Research

ATLAS: Adaptable Thread-Level Address Spaces (DFG: LO 1719/7-1 and DI 2840/1-1)

In the ATLAS project, we investigate dynamic specialization and containment by means of thread-level address-space variations.

Address-Space Views: Traditionally, an OS process contains a single address space with code and data segments that are shared among all of its threads. With address-space views we allow additional address spaces within a process that are kept in sync with their each other: Changes to one of them become immediately visible in the others. Views diverge only in explicitly specified areas. As they still belong to the same process, the threads of this process can be migrated individually between views. Address-space views provide an efficient mean to implement temporary or permanent thread-level variations in the "view of the world", while threads can still interact with each other regarding the shared parts.

CADOS: Configurability-Aware Development of Operating Systems (DFG: LO 1719/3-2)

In the CADOS project, we investigate scalable methods and tools to deal with the implementation of variability across all implementation layers of modern system software.

Multiverse: While static variability can be completely resolved at compile time, dynamic variation points come at a cost arising from extra tests and branches in the control flow. Multiverse is an approach to handle dynamic variability efficiently by means of binary patching. It provides an extension to the C programming language that enables the developer to express dynamic variability in performance-critical paths. With specially annotated config variables, multiverse can generate multiple versions of a function and dynamically binary patch the running system to use the version of the current configuration. The goal is to narrow the gap between dynamic and static variability by allowing the developer to easily employ run-time configurability at zero or low cost.

2023

DIMES Workshop
Morsels: Explicit Virtual Memory Objects

Alexander Halbuer, Christian Dietrich, Florian Rommel, Daniel LohmannProceedings of the 1st Workshop on Disruptive Memory SystemsAssociation for Computing Machinery2023.
PDF Details Slides 10.1145/3609308.3625267 [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{halbuer:23:dimes,
author = {Alexander Halbuer and Christian Dietrich and Florian Rommel and Daniel Lohmann},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Disruptive Memory Systems},
date = {2023-10},
doi = {10.1145/3609308.3625267},
entrysubtype = {Workshop},
location = {Koblenz, Germany},
month = {October},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
series = {DIMES '23},
title = {Morsels: Explicit Virtual Memory Objects},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3609308.3625267},
year = {2023},
}

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USENIX Conference A Distinguished Artifact Award
LLFree: Scalable and Optionally-Persistent Page-Frame Allocation

Lars Wrenger, Florian Rommel, Alexander Halbuer, Christian Dietrich, Daniel Lohmann2023 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX '23)USENIX Association2023Distinguished Artifact Award.
PDF Details Slides [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{wrenger:23:atc,
location = {Boston, MA},
author = {Wrenger, Lars and Rommel, Florian and Halbuer, Alexander and Dietrich, Christian and Lohmann, Daniel},
booktitle = {2023 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX '23)},
entrysubtype = {Conference},
isbn = {978-1-939133-35-9},
month = {jul},
pages = {897–914},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
title = {{LLFree}: Scalable and {Optionally-Persistent} {Page-Frame} Allocation},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc23/presentation/wrenger},
year = {2023},
}

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USENIX Conference A
MELF: Multivariant Executables for a Heterogeneous World

Dominik Töllner, Christian Dietrich, Illia Ostapyshyn, Florian Rommel, Daniel Lohmann2023 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX '23)USENIX Association2023.
PDF Details [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{toellner:23:atc,
location = {Boston, MA},
author = {Töllner, Dominik and Dietrich, Christian and Ostapyshyn, Illia and Rommel, Florian and Lohmann, Daniel},
booktitle = {2023 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX '23)},
entrysubtype = {Conference},
isbn = {978-1-939133-35-9},
month = {July},
pages = {257–273},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
title = {{MELF}: Multivariant Executables for a Heterogeneous World},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc23/presentation/tollner},
year = {2023},
}

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LCTES Conference B
Thread-Level Attack-Surface Reduction

Florian Rommel, Christian Dietrich, Andreas Ziegler, Illia Ostapyshyn, Daniel LohmannProceedings of the 24th ACM SIGPLAN/SIGBED International Conference on Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Embedded SystemsACM Press2023.
PDF Details Slides Video 10.1145/3589610.3596281 [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{rommel:23:lctes,
location = {New York, NY, USA},
author = {Rommel, Florian and Dietrich, Christian and Ziegler, Andreas and Ostapyshyn, Illia and Lohmann, Daniel},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 24th ACM SIGPLAN/SIGBED International Conference on Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Embedded Systems},
doi = {10.1145/3589610.3596281},
entrysubtype = {Conference},
isbn = {979-8-4007-0174-0/23/06},
month = {June},
publisher = {ACM Press},
title = {Thread-Level Attack-Surface Reduction},
venue = {Orlando, Florida, USA},
year = {2023},
}

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2020

OSDI Conference A*
From Global to Local Quiescence: Wait-Free Code Patching of Multi-Threaded Processes

Florian Rommel, Christian Dietrich, Birte Friesel, Marcel Köppen, Christoph Borchert, Michael Müller, Olaf Spinczyk, Daniel Lohmann14th Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation (OSDI '20)2020.
PDF Details Video [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{rommel:20:osdi,
author = {Florian Rommel and Christian Dietrich and Birte Friesel and Marcel K{ö}ppen and Christoph Borchert and Michael M{ü}ller and Olaf Spinczyk and Daniel Lohmann},
booktitle = {14th Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation (OSDI '20)},
entrysubtype = {Conference},
isbn = {978-1-939133-19-9},
month = {November},
pages = {651-666},
title = {From Global to Local Quiescence: Wait-Free Code Patching of Multi-Threaded Processes},
year = {2020},
}

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2019

EuroSys Conference A
Multiverse: Compiler-Assisted Management of Dynamic Variability in Low-Level System Software

Florian Rommel, Christian Dietrich, Michael Rodin, Daniel LohmannFourteenth EuroSys Conference 2019 (EuroSys '19)ACM Press2019.
PDF Slides 10.1145/3302424.3303959 [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{rommel:19:eurosys,
location = {New York, NY, USA},
author = {Florian Rommel and Christian Dietrich and Michael Rodin and Daniel Lohmann},
booktitle = {Fourteenth EuroSys Conference 2019 (EuroSys '19)},
doi = {10.1145/3302424.3303959},
entrysubtype = {Conference},
isbn = {978-1-4503-6281-8},
publisher = {ACM Press},
title = {Multiverse: Compiler-Assisted Management of Dynamic Variability in Low-Level System Software},
venue = {Dresden, Germany},
year = {2019},
}

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PLOS Workshop B
Wait-Free Code Patching of Multi-Threaded Processes

Florian Rommel, Lennart Glauer, Christian Dietrich, Daniel LohmannProceedings of the 10th SOSP Workshop on Programming Languages and Operating Systems (PLOS '19)ACM2019.
PDF 10.1145/3365137.3365404 [BibTex]

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BibTex Entry

@inproceedings{rommel:19:plos,
acmid = {3365404},
location = {New York, NY, USA},
author = {Rommel, Florian and Glauer, Lennart and Dietrich, Christian and Lohmann, Daniel},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th SOSP Workshop on Programming Languages and Operating Systems (PLOS '19)},
doi = {10.1145/3365137.3365404},
entrysubtype = {Workshop},
isbn = {978-1-4503-7017-2},
location = {Huntsville, ON, Canada},
numpages = {7},
pages = {23–29},
publisher = {ACM},
title = {Wait-Free Code Patching of Multi-Threaded Processes},
year = {2019},
}

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Teaching

Supervised Theses

Open Theses Topics

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Own Thesis