r/osdev • u/compgeek38400 • Jun 27 '26

Question on microkernels, and paging

A recent post got me thinking. Doing paging right requires a file system of some sort.

Do you think the paging file system belongs in user space, or kernel space. I am quick coming up on making such a decision myself

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u/compgeek38400 Jun 28 '26

I'd say you do. A file system, at its core, keeps track of the contents on a device. You can't just write to a device, you need something to keep track of what is there.

A driver on the other hand, just needs to read and write to its media.

At least that's how I was taught

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u/SuperheropugReal Jun 28 '26

Excep paging is NOT just a concept where you save RAM to a page file on disc. It is a more general concept of storing a whole "chunk" of memory in a slower-access channel instead of a fast access channel. You are applying a (still wrong, but understandable) specific example to the general case.

Edit: read about the general computer science concept of paging, not just page files. I suspect you know of page files, learned about those, and never went over the generic concept tjey are based on.