news/2011-q2-ps: Back to the drawing board.

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+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]]
+
+[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable
+id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
+document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
+any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
+Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy of the license
+is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation
+License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
+
+<!--
+[[!meta date="2011-07-19 23:42 UTC"]]
+-->
+
+A quarter of the Hurd, Q2 of 2011, PS: *GNU Hurd Truths and Rumors*.
+[[!if test="included()" then="""[[!toggle id=full_news
+text="Details."]][[!toggleable id=full_news text="[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]"""
+else="
+[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]
+
+[[!cut id="full_news" text="""
+
+After our last *[[Quarter of the Hurd|news/2011-q2]]* has been picked up by a bunch
+of news sites, blogs, and so on, discussions have been running all over the
+net.  While we are happy to see that there obviously is quite some interest in
+the GNU Hurd, we also saw some rumors and outdated information flowing around.
+In the following, we try to clear the situation up a bit.
+
+  * *Debian wants to replace the Linux kernel with the GNU Hurd*.  {X}
+    **Wrong**.  We plan to get into Wheezy as an additional port besides
+    GNU/Linux and GNU/kFreeBSD -- but we don't know whether we will make it.
+    It depends on a lot of factors, a lot of work is still to be done.  If you
+    want to help, please see our [[contributing]] page and the *to do* list
+    maintained on <http://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/Hurd>.
+
+  * *GNU Hurd developers want the Linux kernel to die*.  {X}
+    **Wrong**.  All of us are happy users of the Linux kernel, every
+    day, and GNU/Linux is the free operating system of choice, which
+    we're using ourselves (unless sitting in front of a GNU/Hurd
+    system). We work on the Hurd instead of Linux because of the
+    [[additional capabilities and clean design|advantages]] it
+    provides.
+
+  * *Java support for GNU/Hurd is in the works*.  (./) **True**.  Jérémie
+    Koenig is working on making a versatile Java programming environment
+    available on the GNU/Hurd as part of his [[Google Summer of Code
+    project|user/jkoenig/java]], focussing on OpenJDK 7.  Also, we already do
+    have support by the GCJ/ECJ platform, but this is not fully functional, and
+    Jérémie is improving that, too.
+
+  * *GNU/Hurd has no support for X.org*.  {X} **Wrong**.  X.Org *does* work,
+    and has for a long time.  (Anyone remember [1998's
+    XFree86](http://cvsweb.xfree86.org/cvsweb/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/os-support/hurd/hurd_video.c?rev=1.1&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup),
+    by chance?)  It is correct however that not a lot of advanced drivers work,
+    due to missing DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) support.
+
+[[tschwinge]] thinks that the following one is a bit questionable...
+
+  * *The GNU/Hurd only runs on legacy hardware*.  {X} **Wrong**.  The GNU/Hurd
+    is only tested on a few platforms, but it likely runs on modern processors.
+    If you want to see if it works for you, just test a
+    [[hurd/running/Live_CD]].
+
+* *Hurd only supports legacy devices:* ½ Partly True: Currently most drivers are from Linux 2.0. For network cards, Linux 2.6+ drivers are available through DDE, though (needs manual setup for now). With a good amount of work, DDE also allows porting other classes of drivers to allow using the drivers from recent Linux releases — and push them into userspace.
+
+* *The Hurd has no SMP:* <u>✔ **True**</u>: Even though the **Hurd servers support SMP** and **GNU Mach has SMP support**. But the latter [[does_not_yet_have_drivers_for_nowadays_chipsets|faq/smp]], so the Hurd currently can’t take advantage of multiple cores.
+
+* *Developing a microkernel must be harder than developing a monolithic kernel, because the Hurd took so long:* ✘ **Wrong**: For the last decade, the Hurd had on average 5 hobby developers. That these developers managed to get the Hurd into a state where it actually gets not too far from the Linux kernel in performance — which has about 1000 developers, many of them full time — shows the efficiency of the Hurd’s design.
+
+* *Installation does not work:* ½ Partly True: Did you read the [[README|http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/installer/cdimage/YES_REALLY_README.txt]] ([[file|http://xkcd.com/293/]])? Just like any beta piece of software, there are known pitfalls which you could easily avoid (or better, help to fix). You can also simply use the the [[preinstalled image|http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz]].
+
+* *The system is called GNU/GNU Hurd:* ✘ **Wrong**: The GNU userland (glibc, coreutils, …) and the GNU Hurd together form the GNU system. To avoid being mistaken for GNU/Linux, we normally use the name GNU/Hurd or GNU Hurd. The *correct* name is simply GNU.
+
+**Test results**
+
+The results of the test from Phoronix were quite good. We expected that the microkernel design of the Hurd would have a far more severe performance hit. 
+
+Some possible explanations: 
+
+* The tests were mostly CPU bound.
+* IPCs [are no more such a problem on recent hardware][ipc].
+
+And a non-explanation: 
+
+* The emulation layer should rather make the context switches worse, so it’s likely not at play.
+
+[ipc]: http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.51.16
+
+"""]]
+
+<!--
+
+slashdot
+
+and phoronix did some [performance tests of the Hurd][phorperf], 
+[phorperf]: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=debian_gnu_hurd&num=1
+
+---
+
+IRC, freenode, #hurd, 2011-08-24:
+
+    < ArneBab> hurd related: I now think you were right, antrik: the hurd
+      rumors don’t belong into the news (tschwinge)
+    < antrik> ArneBab: you mean the postscriptum as a whole, or just the wild
+      rumours part?...
+    < ArneBab> the whole PS
+    < ArneBab> it should rather go into a blog post
+    < ArneBab> (in the wiki)
+    < antrik> hm... I don't think I agree
+    < ArneBab> why?
+    < antrik> apparently there is a number of people following the news now,
+      and apparently many of them misread some statements... it makes sense to
+      use the same channel for clarifying them I'd say
+    < ArneBab> hm, ok
+    < ArneBab> how would you select the part to include?
+    < antrik> roughly speaking, I'd include everything that actually relates to
+      the previous news that were misunderstood
+    < antrik> and drop all unrelated speculations that popped up
+    < antrik> BTW, it *might* be useful perhaps to actually update the original
+      news posting with the clarifications?...
+    < ArneBab> we can’t do that without breaking some peoples RSS feeds
+    < antrik> note that there is another aspect to consider: the fact that
+      several news sites picked it up is indeed genuine news by itself...
+    < ArneBab> that’s right, yes
+    < antrik> will it really break anything? from what I heard so far it just
+      means they will see the posting as new again, which would actually make
+      sense in this case...
+    < antrik> but I don't insist if you think it's too risky :-)
+    < antrik> just an idea
+
+-->
diff --git a/contributing/web_pages/news/moth_next.mdwn b/contributing/web_pages/news/moth_next.mdwn
index e8a0428a..3faa6e60 100644
--- a/contributing/web_pages/news/moth_next.mdwn
+++ b/contributing/web_pages/news/moth_next.mdwn
@@ -72,4 +72,6 @@ And …
   * Bits from the Debian GNU/Hurd porters,
     id:"20110721172827.GF4057@const.famille.thibault.fr"
 
+  * [[2011-q2-ps]]
+
 """]]