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authorThomas Schwinge <thomas@schwinge.name>2010-12-07 14:26:40 +0100
committerThomas Schwinge <thomas@schwinge.name>2010-12-07 14:26:40 +0100
commit238c43499c4e08562024c3ef59e50aa365b5f1b2 (patch)
tree7fbef4ecd63fc7526c24660866338f887f2bdeae /hurd/what_is_the_gnu_hurd.mdwn
parenta167e7ae26b5159da570771ae39a6d56def1be7c (diff)
Some bits about L4 and Coyotos.
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1 files changed, 16 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/hurd/what_is_the_gnu_hurd.mdwn b/hurd/what_is_the_gnu_hurd.mdwn
index 0b8f7ef6..7a7f3d43 100644
--- a/hurd/what_is_the_gnu_hurd.mdwn
+++ b/hurd/what_is_the_gnu_hurd.mdwn
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
-[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 Free
-Software Foundation, Inc."]]
+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
+2010 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]]."]]"""]]
+is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation
+License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
[[!meta title="What Is the GNU Hurd?"]]
-The Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the [[Unix]] kernel.
+The Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for [[UNIX]], a popular operating
+system [[kernel]].
The Hurd is firstly a collection of protocols formalizing how different
components may interact. The protocols are designed to reduce the mutual
@@ -22,11 +23,19 @@ process to implement a file system. The only requirement is that it have
access to its backing store and that the [[principal]] that started it own the
file system node to which it connects.
-The Hurd is also a set of servers that implement these protocols.
-They include file systems, network protocols and authentication.
+The Hurd is also a set of [[servers|translator]] that implement these
+protocols. They include file systems, network protocols and authentication.
The servers run on top of the [[microkernel/Mach]] [[microkernel]] and use
Mach's [[microkernel/mach/IPC]] mechanism to transfer information.
+The Hurd provides a compatibility layer such that compiling higher level
+programs is essentially transparent; that is, by means of the [[glibc]], it
+provides the same standard interfaces known from other [[UNIX]]-like systems.
+Thus, for a typical user, the Hurd is intended to silently work in the
+background providing the services and infrastructure which the [[microkernel]]
+itself has no business implementing, but that are required for higher level
+programs and libraries to operate.
+
The Hurd supplies the last major software component needed for a complete
[[GNU_operating_system|running/gnu]] as originally conceived by Richard
M. Stallman (RMS) in 1983. The GNU vision directly drove the creation and has