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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 Myths*.
+[[!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 *([lwn][], [reddit1][], [reddit2][],
+[h-online][], [slashdot][], [golem1][], [golem2][],
+[ih][innocenthacker], [netzwelt][], [tunnelbau][],
+[pro-linux][], [srini][], [schmehl][], …)*.  We are happy to see that there is
+considerable interest in the Hurd; but we also saw some
+misunderstandings, false rumors, and outdated information floating
+around.  Thus we will try to clarify the situation regarding some of
+the more common misunderstandings.
+
+[reddit1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/j2ztr/rms_mlayout_finally_shout_its_alive_at_gnuhurd_thanks/
+[lwn]: http://lwn.net/Articles/451699/
+[h-online]: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Hurd-Progresses-Debian-GNU-Hurd-by-end-o
+[reddit2]: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/ipxxt/debian_now_has_concrete_plans_to_bring_gnu_hurd/
+[golem1]: http://www.golem.de/1107/84947.html
+[golem2]: http://www.golem.de/1108/85430.html
+[slashdot]: http://news.slasd.h.ot.org/story/11/07/14/2141229/watch-out-linux-gnu-hurd-coming
+[schmehl]: http://blog.schmehl.info/2011/07/15#hurd-not-default
+[innocenthacker]: http://www.innocenthacker.com/2011/07/debian-7-might-come-in-gnu-hurd-version.html
+[netzwelt]: http://www.netzwelt.de/news/87551-debian-7-0-wheezy-erste-plaene-hurd-statt-linux-kernel.html
+[tunnelbau]: http://blog.operation-tunnelbau.de/archives/66-Hurd-kommt-zusammen-mit-Duke-Nukem-Forever.-Fast..html
+[pro-linux]: http://www.pro-linux.de/news/1/17261/gnu-hurd-will-offiziell-in-naechste-debian-version.html
+[srini]: http://srinicame.blogspot.com/2011/07/debian-gnuhurd-trial-installation.html
+
+
+
+  * **Debian GNU Hurd works to become a port in Debian**:
+    We plan to get into the next Debian release (Wheezy)
+    as an additional port alongside GNU/Linux and GNU/kFreeBSD --
+    but we don't know yet whether we will make it.
+    There is still substantial work necessary to indeed become a release candidate.
+    If you
+    want to help, please see our [[contributing]] page and the *to do*
+    list maintained on <http://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/Hurd>.  We'd
+    be happy to have you on board!
+
+  * **Java support for GNU/Hurd is nearby**: 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]], focusing on
+    OpenJDK 7 --
+    [partially working packages](http://jk.fr.eu.org/debian/experimental/)
+    are already available.
+    He also implemented GCJ/ECJ support,
+    though this is not yet fully functional either.
+    <!-- Is this correct? What is the actual status? -->
+
+  * **GNU/Hurd supports X.Org, though a bit unstable**:
+    X support has been present for ages
+    (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)?);
+    and X.Org also has been supported for a long time.
+    (It's even mentioned in the
+    [X.Org 7.2 release announcement](http://www.x.org/wiki/Other/Press/X11R72Released?action=show&redirect=PressReleases%2FX11R72Released).)
+    It is true though that many modern drivers do not work anymore,
+    as they require DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) support now;
+    so often only VESA is available.
+    Also, X on the Hurd is [[somewhat_unstable|hurd/status]].
+
+  * **The Hurd has weaker device support than Linux**:
+    Most of the drivers we use today were imported from Linux 2.0.x.
+    For network cards,
+    Linux 2.6.29 drivers are available through [[DDE|hurd/dde]] --
+    however, this is not fully integrated yet,
+    so using these drivers needs manual setup for now ([[hurd/dde/guide]]).
+    Support for other driver types is also possible with DDE,
+    but it requires some not-trivial work for each additional class of drivers --
+    so this can take some time to become available.
+    (An additional benefit provided by DDE is that the device drivers run in userspace --
+    unlike the old drivers we were using so far,
+    which are part of the underlying Mach microkernel.)
+
+  * **The Hurd has SMP, but needs support for new chipsets**:
+    Both Mach (the microkernel used by the Hurd),
+    and the Hurd servers themselves come with SMP support.
+    However, Mach [[misses drivers for modern SMP chipsets|faq/smp]];
+    and there are also some SMP-related bugs in the implementation --
+    so further work is needed
+    for the Hurd to take advantage of modern multicore processors.
+
+  * **Installation can still be challenging**:
+    Please [[take notice|http://xkcd.com/293/]] of the
+    [README file](http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/installer/cdimage/YES_REALLY_README.txt) --
+    just like with any software in development,
+    there are some known pitfalls to avoid.
+    (Or better yet, help to fix :-) )
+    Alternatively, you can simply use the the
+    [preinstalled image](http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz).
+
+  * **GNU Hurd is not the same as GNU/Hurd**:
+    The GNU project set out in 1983 to create a complete free operating system.
+    When a distribution such as Debian combines their GNU-based userland
+    with the GNU kernel (named `GNU Hurd`),
+    the result is more or less a full GNU system.
+    However, such third-party distributions are distinct
+    from what an official complete GNU system release would be;
+    and thus we often call them `GNU/Hurd`
+    (similar to `GNU/Linux` or `GNU/kFreeBSD`) for clarity.
+
+  * **Performance**:
+    The [benchmarks conducted by Phoronix](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=debian_gnu_hurd&num=1)
+    attested very good performance to the Hurd.
+    Keep in mind though that these benchmarks were almost completely CPU-bound;
+    so they essentially just confirm that we don't do anything stupid
+    regarding CPU initialisations. (Cache setup etc.)
+    The results would be different for benchmarks
+    that actually exercise the operating system functionality more.
+    The fact that the tests were performed in a virtualised environment,
+    might also have helped the results,
+    for example by mitigating the effects of our unoptimized I/O paths --
+    which are currently the major bottleneck in most situations.
+    Nevertheless, these results are a hint
+    that the extra IPC required in microkernel systems
+    [doesn't necessarily hamper performance](http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.51.16)
+    quite as much as often believed.
+    We are glad to see such solid benchmarks
+    help dispel some of the myths around the Hurd :-)
+
+  * **Given the available manpower, the progress is very good**:
+    Over the past decade,
+    there were seldom more than half a dozen developers at any given time
+    hacking on the Hurd, in their spare time --
+    not hundreds of paid developers like Linux has.
+    Considering this, the progress made is quite encouraging;
+    with the system being [[pretty usable|hurd/status]] for many day-to-day tasks now.
+    It is generally understood that the ambitious architecture of the Hurd
+    required a lot of effort to get it working at all --
+    but the recent progress shows that once the foundations are in place,
+    the Hurd design indeed allows the developers to be very productive.
+    To see the progress over the last few years, you can have a look at our 
+    [[news_archive|news]]. If you’ve grown interested, you can find 
+    various ways to contribute on the [[contributing]] page. We’d be happy 
+    to see you join in because every single hand makes a big difference in the Hurd!
+
+"""]]
+
+<!--
+
+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
+
+-->