diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'faq')
| -rw-r--r-- | faq/ghamp.mdwn | 18 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faq/how_many_developers.mdwn | 25 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faq/posix_compatibility.mdwn | 49 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faq/sharing_the_user_space.mdwn | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faq/why_so_few_developers.mdwn | 27 |
5 files changed, 120 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/faq/ghamp.mdwn b/faq/ghamp.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..16849aff --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/ghamp.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 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]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="GHAMP"]] + +*GHAMP* is the GNU/Hurd-based Apache, MySQL, PHP solution stack -- analoguous +to GLAMP, which is based on GNU/Linux. + +Pronounce it like the *G* in +[GNU](http://www.gnu.org/pronunciation/pronunciation.html), followed by a +mostly silent *H*, and *AMP* as in amplifier. diff --git a/faq/how_many_developers.mdwn b/faq/how_many_developers.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a553df21 --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/how_many_developers.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 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]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="How many developers are working on the GNU Hurd?"]] + +Not many. One handful work on it in their free time, and another two +handful do help with [[Debian GNU/Hurd|hurd/running/debian]] and +[[hurd/running/Arch_Hurd]] packaging. Also, an additional handful of +former developers are still availble for answering technical questions, +but are not really participating in the current development anymore. + +For reaching out to new developers, we're participating in [[Google's +Summer of Code program|community/gsoc]]. Likewise, any interested party +(*you*!) are very welcome to start [[contributing]]. Mentoring is +possible, too, to help you get started. + +Continue reading some speculation about [[why so few developers]] are working +on the GNU Hurd. diff --git a/faq/posix_compatibility.mdwn b/faq/posix_compatibility.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a54822c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/posix_compatibility.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 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]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="POSIX compatibility"]] + +Is it favorable of rather a hindrance to be compatible to POSIX and similar +standards? + +A lot of things in POSIX et al. are designed for [[UNIX]]-like systems with +traditional monolithic [[kernel]]s. + +Thus, a [[microkernel]]-based system, as ours is, has to employ a bunch of +detours, for example to implement the [[`fork` system call|glibc/fork]]. + +On the other hand, (mostly) complying to these standards, made a really big +body of software *just work* without any (or just trivial) [[hurd/porting]]. +Especially so for command-line programs, and libraries. + +But: a large part of today's user programs are not written according to POSIX +et al. low-level interfaces, but against GNOME, GTK+2, and other high-level +frameworks and libraries. It may be a valid option to enrich these instead of +striving for total POSIX compliance -- and the high-level programs (that is, +their users) may not even notice this, but we would avoid a lot of overhead +that comes with wrapping the [[Hurd interfaces|hurd/interface]] to be POSIX +compliant. + + +\#hurd IRC channel on Freenode, 2010-12-21: + + <antrik> tschwinge: the writeup ignores the fact that POSIX compatibility + is not only for applications, but also for users familiar with the UNIX + environment + <antrik> also, I still don't buy the fact that most software is not written + for POSIX. even if assuming that GNOME programs don't use POSIX (which is + only half true), there is a lot of other software in a system that is + just as important, though less visible + <antrik> (server software, startup system, device management, automation, + ...) + <antrik> tschwinge: BTW, I meant to (and partially did) write a blog + article on this topic -- but I didn't get around to finish it... + +[[!tag open_issue_documentation]] diff --git a/faq/sharing_the_user_space.mdwn b/faq/sharing_the_user_space.mdwn index 7d09ccc0..ec880827 100644 --- a/faq/sharing_the_user_space.mdwn +++ b/faq/sharing_the_user_space.mdwn @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ everything but the kernel is shared? *Answer:* Given that both Linux and GNU Hurd are using the [[ELF]] binary format, this could indeed be made possible, if all programs agreed to rely on only one abstraction layer, for example the standard C library ([[glibc]]). -(Additionally, for example for system calls that are not covered by glibc +(Additionally, for example for [[system call]]s that are not covered by glibc calls, you'd need to be able to reliably trap and emulate these.) However, Linux' and the GNU Hurd's [[ABI]]'s have sufficiently diverged, so that this is not easy to do. That's why you can't currently install a system in this way, diff --git a/faq/why_so_few_developers.mdwn b/faq/why_so_few_developers.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a2740abc --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/why_so_few_developers.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 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]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="Why are there so few developers working on the GNU +Hurd?"]] + +[[There aren't working a lot of people on the GNU +Hurd|how_many_developers]]. Why is this? + +We can only speculate. One major problem might be that the +[[architectural benefits|advantages]] are generally perceived as very +abstract, with little practical benefits. We don't have many tools to +present actually making use of the possibilities. + +Another reason is that it's been taking too long. Most people don't +believe it will ever be ready for production use, and thus would consider +involvement a waste of time. This latter point is invalid, of course, as +learning can never be a waste of time. The same holds for the +[[challenges]] raised by the GNU Hurd -- we can only learn and improve +upon working on them. |