Editing Monolithic kernel (section)

{{Short description|OS that runs entirely in kernel-mode}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:OS-structure2.svg|thumb|right|Structure of monolithic kernel, [[microkernel]] and [[hybrid kernel]]-based operating systems|580px]]
A '''monolithic kernel''' is an [[operating system]] [[software architecture|architecture]] with the entire operating system running in [[kernel space]]. The monolithic model differs from other architectures such as the [[microkernel]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Modular system programming in Minix3 |url=http://www.usenix.org/publications/login/2006-04/openpdfs/herder.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Server-Client, or layered structure |url=http://www.gridbus.org/~raj/microkernel/chap2.pdf |publisher=The Design of PARAS Microkernel |access-date=15 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717085530/http://www.gridbus.org/~raj/microkernel/chap2.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in that it alone defines a high-level virtual interface over [[computer hardware]]. A set of primitives or [[system call]]s implement all operating system services such as [[Process (computing)|process management]], [[Concurrency (computer science)|concurrency]], and [[memory management]]. 

Device drivers can be added to the kernel as [[loadable kernel module]]s.