2022-02-08
Operating System News
GNU/Hurd is the original free software operating system launched in the 1980s. Its microkernel design has evolved over the years and the project has not yet reached mainstream use. I think this is due to one main reason: the lack of drivers for peripherals and hardware. In this lecture, I explain how NetBSD kernel drivers were reused in a microkernel setting and demonstrate their use to boot a GNU/Hurd system via a userspace hard disk driver, with a driverless Hurd kernel, gnumach. ACPI management, PCI management, and the actual driver are in separate processes with RPC interfaces between them, which separates their debugging, licensing, and execution.
Hurd is a never-ending story, derailed by the massive popularity and adoption of the Linux kernel as the de facto standard kernel for the GNU Project. I would like him to become more competitive, but the situation is not really great.
