> Same with BSD; the userspace programs are not part of the kernel, and developed separately by the same entity.
they're part of the same repo and built at the same time than the kernel. Run a big "make universe" here : https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd and see for yourself. That they are different binaries does not matter a lot, it's just a question of user interface. See for instance busybox where all the userspace is in a single binary.
I would argue that the fact that they're in the same repo does not make it a monolith at all. All of google and facebook is in a single repo and built at the same time, but it doesn't make them monoliths.
they're part of the same repo and built at the same time than the kernel. Run a big "make universe" here : https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd and see for yourself. That they are different binaries does not matter a lot, it's just a question of user interface. See for instance busybox where all the userspace is in a single binary.