blog.robur.coop

The Robur blog.

Essays and ramblings

1. 
   2026-08-01 µTCP: a TCP/IP implementation derived from a formal specification
   

   A minimal from-scratch TCP/IP networking stack.

   • Project
   • Ongoing
   • utcp
2. 
   2026-07-28 Autoscaling MirageOS unikernels in Mollymawk
   

   Mollymawk can automatically scale your deployed unikernels to maintain stability and resilience.

   • OCaml
   • Mollymawk
   • Albatross
   • DNSvizor
   • Autoscaling
   • MirageOS
3. 
   2026-07-01 Zostera: WireGuard as a MirageOS unikernel
   

   We strive to implement WireGuard as a unikernel

   • Project
   • Ongoing
4. 
   2026-06-18 Grafana for MirageOS unikernels and other VMs
   

   Grafana is a visualization of metrics, we use it heavily for observing MirageOS unikernels

   • OCaml
   • MirageOS
   • Mollymawk
   • Monitoring
5. 
   2026-05-31 Dynamic Logging and Metrics with Mollymawk
   

   Mollymawk can now adjust log levels and metric reporting on a per-unikernel basis.

   • OCaml
   • MirageOS
   • Mollymawk
   • Monitoring
6. 
   2026-05-20 UI/UX improvements in Mollymawk
   

   Mollymawk just became easier to use and better looking.

   • OCaml
   • Mollymawk
7. 
   2026-05-08 A review about ptt
   

   What we did finally?

   • emails
   • mailing lists
   • unikernels
   • archive
8. 
   2026-04-15 Mollymawk supporting other virtual machines
   

   Mollymawk can orchestrate BHyve virtual machines now

   • OCaml
   • MirageOS
   • Mollymawk
   • Albatross
9. 
   2026-04-09 A mailing list as unikernels
   

   Announcing ptt, our unikernel-based mailing list service

   • emails
   • mailing lists
   • unikernels
10. 
    2026-03-13 Apt.robur.coop key re-signed
    

    The GPG key for apt.robur.coop has been re-signed so the repository can continue to be used in Debian 13 and others. This change requires manual invervention.
11. 
    2026-02-13 More auto-configuration in Mollymawk
    

    More options to push through DHCP 🥳

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • DNSvizor
    • DHCP
    • DNS
    • X509
    • Certificates
12. 
    2026-01-26 Email notifications come to Mollymawk
    

    Mollymawk can now tell you when your unikernels need to be updated and other notifications.

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
13. 
    2026-01-15 Bancos, a persistent KV-store in full OCaml
    

    Is it a filesystem?

    • filesystem
    • indexing
    • persistence
14. 
    2025-12-11 One Mollymawk, Multiple Albatross servers
    

    Using one mollymawk dashboard to manage operations involving multiple albatross servers.

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
15. 
    2025-12-04 A webapp to search emails as an unikernel
    

    for a new unikernel in OCaml era

    • emails
    • search
    • unikernel
16. 
    2025-10-29 A stem engine and a search engine for OCaml
    

    To rummage through your emails

    • emails
    • Searching
    • Stemming
17. 
    2025-09-16 Auto-configuration of MirageOS unikernels
    

    Removing tedious manual labor, use basic network protocols instead

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
    • DNSvizor
    • DHCP
18. 
    2025-08-18 Streaming Binary Data in Mollymawk
    

    Mollymawk receives a brand new update that let's it stream binary data avoiding memory issues.

