GNU Hurd/ hurd/ running/ Debian GNU/Hurd

Welcome to... ... the GNU Hurd!

Debian GNU/Hurd is an effort to port the Debian distribution to the Hurd. Around 75% of Debian packages can already be run under Debian GNU/Hurd, which makes it very usable. See the Status of the Debian port for more information.

One notable difference in this port, is that /etc/mtab -> /proc/mounts

QEMU Image

pre-installed available at https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/latest/hurd-i386/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz.

Usage:

  • Install qemu-kvm via your distribution's package manager (it might just be named qemu)
  • Download the image, unpack it, and run it:
$ wget https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/latest/hurd-i386/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz
$ tar -xz < debian-hurd.img.tar.gz
$ kvm -m 1G -drive cache=writeback,file=$(echo debian-hurd-*.img) -no-reboot -net user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:2222-:22 -net nic,model=e1000
  • Log in as root (the root password is empty)

  • Set up a root password with passwd

  • update the system with apt update && apt upgrade

  • Log in as demo (the demo password is empty)

  • Set up a demo password with passwd

  • You can also create another non-root user with adduser <username>

  • and set the non-root user password with passwd <username>

  • and add the non-root user to the sudo group via gpasswd -a <user> sudo

  • logout via logout

Optionally you may use --curses to keep your keyboard layout. If need be modprobe kvm_amd, kvm intel and kvm to get kvm support (which is much, much faster).

Note that if you do not have a command named kvm, you can try something across the lines of:

$ qemu-system-i386 --enable-kvm -m 2G -drive cache=writeback,file=$(echo debian-hurd-*.img) -net user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:2222-:22 -net nic,model=e1000

Or, if your machine does not allow for KVM acceleration, omit --enable-kvm from the command.

Please also read the README file: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/latest/hurd-i386/README

If you have troubles extracting the image, you can use the gz version, the zip version, or even the plain version (5GiB!)

See the discussion about writeback caching.

For more detailed instructions, please see the QEMU page.

Installing

The Debian installer runs natively on the Hurd and it is possible to install a Debian GNU/Hurd system booting it from an IDE or SATA CD-ROM drive or from a USB stick. See installation instructions for details and post-installation configuration.

As of late 2025 installation may require larger amount of RAM (≥ 2 Gi) due to rumpdisk memory requirements. It is possible to install 32 bit Hurd (hurd-i386) on lower RAM conditions (~ 500 Mi) using the CrossInstall method, by not loading rumpdisk and using disk drivers in gnumach.

CrossInstall

It is possible to install a Debian GNU/Hurd system on a spare partition from an existing Debian GNU/Linux installation. We call this CrossInstall.

Contributing

Other links