Mach kernel
Shares rank 64 of 87 operating systems by recommenders
Old free microkernel praised for its virtual memory API and design, but critics say its IPC overhead is high and it lags newer microkernels like L4.
Old free microkernel praised for its virtual memory API and design, but critics say its IPC overhead is high and it lags newer microkernels like L4.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 41%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for building real projects
“In Mach we are able to just zig build to build GUI apps against an ~8 year old glibc version”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “Solo – a .so loader for static Linux binaries” “It's been a great boon to this project and I have zero regrets”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Mach – A compiled systems language looking for contributions” Appealing design and virtual memory API
“IMO the Mach virtual memory API is much nicer than the Linux one.”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source” “I've always liked the Mach approach.”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Moving beyond fork() + exec()”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
High microkernel IPC overhead
“So is Mach, by the way, if you can afford the microkernel performance overhead.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Kernel bugs hide for 2 years on average. Some hide for 20” “the old microkernels, like Mach and all those inspired by it, was indeed too high due to context switches”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “Maybe we should revisit microkernels” “Mach is not a very good microkernel at all, because the overhead is much higher than necessary.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Kernel bugs hide for 2 years on average. Some hide for 20” - Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Kernel bugs hide for 2 years on average. Some hide for 20”
- Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Xous Operating System”
- Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”
Dated design versus newer microkernels
“the negative aspects of Mach’s design are a technical albatross around the neck of any kernel”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support” “dramatic performance improvements of L4 over first-generation microkernels like Mach”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “Designing Microkernel IPC” “Mach is not a representative proxy for microkernels in 2026.”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “Maybe we should revisit microkernels” - Comment from 22 Oct 2026 in “Several Linux kernel vulnerabilities accidentally posted to public mailing list”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 87 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
All 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The boat long ago sailed on Mach/Hurd”
“IMO the Mach virtual memory API is much nicer than the Linux one.”
“In Mach we are able to just zig build to build GUI apps against an ~8 year old glibc version”
“Mach was pretty damn big.”
“despite having many issues with performance”
“Mach is not a representative proxy for microkernels in 2026.”
“the old microkernels, like Mach and all those inspired by it, was indeed too high due to context switches”
“It's been a great boon to this project and I have zero regrets”
“I've always liked the Mach approach.”
“They use a Mach/BSD hybrid”
“It was so painful we used to agree that we wouldn't grab food or coffee or anything until we'd worked out what CL we should sync to”
“dramatic performance improvements of L4 over first-generation microkernels like Mach”
“Mach uses Python, and the dependencies they use are a pain whenever no pre-built wheels are available.”
“the negative aspects of Mach’s design are a technical albatross around the neck of any kernel”
“Mach worked that way, and the overhead was high.”
“it's quite inefficient compared to L4 or Zircon's IPC”
“Mach is not a very good microkernel at all, because the overhead is much higher than necessary.”
“So is Mach, by the way, if you can afford the microkernel performance overhead.”
“given the lack of details on the repo”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.