Hi, On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 10:37:19PM +0200, Alessandro Mosca wrote:
> > The mission of the Hurd project is: to create a general-purpose > > kernel .. > > i guess there's something missing in it_ > > i would say: "a modern general-purpose multiserver microkernel os.." I intentionally left the technical bits (multiserver microkernel) open, as it's not an end to itself, but rather a means to a certain goal, which is stated in the last part: "[...] gives users and applications as much control over their computing environment as possible." The multiserver architecture is what we use to achieve this. (Historically this is not really correct, but that's a different story :-) ) You are absolutely right that the multiserver architecture is a very distinctive feature: but I'm not sure whether and how it should be incorporated into the mission statement... I guess I need to think more about this. > the 'modern' part of it means the will to create the sound system, usb > / wifi stacks, >128Gb disk I/O errors, device drivers/ DDE kit and all > the other things missing that a gp os should have nowadays_ This is implied by the "viable for everyday use" bit :-) > the word 'kernel' is rather reductive_ Well, strictly speaking the Hurd is not a kernel, but rather a set of userspace servers running on top of a microkernel, implementing the functionality traditionally provided by monolithic kernels. However, most people do not know or care about this; and there is no good established term to describe it... In fact, it seems pretty common to use "multiserver microkernel" or even just "microkernel" to refer to the servers as well as the actual microkernel. But I guess that's not what you mean anyways... > i guess you want to have an os, not just a kernel, but the kernel > itself is (ranging from mach, to l4, to coyotos, viengoos or whatever > will possibly be) built with a microkernel+multiserver architecture_ Of course we want a complete operating system: it's called GNU. The Hurd is only the kernel(-replacement) component for it, while all the other stuff is already provided by a lot of other GNU (and non-GNU) software... -antrik-
