This early-stage project is not a fork, Redmond insists Share Copy Microsoft on Monday launched an open source project to make a Linux kernel tool known as eBPF, short for Extended Berkeley Packet Filter, work on Windows. Inspired by network packet filtering and capture software dubbed Berkeley Packet Filter, eBPF is a register-based virtual machine designed to run custom 64-bit RISC-like architecture via just-in-time compilation inside the Linux kernel. As such, eBPF programs are particularly well-situated for debugging and system analysis, such as tracing file system and registry calls. eBPF's relationship with the Linux kernel has been likened to JavaScript's relationship with web pages – it allows Linux kernel behavior to be modified by loading an eBPF program that's executed, and without changing actual kernel source code or loading a kernel module.