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
19. 
    2025-07-30 DNSvizor manual
    

    Documenting DNSvizor: setup, how to build, configuration, updates

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
20. 
    2025-07-24 DNSvizor performance engineering
    

    Evaluating and engineering the performance of DNSvizor

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
21. 
    2025-07-22 Authentication and extended web UI for DNSvizor
    

    DNSvizor now has authentication mechanisms for users who wish to update their block lists or modify configuration data etc.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
22. 
    2025-07-03 Privacy for DNSvizor
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP. We improved the privacy.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
23. 
    2025-06-25 DNSvizor Gets Blocklists
    

    DNSvizor is extended to support blocking (malicious) domains.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
24. 
    2025-06-18 A Web UI for DNSvizor
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP. We added a web UI and metrics.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
25. 
    2025-05-29 DNSvizor with DNS over TLS and DNS over HTTPS support
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP. We added support for DNS over TLS and DNS over HTTPS

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
26. 
    2025-05-24 DNSvizor - run your own DHCP and DNS MirageOS unikernel - gets DNSsec support
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
27. 
    2025-05-21 Streaming console output in mollymawk
    

    HTTP server-sent events are very helpful for streaming live console data, we implemented that in mollymawk

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
28. 
    2025-04-23 SPF, DKIM, DMARC and ARC
    

    how emails are verified?

    • SMTP
    • emails
    • mailing-lists
    • cryptography
29. 
    2025-04-10 DNSvizor - run your own DHCP and DNS MirageOS unikernel - gets some testing
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
30. 
    2025-04-07 What's new with Mollymawk?
    

    In this article we explore the journey Mollymawk has been on, including getting an (NGI0 core) NLnet grant, updates and more.

    • OCaml
    • Mollymawk
    • Albatross
31. 
    2025-03-26 Pushing the opam-repository into a sustainable repository
    

    The main opam-repository was only ever growing by collecting all releases of all packages. We worked hard on reducing the load for all clients by archiving packages.

    • OCaml
    • security
    • performance
    • ecosystem
    • opam-repository
32. 
    2025-03-24 μTCP, Miou and unikernels
    

    My experiment about the TCP/IP stack, effects and unikernels

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • unikernel
    • protocol
    • effects
33. 
    2025-02-01 Mollymawk: orchestration and management of MirageOS unikernels
    

    A web UI and management interface for your unikernel fleet.

    • Project
    • Ongoing
    • Mollymawk
34. 
    2025-01-07 Git, Carton and emails
    

    A way to store and archive your emails

    • emails
    • storage
    • Git
35. 
    2024-12-04 Sponsor us via GitHub
    

    A new way to sponsor our cooperative

    • cooperative
    • github
36. 
    2024-10-29 Postes, télégraphes et téléphones, next steps
    

    An update of our email stack

    • SMTP
    • emails
    • mailing-lists
37. 
    2024-10-28 GPTar (update)
    

    libarchive vs hybrid GUID partition table and GNU tar volume header

    • OCaml
    • gpt
    • tar
    • mbr
    • persistent storage
38. 
    2024-10-25 Meet DNSvizor: run your own DHCP and DNS MirageOS unikernel
    

    The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • DNSvizor
39. 
    2024-10-22 Runtime arguments in MirageOS
    

    The history of runtime arguments to a MirageOS unikernel

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
40. 
    2024-10-21 How has robur financially been doing since 2018?
    

    How we organise as a collective, and why we're doing that.

    • finances
    • cooperative
41. 
    2024-10-01 MTE (MirageOS Taler Exchange): a GNU Taler exchange as a MirageOS unikernel
    

    Integration of MirageOS as a critical component in the GNU Taler payment system.

    • Project
42. 
    2024-10-01 PTT (Poste, Télégraphe et Téléphone): a suit of unikernels for SMTP protocols
    

    We develop services to run your own mailing list, including modern email authentication DMARC/ARC/DKIM/SPF, and integration with DNS and let's encrypt.

    • Project
    • emails
43. 
    2024-10-01 DNSvizor: privacy-enhanced DNS resolver and DHCP server
    

    Development of a DNS and DHCP unikernel, including a web interface, and various DNS and DHCP extensions.

