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> What might an ideal IPC API look like to you?

Erlang's internal IPC is doing it pretty well since before there was a Linux kernel. I don't know if that approach can be ported into the kernel and how complex they are behind the scenes, but spawn / send / receive are apparently simple concepts.

In Erlang: http://erlang.org/doc/getting_started/conc_prog.html#id68696

In Elixir: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/processes.html

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Authentication, authorization, and resource quotas for agents are not really addressed in the Erlang model, but would be expected for IPC on a Unix-like system.

Do we really want to put all of that into the kernel and not implementing it in userland? I get the feeling that it's too much application dependent, not enough general principles.

Maybe I just don't understand the problem they are out to solve.

The reason for a bus-style IPC implemented in the kernel is the same that sendfile(2) exists. I doubt anyone thinks it's the pinnacle of great design, but reduced copies and context switching for real application workload: sometimes the more 'proper' design is sacrificed for practicality.

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