Hi, On Tue, Dec 09, 2014 at 03:53:23PM +0000, Omar Radwan wrote:
> With All the differences of the HURD, plus all the features that are > still needed for it to be able to compete with Linux, it would make it > very difficult and counter productive to write a clone, The problem with the Hurd is that it took an existing microkernel (Mach), with a predefined set of mechanisms and interfaces, and implemented an entirely different set of mechanisms and interfaces (POSIX) on top of it. Working around the discrepancies added a *lot* of complexity to the core of the system, making it very difficult to get it compliant, stable, and performant. While it got much better over the past years, it's still not entirely there; and there are still some fundamental shortcomings that do not make the system unusable, but they will have to be addressed sooner or later to make it really good -- which will require some major changes at the lowest levels... A more streamlined architecture on the other hand, with the system and the underlying microkernel developed in tandem, implementing interfaces and mechanisms exactly tailored for the actual needs, would likely allow for much faster progress. Adding to that the experience gained with the Hurd (and to some degree also in other multiserver systems that came into being in the mean time), it appears quite plausible that a new system with similar features could be written in considerably less time than the original Hurd. (As for the lack of non-core features such as support for various hardware, filesystems, networking features etc., that just means there is less to loose...) Having said that, I'm still not quite convinced it's a good idea to start from scratch. On one hand I'm thinking, the Hurd is so tangled, it might be easier to go with a new implementation rather than trying to get the existing one in shape; but then again, it's already there, and (mostly) works, and it would be better to build on that rather then spending another bunch of years until something new gets to the same point... > and that time and effort would be most useful hacking in the HURD > repo. Or maybe on entirely different things?... In the end, it's a question of what the (volunteer) developer in question is most interested in working on. If he is no longer motivated to work on the existing Hurd, I'd rather he hacks on something Hurd-like, instead of giving up alltogether. Of course that doesn't mean the other developers will necessarily jump ship as well. -antrik-
