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SUMMARY:The Design and Implementation of the 5BSD Operating System - Kory 
 Heard
DTSTART;TZID=US/Central:20261107T170000
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DTSTAMP:20260930T141437Z
UID:pretalx-txlf2026-XQUDW7@pretalx.com
DESCRIPTION:5BSD explores a different approach to operating system securit
 y. Rather than starting every process with broad ambient authority and the
 n restricting it through layers such as namespaces\, seccomp\, LSMs\, and 
 cgroups\, 5BSD begins with no ambient authority. Every privilege is repres
 ented by an explicit capability granted to a process\, and no process can 
 acquire authority it was not intentionally delegated.\n\nBuilt on FreeBSD
 \, 5BSD extends the operating system with a capability-oriented runtime wh
 ile preserving compatibility with existing software\, including Linux appl
 ications through the Linux ABI layer. Traditional UNIX applications contin
 ue to operate through familiar interfaces\, while capability-aware applica
 tions can take advantage of new system calls and kernel services designed 
 around explicit authority.\n\nThe system is bootstrapped by the Oracle\, t
 he privileged system initializer. Oracle launches workloads\, constructs t
 heir initial capability sets\, and delegates only the authority required f
 or their intended function. After startup\, workloads operate using the ca
 pabilities they possess rather than relying on ambient privileges. Service
 s are discovered through Serviced\, 5BSD’s capability-aware service regi
 stry\, while kernel facilities such as Keyvault and mac_abac provide crypt
 ographic services and attribute-based access control without exposing unne
 cessary privilege to applications.\n\nThis talk introduces the architectur
 e behind 5BSD\, including capability bootstrapping\, authority delegation
 \, capability-aware system calls\, and compatibility with existing UNIX an
 d Linux software. We will follow a workload from process creation through 
 capability initialization\, demonstrate how capabilities are transferred a
 nd enforced\, and examine how the system behaves when software attempts op
 erations outside its delegated authority.\n\nAttendees will gain a practic
 al understanding of capability-oriented operating system design\, how 5BSD
  integrates capabilities into a BSD-derived kernel without abandoning comp
 atibility\, and how explicit authority provides a foundation for building 
 systems with stronger isolation and more predictable security properties.
LOCATION:Balcones
URL:https://pretalx.com/txlf2026/talk/XQUDW7/
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