Hurd/L4 Developer Marcus Brinkmann Interviewed

wikinerd writes "A few years ago when the GNU OS was almost complete, the kernel was the last missing piece, and most distributors combined GNU with the Linux kernel. But the GNU developers continued their efforts and unveiled the Hurd in 1990s, which is currently a functioning prototype. After the Mach microkernel was considered insufficient, some developers decided to start a new project porting the Hurd on the more advanced L4 microkernel using cutting-edge operating system design, thus creating the Hurd/L4. Last February one of the main developers, Marcus Brinkmann, completed the process initialization code and showed a screenshot of the first program executed on Hurd/L4 saying 'The dinner is prepared!' Now he has granted an interview about Hurd/L4, explaining the advantages of microkernels, the Hurd/L4 architecture, the project's goals and how he started the Debian port to Hurd."

Comments

GNU

[bcmm]

GNU made most of the core programs that Linux normally uses, and they are universally considered excellent. So why is it so hard for them to make a kernel?

Is it just loss of interest after Linux became popular?

Re:slashdot is missing the point...

[The_Dougster]

Many of the posts above say Hurd is a waste of time. I suspect the Hurd team just enjoys hacking. I really don't think they care if its a "waste" of time. They just love what they do. I think it's awesome to be so dedicated to your craft. Even if the Hurd never works... I bet they will still look back on the whole experience as something pretty cool.

I think this hits the nail on the head. That's why I have enjoyed tinkering with Hurd over the years. I currently have a bootable Debian/Hurd partition, and I have recently built the L4/Hurd system up to its current state. I haven't been able to get banner running like Marcus did, but its not for a lack of trying.

Many Slashdotters will say "Why waste your time with Hurd because BSD/Linux/Windows/OSX/etc already works great and needs more contributors?" Well, its my time and if I want to play around with experimental source code then that's what I am going to do.

I already have a nicely working Gentoo Linux system that I use most of the time, and I'm happy with it. However, I am one of those types that wants to always learn, and by following the progress of Mach/Hurd and now L4/Hurd I get to grow up with the operating system and there is a small chance that I will be able to make a useful contribution here or there occasionally.

Hurd isn't trying to sell itself to become a replacement for your current favorite operating system. It is simply a project to create an OS based on advanced and sometimes theoretical computer science ideas.

People like Marcus put a lot of effort into realizing these abstractions in code. Sometimes it doesn't work out and they have to backstep, but progress continues. I have been on the developer's mailing list for years, and honestly I don't understand 90% of what they are talking about but it is pretty interesting nonetheless.

Hurd makes pretty heavy use of GNU autotools; i.e. "./configure" and a lot of the real benefits of the old Mach based Debian/Hurd are that upstream sources have been patched so that you can hopefully build them on Hurd just by running configure and make. L4-Hurd is still Hurd, so all the work done is still relevent. When they whip the sheet off of the shiny new engine, the rest of the parts waiting on the shelf are already there.

And they are making good progress. They have it now to the point where a lot of people are working on getting libc to build and once the kernel and libc are working that is the keystone that lets all the other peices of the puzzle come together.

It's totally a research project. There is no agenda other than some people like Marcus thought it was a cool project and decided to fool around with it. I'm the same way, sometimes I get bored with Linux so I put on my Hurd cap and play around with it for a while.