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Re: Hurd on top of GNU Mach, Hurd on SATA


From: olafBuddenhagen
Subject: Re: Hurd on top of GNU Mach, Hurd on SATA
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:19:30 +0200
User-agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17)

Hi,

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 08:12:51PM +0200, Jakub Daniel wrote:

> i wanted to ask whether the GNU Mach microkernel was ever to be used.

What do you mean? It's what we have been using all along, what we are
using right now, and what we will still be using for at least a couple
of years...

> I heard that L4 was gonna replace it?

Well, there was an attempt to do so a couple of years ago, but the
existing L4 version turned out unsuitable for a system like the Hurd, so
it was abandoned.

> But that wouldnt be entirely GNU would it (or is the L4 kernel part of
> the gnu project?)

No, but Mach is not a GNU project either -- gnumach is just a slightly
modified variant of the original, non-GNU Mach. No reason why we
wouldn't do the same with L4, or any other externally developed
microkernel...

Note though that originally the main reason for building the Hurd on top
of Mach was a hope that this would be easier than creating all the
low-level stuff from ground up -- which, as everyone knows by now,
turned out extremely to the opposite...

If there is a lesson to be learned from building first on Mach, then
attempting to build on L4, and finally for a brief time on Coyotos, it
is that trying to build around an existing microkernel is *not* a good
idea. Consequently, any future work on new microkernels for the Hurd is
likely to focus on writing our own, specifically tailored to our needs:
like Neal's current research work done with his own Viengoos kernel.

> is it planned for the Hurd to handle SATA drivers (being able to be
> booted from such device).. is it a matter of close future?

There is nobody working on it presently AFAIK.

If your BIOS offers a PATA emulation feature, you should be able to run
with that... Otherwise, use some VM/emulation system.

-antrik-




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