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Diffstat (limited to 'news')
| -rw-r--r-- | news/2011-q3.mdwn | 200 |
1 files changed, 94 insertions, 106 deletions
diff --git a/news/2011-q3.mdwn b/news/2011-q3.mdwn index de7b869b..c1a78319 100644 --- a/news/2011-q3.mdwn +++ b/news/2011-q3.mdwn @@ -8,14 +8,10 @@ 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]]."]]"""]] -<!-- Date when the news item is (to be) pulished (important for RSS feeds). -Will be set by tschwinge when publishing. -[[!meta date="YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC"]] ---> +[[!meta date="2011-11-17 14:15 UTC"]] -<!-- This is just a skeleton. Use it to create a new MotH. --> - -A quarter of the Hurd: *Arch with DDE*, *Debian boxes*, *GHM talk*, *GNU Mach fixes* and *GSoC: Java*. +A quarter of the Hurd: *Arch Hurd with DDE*, *Debian boxes*, *GHM talk* and +*GSoC: Java*. [[!if test="included()" then="""[[!toggle id=full_news text="Details."]][[!toggleable id=full_news text="[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]""" else=" @@ -23,106 +19,98 @@ else=" [[!cut id="full_news" text=""" -<!--basic structure of a MotH entry. Adapt, reduce and add points as needed. At the end, try to make the text flow as a unified whole.--> - -In the third quarter of 2011, the Arch Hurd Hackers [packaged DDE](http://www.archhurd.org/news/22/), -so a subset of Linux 2.6 drivers can now be compiled on Arch Hurd to -run in userspace. At the time of writing it supports network cards, -while other driver-types still need their interfaces ported. Also they -had -[a booth at FrOSCon](http://www.froscon.de/en/exhibitors/projekte.html) -and -[released a new Arch Hurd LiveCD](http://www.archhurd.org/news/24/), -so new users can easily test the current state of the Arch flavor of -the Hurd. - -Also Richard Braun contributed new Debian and KVM-based -[[buildd,_porterbox_and_public_box|public_hurd_boxen]], making it -easier to test the Hurd without much setup as well as improving debian -packaging. - -Samuel Thibault wrote a new -[Bits from the Debian GNU/Hurd porters](http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2011/07/msg00002.html) -to keep the Debian Folks up to date with the results of our work. And -these are quite good: Thanks to the relentless work of our porters, -you can now use -[70% of debian packages with the Hurd](https://buildd.debian.org/stats/graph-big.png), -so we’re coming closer towards -[getting Hurd into Debian as a release arch](http://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/Hurd). If -you can port debian packages and want to help the Hurd, this is the -perfect time to get in contact and -[port your favorite missing package](http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-devel-debian) -to the Hurd. - -A different type of status update was delivered by Samuel Thibault on -the GNU Hacker Meeting (GHM). Since the videos and slides from the GNU -Hacker Meeting 2011 in Paris are -[online](http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2011/paris/), now, we hope you enjoy -his talk on -[GNU/Hurd, aka. Extensibility from the Ground (video)](http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/ghm2011/Samuel_Thibault-GNU_Hurd.ogv) -([slides](http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2011/paris/slides/samuel-thibault-hurd.pdf)). He -explains nicely how the simple concept of translators gives power to -non-priviledged and casual users (once we get some of these :) ) -without security implications, and how Sub-Hurds and Neighbor-Hurds -compare to Linux containers. - - “It’s all about freedom #0” - -On the technical side, Thomas Schwinge improved the technical -documentation of the [[hurd/io_path]] in translators to make it easier -for new developers to start hacking and Guillem Jover, Fridolin -Pokorny and Jonathan Neuschäfer +In the third quarter of 2011, the Arch Hurd hackers [packaged DDE (Device +Driver Environment)](http://www.archhurd.org/news/22/), so a subset of the +Linux 2.6 device drivers can now easily be run as user-space processes on Arch +Hurd, replacing GNU Mach's in-kernel device drivers. (This has been possible +before, too, but involved several [[manual steps|hurd/dde/guide]].) At the +time of writing, our DDE port supports several network cards, while for other +driver types we will need to add further generic infrastructure. Also, Arch +Hurd had [a booth at +FrOSCon](http://www.froscon.de/en/exhibitors/projekte.html#c1413) and [released +a new Arch Hurd LiveCD](http://www.archhurd.org/news/24/), so new users can +easily test the current state of the Arch flavor of the Hurd. + +Richard Braun contributed additional GNU Hurd instances: [[a *Debian buildd*, a +*Debian porterbox*, and a *public Hurd box*|public_hurd_boxen]]. Especially +the last one is important for *you*: after requesting an account, you can use +it to test the Hurd without any own setup. + +Samuel Thibault sent a new [Bits from the Debian GNU/Hurd +porters](http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2011/07/msg00002.html) +to keep the Debian folks up to date with our progres. And it is quite good: +thanks to the relentless work of our porters, you can now use [70 % of all +Debian packages with the Hurd](https://buildd.debian.org/stats/graph-big.png), +so we're getting closer to [the goal of finishing a Release Canditate in time +for Debian Wheezy](http://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/Hurd). If you can, for +example, port Debian packages and want to help the Hurd, this is the perfect +time to get in contact and [port your favorite missing +package](http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-devel-debian) to the Hurd. + +A different kind of status update was delivered by Samuel Thibault on the [[GNU +Hacker Meeting (GHM) in Paris|community/meetings/ghm2011]]. We hope you enjoy +watching the video of the {{$community/meetings/ghm2011#thibault_hurd}}. He +nicely explains how the simple yet powerful concept of a [[hurd/translator]] +gives power to a system's less-priviledged users (that is, without `root` +access), without any security implications, and how [[hurd/subhurd]]s and +[[hurd/neighborhurd]]s