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diff --git a/user/jkoenig/gsoc2011_proposal.mdwn b/user/jkoenig/gsoc2011_proposal.mdwn index 620ac95b..d53c094f 100644 --- a/user/jkoenig/gsoc2011_proposal.mdwn +++ b/user/jkoenig/gsoc2011_proposal.mdwn @@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ My knowledge of the Hurd and Debian GNU/Hurd is reasonable, as the Debian-Installer and procfs projects gave me the opportunity to fiddle with many parts of the system. +Initially, +I started working on this project because I wanted to use Joe-E +(a subset of Java) +to investigate the potential +[[applications of object-capability languages|objcap]] +in a Hurd context. +I also believe that imrpoving Java support on Hurd +would be an important milestone. ## Improve Java support @@ -495,89 +503,3 @@ The dates listed are deadlines for the associated tasks. ## Conclusion - - - -## Appendix: potential applications of object-capability languages - -The work discussed is this last part would have -fewer immediate benefits for the Hurd project -and has more of a research orientation. -It is also unlikely that there would be any time remaining -to work on it at the end of the summer. -(Though it could work as some kind of reward -if I somehow managed to do a prefect job of all the rest -within the allocated time :-) ). -As a consequence, -I don't really consider this a part of my application. - -This being said, -to some extent the project discussed here -will informed the way I design the Java bindings, -since it depends on them -and I intend to work on this at some point in the future. -I also believe it touches on some interesting ideas, -and a Summer of Code application is probably -as good an occasion as any to discuss them. - -### Justification - -The primary advantage of multi-server operating systems is the ability to -break what used to be the kernel into small pieces which can be isolated -from each others. This makes sense from an engineering perspective, as -smaller components can be swapped with different implementations and reduce -the impact of bugs. -A capability-based approach also ensures that the -authority wielded by components is clear and reduced to the minimum required -for them to function. -These properties are crucial to the Hurd's agenda of user freedom, -since in order to allow them to plug their own code into the system -[FIXME: développer] - -However, this flexibility has a cost. In a system where the isolation of -components relies on running them inside different address spaces, -communication between them must be done through IPC calls. -This introduces a trade-off between the size of the modules -and performance as well as practicality, -which imposes a limit to the granularity with which the system -can be decomposed and the principle of least authority applied -(to the code within a given process, a Mach port is ambient authority). - -Another issue is that of the threading structure of the system as a whole. -In systems based on a monolithic kernel, user threads execute the kernel -code themselves, which is then intrinsically concurrent. By contrast, in a -system based on a “client-server” paradigm, each server must be explicitly -multi-threaded if it is to serve requests concurrently. - -### Object-capability languages - -An object-capability language is an object-oriented language which is -restricted enough so that object references are themselves capabilities. - -One such language is Joe-E (FIXME: lien), -which is an object-capability subset of Java: -global state and static methods are mostly forbidden; -careful white-listing of the objects and methods -provided by the Java standard library -ensures that compliant code cannot not access ambient autority. -Ways in which object references can be transferred -are restricted to the most obvious ones -(for instance, exceptions are carefully restricted). - -As a result, untrusted Joe-E code can be executed without any further -isolation and its autority can be controlled by carefully limiting the -object references which are passed to it. -This would allow to load and execute translators written in Joe-E -in a single address space. - -### Bundling translators into a single process - -[mechanisme pour transmettre le code Joe-E -et les port initiaux au serveur] -[émulation des différentes tâches] - -### Challenges and further work - -[proof-carrying code / typed assembly, -resource accounting (passer en revue la conception de Viengoos?)] - |