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Diffstat (limited to 'contributing')
| -rw-r--r-- | contributing/web_pages/news/2011-q2-ps.mdwn | 131 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | contributing/web_pages/news/moth_next.mdwn | 2 |
2 files changed, 133 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/contributing/web_pages/news/2011-q2-ps.mdwn b/contributing/web_pages/news/2011-q2-ps.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8931cbb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/contributing/web_pages/news/2011-q2-ps.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,131 @@ +[[!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 While we are happy to see that there obviously is quite some interest in +the GNU Hurd, we also saw some rumors and outdated information flowing around.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]] + """]] |