Re: Niche for Hurd - discussion - lightweight virtualisation

[olafBuddenhagen]

Hi,

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 04:57:11PM +0100, Arne Babenhauserheide wrote:
> Am Mittwoch 29 Oktober 2008 12:16:58 schrieb olafBuddenhagen@gmx.net:

> > However, I dwelt on an interesting variation above: For *virtual*
> > appliances the Hurd might be interesting -- using hurdish
> > subenvironments instead of full virtualisation, they could be more
> > efficient and convenient.
> 
> What does *virtual* mean in this point

Well, I'm not sure about the exact usage of the terms; but AFAIK
"software appliance" is used to describe an operating system with
preconfigured software, so you only install the system, and the software
is immediately usable with a minimum of configuration. Fli4L is a
popular example.

A virtual appliance is similar, only that the operating system+software
is preinstalled in an image, and comes along with a virtualization
solution to run it -- you can use it inside an existing host system, and
don't have to install the actual software at all. Only the
virtualization solution interacts with the host system, while the actual
software is completely isolated.

However, the use of full virtualization makes it quite inefficient, and
rather awkward when some communication with the outside world is
necessary. Using hurdish subenvironments instead could be an attractive
compromise here.

-antrik-