    • Project
    • DNSvizor
44. 
    2024-08-21 MirageVPN and OpenVPN
    

    Discoveries made implementing MirageVPN, a OpenVPN-compatible VPN library

    • MirageVPN
    • OpenVPN
    • security
45. 
    2024-08-15 The new Tar release, a retrospective
    

    A little retrospective to the new Tar release and changes

    • OCaml
    • Cstruct
    • functors
46. 
    2024-06-26 Testing MirageVPN against OpenVPN™
    

    Some notes about how we test MirageVPN against OpenVPN™

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • cryptography
    • security
    • testing
    • vpn
47. 
    2024-06-24 qubes-miragevpn, a MirageVPN client for QubesOS
    

    A new OpenVPN client for QubesOS

    • OCaml
    • vpn
    • unikernel
    • QubesOS
48. 
    2024-06-17 MirageVPN server
    

    Announcement of our MirageVPN server.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • cryptography
    • security
    • VPN
49. 
    2024-04-16 Speeding up MirageVPN and use it in the wild
    

    Performance engineering of MirageVPN, speeding it up by a factor of 25.

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • cryptography
    • security
    • VPN
    • performance
50. 
    2024-02-21 GPTar
    

    Hybrid GUID partition table and tar archive

    • OCaml
    • gpt
    • tar
    • mbr
    • persistent storage
51. 
    2024-02-13 Speeding elliptic curve cryptography
    

    How we improved the performance of elliptic curves by only modifying the underlying byte array

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • cryptography
    • security
52. 
    2024-02-11 Cooperation and Lwt.pause
    

    A disgression about Lwt and Miou

    • OCaml
    • Scheduler
    • Community
    • Unikernel
    • Git
53. 
    2024-02-03 Python's `str.__repr__()`
    

    Reimplementing Python string escaping in OCaml

    • OCaml
    • Python
    • unicode
54. 
    2023-11-20 MirageVPN updated (AEAD, NCP)
    

    How we resurrected MirageVPN from its bitrot state

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • VPN
    • security
55. 
    2023-11-14 MirageVPN & tls-crypt-v2
    

    How we implementated tls-crypt-v2 for miragevpn

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • VPN
    • security
56. 
    2023-03-01 MirageVPN: an implementation of the OpenVPN protocol as MirageOS unikernels
    

    We implemented the OpenVPN protocol, a virtual private network protocol, as a MirageOS unikernel

    • Project
    • MirageVPN
57. 
    2021-11-16 Robur Reproducible Builds
    

    How to use our reproducibly build packages and setup networking

    • OCaml
    • MirageOS
    • Packaging
58. 
    2021-10-01 WebAuthn: authentication without passwords on the web
    

    WebAuthn is a web standard that websites can use to authenticate credentials.

    • Project
    • Ongoing
59. 
    2021-01-01 Conex: deploying end-to-end trust for opam-repository
    

    We aim to establish trust into the opam-repository by using cryptographic signatures done by the package authors.

    • Project
    • Ongoing
60. 
    2021-01-01 Deploying MirageOS unikernels - reproducible builds, providing binary packages
    

    Improving the deployment story of MirageOS unikernels

    • Project
61. 
    2019-03-01 QubesOS MirageOS firewall: dynamic ruleset, DNS
    

    We extended the MirageOS Qubes firewall unikernel to handle rules from QubesOS. A lightweight firewall for QubesOS is being developed based on the Mirage system. It prevents unauthorized network access through packet-filtering rules.

    • Project
62. 
    2018-09-01 TLS 1.3: extending OCaml-TLS with protocol version 1.3
    

    Based on our experience developing a TLS 1.0 - 1.2 implementation, including cryptographic primitives, X.509, the protocol itself, we develop a TLS 1.3 implementation

    • Project
63. 
    2018-06-01 NetHSM: a security module using MirageOS and Muen
    

    We designed and implemented NetHSM, a software security module using the Muen separation kernel and MirageOS unikernels

    • Project
64. 
    2018-03-01 CalDAV: a calendar server providing the CalDAV protocol
    

    To enable more people to run their own infrastructure, we develop a calendar server which supports the well-known and widely used protocol CalDAV. We develop it as a MirageOS unikernel.

    • Project