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Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 Released

Posted by Unknown on from the never-give-up dept.

jrepin writes "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). The Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with more than 10,000 software packages available (more than 75% of the Debian archive)."

2 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Need Clarity by slim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Listing every single component of the system is stupid. Linux is the kernel, Linux is what gets recognized as the OS. There are a lot of programs that go into making the system usable - each one need not be referenced in the name.

    Mmm, but why do you choose the kernel as the piece so important that you name your whole system after it?

    I'm forever seeing posts that say "Windows sucks and Linux rules, because in Linux I can do stuff like {insert neat adhoc bash script}". But you could run that script in a MacOS terminal, with Darwin replacing the Linux kernel. You could run it in Cygwin, with the combination of the Windows Kernel and the Cygwin compatibility libraries replacing the Linux kernel.

    Linux is great, but it's a thin layer compared to the collection of GNU (mostly) tools that *actually provide the interface people love*.

  2. Re:Need Clarity by slim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's entirely pragmatic of you, and that's fine.

    But say you wanted to try out an experimental device driver. In Linux it would be a kernel module. If it went wrong, it could potentially cause a kernel panic and halt your entire system. Or, since it has kernel privileges, it could just quietly spy on some element of your system and phone home with your confidential data without you knowing.

    On a microkernel, your experimental device driver would run in separate memory space to other components. If the experimental driver crashes out, the rest of the system keeps going. It can't spy on your other components, because its access is restricted.

    It may not address a need *you* have, but it may well be useful to others.