summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/microkernel
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'microkernel')
-rw-r--r--microkernel/mach/gnu_mach.mdwn67
-rw-r--r--microkernel/mach/gnu_mach/building.mdwn2
2 files changed, 59 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach.mdwn b/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach.mdwn
index d45549f5..cdb43a6f 100644
--- a/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach.mdwn
+++ b/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach.mdwn
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-[[meta copyright="Copyright © 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]]
+[[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
@@ -8,9 +9,10 @@ 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 currently used by the GNU [[Hurd]].
+GNU Mach is the microkernel that the [[GNU_Hurd|hurd]] system is based on.
-GNU Mach remains compatible with [[Mach]] 3.0.
+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.
@@ -20,11 +22,58 @@ GNU Mach runs on x86 machines. See the
[[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
-* [[Building]]
-* [[Debugging]]
-* [[Boot_Trace]]
-* [[Projects]]
- * [[Rules]]
- * [[Open_Issues]]
+ * [[Building]]
+ * [[Debugging]]
+ * [[Boot_Trace]]
+ * [[Projects]]
+ * [[Rules]]
+ * [[Open_Issues]]
diff --git a/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach/building.mdwn b/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach/building.mdwn
index 073c68a3..014d3e87 100644
--- a/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach/building.mdwn
+++ b/microkernel/mach/gnu_mach/building.mdwn
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ enabled) is around 50 MiB.
### Developers's RCS
-See [here](http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/gnumach-download.html#cvs).
+See <http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=hurd>.
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.gnu.org:/sources/hurd co -r gnumach-1-branch gnumach