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+[[meta copyright="Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 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]]."]]"""]]
+
+GNU Mach is the microkernel that the [[GNU_Hurd|hurd]] system is based on.
+
+It is maintained by the Hurd developers for the GNU project and remains
+compatible with [[Mach]] 3.0.
+
+The majority of GNU Mach's [[device_driver]]s are from Linux 2.0.  They were
+added using glue code, i.e., a Linux [[emulation]] layer in Mach.
+
+GNU Mach runs on x86 machines.  See the
+[[hardware_compatibility_list]] and information about
+[[ports]] to other architectures.
+
+
+# Advantages of GNU Mach
+
+GNU Mach is not the most advanced [[microkernel]] known to the planet, nor is
+it the fastest or smallest, but it has a rich set of [[interface]]s and some
+features which make it useful as the base of the [[Hurd]] system.
+
+  * **it's free software**
+    
+    Anybody can use, modify, and redistribute it under the terms of the
+    [[GNU_General_Public_License_(GPL)|gpl]].
+
+  * **it's built to survive**
+    
+    As a [[microkernel]], GNU Mach doesn't implement a lot of the features
+    commonly found in an operating system, but only the bare minimum that is
+    required to implement a full operating system on top of it.  This means
+    that a lot of the operating system code is maintained outside of GNU Mach,
+    and while this code may go through a complete redesign, the code of the
+    microkernel can remain comparatively stable.
+
+  * **it's scalable**
+    
+    Mach is particularly well suited for SMP and network cluster techniques.
+    Thread support is provided at the kernel level, and the kernel itself takes
+    advantage of that.  Network transparency at the [[IPC]] level makes
+    resources of the system available across machine boundaries (with NORMA
+    IPC, currently not available in GNU Mach).
+
+  * **it exists**
+    
+    The Mach microkernel is real software that works Right Now.  It is not a
+    research or a proposal.  You don't have to wait at all before you can start
+    using and developing it.  Mach has been used in many operating systems in
+    the past, usually as the base for a single UNIX server.  In the GNU system,
+    Mach is the base of a functional multi-server operating system, the
+    [[Hurd]].
+
+
+# Booting
+
+To actually use the kernel and boot the GNU operating system, you need a boot
+loader.  Not all boot loaders are capable to boot the GNU system, you need one
+that supports the multiboot standard.  The bootloader of the GNU system is
+[[GNU_GRUB|grub]], which supports a broad range of operating systems including
+GNU/Hurd.
+
+
+# Development
+
+  * [[Reference_Manual]]
+  * [[Building]]
+  * [[Debugging]]
+  * [[Boot_Trace]]
+  * [[Projects]]
+      * [[Rules]]
+      * [[Open_Issues]]