Jails for NetBSD – Kernel Enforced Isolation and Native Resource Control

0x2b9fd814feb0 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Zones from Solaris is a nice name.

NetBSD's jail feature is based on kauth, a decent designed capabilities system, informed by an Apple technical paper. Having jails backed by kauth puts NetBSD's well above FreeBSD's, if NetBSD can reach feature parity. The earlier implementation struggled with a networking feature that NetBSD did not have.

Also, this work is made with AI:

"For context: this is my first serious work inside the NetBSD kernel. I am not an experienced NetBSD kernel developer. To better understand complex code paths and trade-offs, I use AI-based tools for analysis and occasionally for draft implementations. However, everything that goes into my working tree is manually reviewed, adjusted, or discarded by me. I only integrate changes that I believe are technically sound and that I can explain and defend, and I am working towards a clean and auditable tree structure."

https://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-kern/2026/03/01/msg030854...

	▲	JCattheATM 30 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Also, this work is made with AI: More like assisted with AI, in a way that seems perfectly reasonable.

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ggm 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'll make the same comment I did on the other post about this. Either document how it differs from FreeBSD jails or give it some other name. Anything else is asking for confusion.

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dizhn 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's not a port of FreeBSD jails ?

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__patchbit__ 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That some other name: 'cells' (or 'tiles'), in the compositional sense of leaf and tree, forest, framework is more inviting for creative work than 'jails'.

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LargoLasskhyfv 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Does the third entry of the FAQ not suffice?

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ggm 5 hours ago | parent [-]

No. A feature table would help. An abstraction/layer diagram. A lot more.

Could bastille port to it as-is? How about podman?

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LargoLasskhyfv 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> Could bastille port to it as-is? How about podman?

He wrote things like these are out of scope.

Just light and robust jails without further external dependencies.

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PunchyHamster 4 hours ago | parent [-]

so it's useless then as you can't run anything you'd want to there

	▲	LargoLasskhyfv 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Besides the fact it isn't even ready yet, of course you could run everything which runs on NetBSD in there. Just not the ways you're used to. IMO anything which makes NetBSD's base more complete is good. When it is ready, it remains to be seen which external tools may be ported to make use of the newly available internals. If ever.

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arcade79 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Uh; not the same as FreeBSD jails? But name conflict? That's just silly.

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DeathArrow 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It would have been more interesting have they released something compatible with Open Container Initiative. Most people use Docker containers and having Docker compatible containers would have helped with improved adoption of BSDs.

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Gud 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No thanks. I prefer my jails just the way they are and think Docker sucks.

	▲	ajross 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The OCI work mentioned upthread is about interface, not implementation. Most people who think "Docker sucks" are talking about it's somewhat questionable network layer on Linux and the poor security isolation of the daemon. Non-docker alternatives like Podman don't have that characteristic. But no one (at least no one reasonable) thinks Dockerfile's building docker images for download from docker-compatible repositories are a bad thing. That stuff runs the world. And the FreeBSD refusal to make a real attempt at interoperability is a confusing wart on what otherwise is pretty good tech.

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PunchyHamster 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

OCI is kinda layer above whatever solution is used for separation

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jmclnx 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I have used jails and I still say it is far easier to maintain, lighter and more secure that what Linux has. The only good thing I can say about docker is it is easier to setup.

Also the way I read the document, NetBSD's Jail is going to be very close to what FreeBSD does.