Tock: From Research to Securing 10 Million Computers
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866912980058243072 |
|---|---|
| author | Schuermann, Leon Campbell, Brad Ghena, Branden Levis, Philip Levy, Amit Pannuto, Pat |
| author_facet | Schuermann, Leon Campbell, Brad Ghena, Branden Levis, Philip Levy, Amit Pannuto, Pat |
| contents | Tock began 10 years ago as a research operating system developed by academics to help other academics build urban sensing applications. By leveraging a new language (Rust) and new hardware protection mechanisms, Tock enabled Multiprogramming a 64 kB Computer Safely and Efficiently. Today, it is an open source project with a vibrant community of users and contributors. It is deployed on root of trust hardware in data center servers and on millions of laptops; it is used to develop automotive and space products, wearable electronics, and hardware security tokens--all while remaining a platform for operating systems research. This paper focuses on the impact of Tock's technical design on its adoption, the challenges and unexpected benefits of using a type safe language (Rust)--particularly in security sensitive settings--and the experience of supporting a production open4source operating system from academia. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_22585 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Tock: From Research to Securing 10 Million Computers Schuermann, Leon Campbell, Brad Ghena, Branden Levis, Philip Levy, Amit Pannuto, Pat Operating Systems Cryptography and Security Tock began 10 years ago as a research operating system developed by academics to help other academics build urban sensing applications. By leveraging a new language (Rust) and new hardware protection mechanisms, Tock enabled Multiprogramming a 64 kB Computer Safely and Efficiently. Today, it is an open source project with a vibrant community of users and contributors. It is deployed on root of trust hardware in data center servers and on millions of laptops; it is used to develop automotive and space products, wearable electronics, and hardware security tokens--all while remaining a platform for operating systems research. This paper focuses on the impact of Tock's technical design on its adoption, the challenges and unexpected benefits of using a type safe language (Rust)--particularly in security sensitive settings--and the experience of supporting a production open4source operating system from academia. |
| title | Tock: From Research to Securing 10 Million Computers |
| topic | Operating Systems Cryptography and Security |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22585 |