Open Source Summit + Embedded Linux Conference North America 2026

eBPF has made Linux highly extensible, but production eBPF systems remain fragmented and complex. Developers must write raw C for eBPF, separate userspace loaders, manage BTF compatibility, handle tail calls, dynptr APIs, and sometimes build kernel modules for kfunc support, all across different build systems.

KernelScript is a domain-specific open-source programming language that unifies eBPF, userspace, and kernel extension development in a single, type-safe source file. It introduces multi-target compilation, automatic tail-call orchestration, transparent map and dynptr handling, lifecycle-safe program loading/attaching, and built-in kfunc support that generates kernel module scaffolding automatically.

This talk presents the language design, verifier-aware type system, and compiler architecture behind KernelScript, along with real examples combining XDP, TC, probes, userspace coordination, and custom kernel functions.

KernelScript explores a broader question: what should the next generation of Linux extensibility tooling look like?