Re: GNU Mach glue code update

[Leonardo Lopes Pereira]

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:34:09 +0200
Richard Braun <syn@hurdfr.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 17, 2006 at 02:35:51PM +0300, Constantine Kousoulos wrote:
> > In that way,
> > writing glue code is not very reusable. I could try writing
> > gnumach native drivers, although i'm not sure this is a better
> > approach.
> 
> I disagree. Writing native drivers would take a *lot* of time. Just
> consider how hard debugging a driver is. As Thomas suggested, we
> are not forced to use Linux drivers. There are other alternatives out
> there. I think I'll try FreeBSD 6 drivers first, and if I can get IDE
> support working, it would be interesting to consider this approach.
> BSD kernels are more or less known to have more or less stable kernel
> interfaces, at least far more stable than in Linux.
>
FreeBSD drivers are a bit closer to Mach ones. A new framework to
drivers on Mach would be a good idea. It would be closer to FreeBSD
device driver framework, so, we could port FreeBSD drivers to GNU Mach.


> > I could focus on porting linux's sound drivers as a primary
> > develpment target. I have to admit though, that i was thinking on
> > focusing on usb support first.
> 
> Well, we should first make sure that there will be as few regressions
> as possible if we switch to another drivers set. So getting IDE working,
> then Ethernet NICs, and SCSI controllers already supported must be
> the priority (IMHO). If the code base is correctly integrated, it will
> not be particularly hard to add other driver classes in after that.
> 
> > However, I would like to inform you that for the next 7 days i
> > will take a summer vacation. I will continue the development when
> > i return.
> 
> Sure, nice holidays then :-).
> 
> -- 
> Richard Braun
>