1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>GNU Hurd - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE>
<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:web-hurd@gnu.org">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#9900DD">
<IMAGE SRC="/graphics/hurd_sm_mf_invert.jpg">
<TABLE width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20">
<TR>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
<A HREF="hurd.html#contents"><STRONG>The GNU Hurd</STRONG></A><BR>
<A HREF="learning-more-about-hurd.html#contents">About the Hurd</A><BR>
<A HREF="learning-more-about-microkernels.html#contents">About Microkernels</A><BR>
<P>
<A HREF="software.html#contents"><STRONG>Software</STRONG></A><BR>
<A HREF="trying-out-hurd.html#contents">Trying out the Hurd</A><BR>
<A HREF="getting-help.html#contents">Getting Help</A><BR>
<p>
<a href="whatis">Whatis?</a><br>
<a href="howto">Howto?</a><br>
</p>
<P>
<!---A HREF="mirrors.html#contents">Mirrors</A><BR--->
<A HREF="acknowledgements.html#contents">Acknowledgements</A><BR>
<!---A HREF="copyright.html#contents">Copyright Notice</A--->
</TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<A NAME="contents"><H1>GNU Hurd</H1></A>
<H3>NEWS</h3>
<p>November 3rd, 2000 - Integration has begun of the hurddocs.org site
HOWTO and WHATIS sections. This will continue during the next little
while.<p>
<H3>What is the Hurd?</H3>
The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. The
Hurd 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).
<P>
Currently, the Hurd runs on IA32 machines. The Hurd should, and probably
will, be ported to other hardware architectures or other microkernels in
the future.
<P>
The Hurd is part of the GNU, which is a complete free operating
system. Since the Hurd is not in production use yet, the version of
GNU that is popular today is <A HREF="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">
GNU/Linux</A>, which uses Linux as the kernel instead of the Hurd.
<H3>Advantages of the Hurd</H3>
The Hurd is not the most advanced kernel known to the planet
(yet), but it does have a number of enticing features:
<DL>
<DT><STRONG>it's free software</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
Anybody can use, modify, and redistribute it under the terms of the
<A HREF="/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU
General Public License (GPL)</A>.</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it's compatible</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
The Hurd provides a familiar programming and user environment. For all
intents and purposes, the Hurd is a modern Unix-like kernel. The Hurd uses
the <A HREF="/software/libc/libc.html">GNU C Library</A>,
whose development closely tracks standards such as ANSI/ISO,
BSD, POSIX, Single Unix, SVID, and X/Open.
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it's built to survive</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
Unlike other popular kernel software, the Hurd has an object-oriented structure
that allows it to evolve without compromising its design. This structure
will help the Hurd undergo major redesign and modifications without having
to be entirely rewritten.
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it's scalable</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
The Hurd implementation is aggressively multithreaded so that it runs efficiently
on both single processors and symmetric multiprocessors. The Hurd interfaces
are designed to allow transparent network clusters (<I>collectives</I>),
although this feature has not yet been implemented.
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it's extensible</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
The Hurd is an attractive platform for learning how to become a kernel
hacker or for implementing new ideas in kernel technology. Every part of
the system is designed to be modified and extended.
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it's stable</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
It is possible to develop and test new Hurd kernel components without rebooting
the machine (not even accidentally). Running your own kernel components
doesn't interfere with other users, and so no special system privileges
are required. The mechanism for kernel extensions is secure by design:
it is impossible to impose your changes upon other users unless they authorize
them or you are the system administrator.
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>it exists</STRONG></DT>
<DD>
The Hurd is real software that works Right Now. It is not a research
project or a proposal. You don't have to wait at all before you can start
using and developing it.
</DD>
</DL>
<H3>What the name ``Hurd'' means</H3>
According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd, ```Hurd' stands for `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. And, then, `Hird'
stands for `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. We have here, to my
knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually
recursive acronyms.''
<H3>Status of the project</H3>
The last official release of the Hurd-based GNU system was the 0.2
binary distribution of June 1997. At the moment, the Hurd developers
and people from the Debian Project are assembling a new distribution
which will be known as version 0.3. In parallel to that GNU/Linux
distribution, the upcoming Hurd-based GNU distribution is called <A
HREF="debian-gnu-hurd.html">Debian GNU/Hurd</A>.
<P>
The new GNU/Hurd distribution will use the Debian package management
system to ease installation and updating the system. This package
management system is the same one used in Debian GNU/Linux
distributions.
<P>
These efforts are ongoing, but the fundamental packages are ready and
quite stable. If you want to try out the Hurd, it is recommended that
you use the preliminary 0.3 version instead of the 0.2 version,
because the newer snapshots have many bugs fixed and are more stable.
<P>
<EM>Some of these links are at other web sites not maintained by the
FSF. The FSF is not responsible for the content of these other web sites.</EM>
<HR>
Return to <A HREF="/home.html" TARGET="_parent">GNU's home page</A>.
<P>
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
<A HREF="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><EM>gnu@gnu.org</EM></A>.
There are also <A HREF="/home.html#ContactInfo" TARGET="_parent">other ways to
contact</A> the FSF.
<P>
Please send comments on these web pages to
<A HREF="mailto:webmasters@www.gnu.org"><EM>webmasters@www.gnu.org</EM></A>,
send other questions to
<A HREF="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><EM>gnu@gnu.org</EM></A>.
<P>
Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
<P>
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.<P>
Updated:
<!-- hhmts start -->
29 Mar 2001 rms
<!-- hhmts end -->
<HR>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>
|
