osdk/guide/index.html),
to facilitate building, running, and testing Rust kernels or kernel components.
Powered by OSTD,
OSDK makes kernel development as easy and fluid as writing a standard Rust application, eliminating the traditional friction of OS engineering.
Asterinas aims to become **a production-grade, memory-safe Linux alternative**,
with performance that matches Linux—and in some scenarios, exceeds it.
The project has been under active development for four years,
supports 230+ Linux system calls,
and has launched an experimental distribution,
[Asterinas NixOS](https://asterinas.github.io/book/distro/index.html).
In 2026, our priority is to advance project maturity toward production readiness,
specifically targeting standard and confidential virtual machines on x86-64.
Looking ahead, we will continue to expand functionality and
harden the system for **mission-critical deployments**
in data centers, autonomous vehicles, and embodied AI.
## Getting Started
### For End Users
We provide [Asterinas NixOS ISO Installer](https://github.com/asterinas/asterinas/releases)
to make the Asterinas kernel more accessible for early adopters and enthusiasts.
We encourage you to try out Asterinas NixOS and share feedback.
Instructions on how to use the ISO installer can be found [here](https://asterinas.github.io/book/distro/index.html#end-users).
**Disclaimer: Asterinas is an independent, community-led project.
Asterinas NixOS is _not_ an official NixOS project and has _no_ affiliation with the NixOS Foundation. _No_ sponsorship or endorsement is implied.**
### For Kernel Developers
Follow the steps below to get Asterinas up and running.
1. Download the latest source code on an x86-64 Linux machine:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/asterinas/asterinas
```
2. Run a Docker container as the development environment:
```bash
docker run -it --privileged --network=host -v /dev:/dev -v $(pwd)/asterinas:/root/asterinas asterinas/asterinas:0.17.0-20260114
```
3. Inside the container,
go to the project folder (`/root/asterinas`) and run:
```bash
make kernel
make run_kernel
```
This results in a VM running the Asterinas kernel with a small initramfs.
4. To install and test real-world applications on Asterinas,
build and run Asterinas NixOS in a VM:
```bash
make nixos
make run_nixos
```
This boots into an interactive shell in Asterinas NixOS,
where you can use Nix to install and try more packages.
## The Book
See [The Asterinas Book](https://asterinas.github.io/book/) to learn more about the project.
## License
Asterinas's source code and documentation primarily use the
[Mozilla Public License (MPL), Version 2.0](https://github.com/asterinas/asterinas/blob/main/LICENSE-MPL).
Select components are under more permissive licenses,
detailed [here](https://github.com/asterinas/asterinas/blob/main/.licenserc.yaml). For the rationales behind the choice of MPL, see [here](https://asterinas.github.io/book/index.html#licensing).