Design Paradigm
Specifying the general idea of a microkernel, Liedtke states:
A concept is tolerated inside the microkernel only if moving it outside the kernel, i.e., permitting competing implementations, would prevent the implementation of the system's required functionality.
In this spirit, the L4 microkernel only provides the four basic mechanisms: address spaces, threads, scheduling, and synchronous inter-process communication.
An operating system based on a microkernel like L4 has to provide services as servers in user space that monolithic kernels like Linux or older generation microkernels include internally. For example, in order to implement a secure Unix-like system, servers will have to provide the rights management that Mach included inside the kernel.
Read more about this topic: L4 Microkernel Family
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