User-Mode Linux Merged Into 2.5 Kernel

An anonymous reader writes "With little fanfare, User Mode-Linux (UML) has been merged into Linus' BitKeeper tree. The merge followed a patch by UML author Jeff Dike, resynching UML with the 2.5.34 development kernel. From the UML homepage, User-Mode Linux provides you with a virtual machine that offers 'a safe, secure way of running Linux versions and Linux processes. Run buggy software, experiment with new Linux kernels or distributions, and poke around in the internals of Linux, all without risking your main Linux setup.'" There's more UML resources available at the community site.

Comments

Honeypot

[GigsVT]

I imagine there are honeypot applications for something like this. You could make a cracker totally believe they had broken in when in reality they are just in a UML.

For the ultra paranoid you could also make a backup copy of your whole UML partition and only run services in that, periodically restoring it from backup, and copying in the new data that is stored on the real OS. If you got broken into, it wouldn't really matter.

Re:What Are Some Other Uses?

[aardvarkjoe]

The "good for the masses" part is that more people will be able to work on / test / debug new linux kernels, so that Joe User will end up with a more stable system. As far as Joe User who doesn't know what a kernel is, I doubt that there's much of a reason for him to be using it.