Defragmenting The Loader Landscape

Explore the complexities of the BPF loader landscape in this 51-minute conference talk from the Linux Plumbers Conference. Dive into the challenges faced by BPF loaders, including ecosystem fragmentation, verification issues, and selftest errors. Learn about proposed solutions such as an independent loader test suite and a minimal user space approach. Examine the reasons behind non-BPF loaders and discuss the potential for a unified loader program. Gain insights into governance questions, language choices, and the future direction of BPF loader development.

Introduction
What is ebpf
Challenges
Timo
The Loader Landscape
The Problem
Verification
Ecosystem fragmentation
Selftest errors
BPF tests
Minimal user space
What would it look like
Independent loader test suite
Reverse example
Why do we have nonBPF loaders
Matrix Chat
BPF Loader
Is BPF Competition
Language Choice
Loader Program
Spec
Governance
BPF
L4 clang
User mode helper
Governance questions