compare to Linux containers. *It's all about [freedom +0](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html)*. + +On the technical side, Thomas Schwinge improved the technical documentation of +the [[I/O path|hurd/io_path]] when translators are involved, to make it easier +for new developers to understand how all the different system components +interact. Amongst others, Guillem Jover, Fridolín Pokorný and Jonathan +Neuschäfer [sent](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-08/msg00184.html) [many](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-08/msg00093.html) -[patches](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-08/msg00030.html) -for GNU Mach, improving stability, fixing memory leaks and cleaning up -code. - -Additionally Maksym Planeta replaced GNU Mach’s old zone memory -allocator with the new slab allocator from Richard Braun -([integration commit](http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hurd/gnumach.git/commit/?id=50d073c5ef0feb1676606d0068abf626e8297cd7)), -which should waste less memory than the zone allocator. Also it has a -cpu cache level, so it should work faster on SMP systems, once we get -up do date SMP CPU drivers for GNU Mach. It is now being integrated. - -And last but definitely not least, Jeremie Koenig finished his Google -Summer of Code project to -[Improve Java on Hurd](http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/user/jkoenig/java.html). He -[improved the Hurd signalling](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-06/msg00073.html), -ported OpenJDK and created a -[Java Hurd-Library](https://github.com/jeremie-koenig/hurd-java) which -already allows writing a -[Hello World translator in Java](https://github.com/jeremie-koenig/hurd-java/blob/master/HelloMach.java). It -is still pretty low-level, but it paves the way for extending the core -of the Hurd with Java, which gets the count of supported languages to -3: -[C(++)](http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hacking-guide/hhg.html#An-Example-using-trivfs), -[[common_lisp|user/flaviocruz]] and Java. - -So if you want to help get the Hurd into Debian as a full release arch, -so the power to the Hurd gives to casual users can actually get into -the Hands of these, or dig dig deep into DDE to have more Linux -drivers running in Userspace, please [[get_in_contact|contact_us]] - -and maybe grab [[our_source_repos|source_repositories]]. - ------- - -The **GNU Hurd** is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. -It is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to -implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and -other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar -kernels (such as Linux). -[[More_detailed|hurd/documentation]]. - -**GNU Mach** is the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is based. It -offers Inter Process Communication (IPC) which the Hurd uses to define -interfaces for implementing the services an operating system needs -from a full-featured kernel. -[[Read_more|microkernel/mach/gnumach]] - -<!--see [[contributing/web_pages/news/writing_the_moth]] for additional information on writing the MotH.--> - -<!-- * [[toolchain/ELFOSABI_GNU]]--> - +[patches](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-08/msg00030.html) for +GNU Mach, improving stability, fixing memory leaks and generally cleaning up +the code. + +Maksym Planeta finished a project he has been doing as a university task: +replace GNU Mach's old zone memory allocator with a new [[!wikipedia +slab_allocation desc="slab allocator"]] written by Richard Braun, who also +mentored Maksym during the project. [This +allocator](http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hurd/gnumach.git/commit/?h=mplaneta/libbraunr/master&id=59c9da87375ad3c8401890ecd4f7f101093f2463), +apart from being overally cleaner than the zone allocator, is meant to waste +less memory than the zone allocator (less fragmentation and more memory can be +reclaimed by the VM system), there are debugging/inspection features, and it's +SPM-ready, thus readily usable once we get up-do-date SMP support in GNU Mach. +It is now being tested and integrated. + +And last but definitely not least, Jérémie Koenig finished his Google Summer of +Code project to [[improve Java support on GNU Hurd|user/jkoenig/java]]. All in +all, he also [improved the Hurd signalling +code](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2011-06/msg00073.html), ported +OpenJDK and began designing and creating a [library for Java bindings for Mach +and Hurd](https://github.com/jeremie-koenig/hurd-java) which already allows +writing a [Hello World translator in +Java](https://github.com/jeremie-koenig/hurd-java/blob/master/HelloMach.java). +It is still pretty low-level, but it paves the way for extending the core of +the Hurd with Java, which is one of the benefits of the Hurd's distributed +multi-server architecture: different components of the operating system can be +written in different programming languages; not just +[C](http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hacking-guide/hhg.html#An-Example-using-trivfs), +but also C++, [[Common Lisp|user/flaviocruz]], and now Java -- and more to +come. + +So if you want to help getting the Debian GNU/Hurd Release Candidate done, or +want to dig deep into DDE to have more device drivers running as user-space +processes, please [[get in contact|contact_us]] -- and maybe already grab the +[[source code|source_repositories]]. + +--- + +The **GNU Hurd** is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a +collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file +systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are +implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). [[More +detailed|hurd/documentation]]. + +**GNU Mach** is the microkernel upon which a GNU Hurd system is based. It +provides an Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism that the Hurd uses to +define interfaces for implementing in a distributed multi-server fashion the +services a traditional operating system kernel provides. [[More +detailed|microkernel/mach/gnumach]]. """]] |