User Mode Linux
Shares rank 15 of 19 virtual machine tools by recommenders
Runs the Linux kernel as an ordinary userspace program; people praise it as cool technology that works well.
Runs the Linux kernel as an ordinary userspace program; people praise it as cool technology that works well.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not 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.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Seen as cool technology
“UML was a really really cool piece of technology.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “15 years, one server, 8GB RAM and 500k users – how Webminal refuses to die” “Yes, User mode linux pretty cool project.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “15 years, one server, 8GB RAM and 500k users – how Webminal refuses to die” “User mode linux is so cool.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “15 years, one server, 8GB RAM and 500k users – how Webminal refuses to die” Runs Linux as a normal program
“I would personally favor UML, since at that point Linux is just a normal userspace program that you can attach to”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “ELF Crimes: Program Interpreter Fun” “Play a bit with user mode linux the kernel becomes literally a linux program”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Booting Linux in QEMU and Writing PID 1 in Go to Illustrate Kernel as Program”
Other virtual machine tools people recommend
The four most recommended other virtual machine tools, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QEMU | 114 | 42 | 73% | 12 | 16 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| UTM | 49 | 11 | 82% | 12 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| VirtualBox | 34 | 33 | 51% | 12 | 18 yrs3 owners | — |
| Lima | 31 | 3 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
| User Mode LinuxThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“A crazy idea, but it worked REALLY well.”
“UML was a really really cool piece of technology.”
“Yes, User mode linux pretty cool project.”
“User mode linux is so cool.”
“I would personally favor UML, since at that point Linux is just a normal userspace program that you can attach to”
“it did not support SMP at all”
“Play a bit with user mode linux the kernel becomes literally a linux program”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.