Hardware Podcasts

from /proc to proc_macro

Oxide and Friends · 25 May 2021 · 1h 05m · Episode 4

What this episode covers

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, and other former Sun Microsystems engineers discuss the history and technical challenges of debugging infrastructure, focusing on Roger Faulkner's invention of the /proc filesystem and the subsequent development of ptrace and DTrace. They detail the complex emulation of Linux branded zones (LX) in Solaris, explaining how the need to emulate ptrace and handle stack switching for Go led to significant debugging pain points and 'magic' that did not layer well. The conversation also covers the design philosophy behind DTrace, its inspiration from the OCaml language, and the modern application of these concepts in Rust's proc macros for creating domain-specific languages with robust error handling.

Most relevant to

established companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Oxide Computer Company, Sun Microsystems
Products
Solaris, Linux
Tools
DTrace, ptrace, strace, QEMU
Also
Rust, OCaml

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The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Oxide and Friends. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.