I may not be making use of the Unikernel in the correct context, but what came to mind is the ability to take a Linux distribution and trim it right down to the bone. Some distributions make this easy:
- NixOSK: is a Linux distribution with a unique approach to package and configuration management. Built on top of the Nix package manager, it is completely declarative, makes upgrading systems reliable, and has many other advantages.
- T2 System Development Environment: is a flexible Open Source System Development Environment or Distribution Build Kit (others might even name it Meta Distribution). T2 allows the creation of custom distributions with state of the art technology, up-to-date packages and integrated support for cross compilation.
- Linux From Scratch: provides you with step-by-step instructions for building your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code.
- boot2docker: is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Tiny Core Linux made specifically to run Docker containers. It runs completely from RAM, weighs ~27MB and boots in ~5s (YMMV).