5 ms·

I'm curious, but why are people still spending time and resources on Hurd? Is it curiosity or is there some use case for Hurd that I'm not aware of? Thanks.

knocte 7y ago
You don't know the fundamental difference between Hurd and Linux, do you?
- NilsIRL 7y ago
  Are you referring to the micro-kernel part?
  - knocte 7y ago
    Yes
- Ylodi 7y ago
  Hurd is like Mazda Wankel engine. :-)
  - sverige 7y ago
    Except Mazda actually sold millions of cars that ran down the road with the Wankel engine.
    - m463 7y ago
      The wankel was actually like Hurd at one point, everybody thought it would be the next big thing and many car manufacturers had wankel engines. Mazda stuck it out and funded it into production.
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't post dismissive comments like this. If you know more, share what you know so the rest of us can learn. If you don't want to do that or don't have time, that's fine, but then please just don't post anything. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
anthony_doan 7y ago
I can't speak for the developer of Hurd. But I think it's fun and something different. It's one of the few OS up there that seems to be able to take advantage of multicores. Other such as barrelfish and dragonflyBSD.
- murderfs 7y ago
  ??? Hurd doesn't even support SMP yet.
  - anthony_doan 7y ago
    That's correct Hurd doesn't support SMP yet [1]. In theory it should and I'm waiting for that. Kind of like how I waited for HAMMER2. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq/smp.html https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq/smp.html
pjmlp 7y ago
Because we already have enough UNIX clones and there are people that care about bringing forward the computing stack with modern concepts.
cultofmetatron 7y ago
personally, I think people who are interested in hurd should take a look at redox. Its a new microkernel with similar design goals that uses rust as its implementation language.
- CameronNemo 7y ago
  The L4 ecosystem is much more mature. There are formally proven variants like seL4, and more widely used variants like wrmOS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family I am excited to see how redox evolves, but unless they start writing, virtualizing, or porting drivers it is not much more than an experiment in how well Rust can handle OS programming.
nameismypw 7y ago
Hurd is part of the GNU system; it's the intended kernel for the GNU userspace. Linux has been used as an intermediary because Hurd isn't ready for widespread use. But the idea has always been that Hurd would replace Linux and create a GNU system that is entirely under the FSF. Beyond the philosophical differences, another difference is that Hurd is a microkernel and Linux is monolithic. Hurd can be considered a research project for exploring microkernels. The most well-developed microkernels are not open source or free.
- jcranmer 7y ago
  > But the idea has always been that Hurd would replace Linux and create a GNU system that is entirely under the FSF. I don't think that's the case. The FSF has long been satisfied that Linux meets its goals for an OS kernel, and the Hurd project has changed somewhat from "this will be the final piece of the GNU operating system" to "this is something we're working on to explore microkernel design." I think its developers have given up on it ever replacing Linux, as it's very behind in hardware support, and the gap is only ever growing rather than shrinking. For example, it doesn't support multicore or 64-bit userland (in a time when projects are pulling 32-bit userland support!).

knocte 7y ago

You don't know the fundamental difference between Hurd and Linux, do you?

NilsIRL 7y ago
Are you referring to the micro-kernel part?
- knocte 7y ago
  Yes
Ylodi 7y ago
Hurd is like Mazda Wankel engine. :-)
- sverige 7y ago
  Except Mazda actually sold millions of cars that ran down the road with the Wankel engine.
  - m463 7y ago
    The wankel was actually like Hurd at one point, everybody thought it would be the next big thing and many car manufacturers had wankel engines. Mazda stuck it out and funded it into production.
dang 7y ago
Please don't post dismissive comments like this. If you know more, share what you know so the rest of us can learn. If you don't want to do that or don't have time, that's fine, but then please just don't post anything. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

anthony_doan 7y ago

I can't speak for the developer of Hurd. But I think it's fun and something different. It's one of the few OS up there that seems to be able to take advantage of multicores. Other such as barrelfish and dragonflyBSD.

murderfs 7y ago
??? Hurd doesn't even support SMP yet.
- anthony_doan 7y ago
  That's correct Hurd doesn't support SMP yet [1]. In theory it should and I'm waiting for that. Kind of like how I waited for HAMMER2. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq/smp.html https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq/smp.html

pjmlp 7y ago

Because we already have enough UNIX clones and there are people that care about bringing forward the computing stack with modern concepts.

cultofmetatron 7y ago

personally, I think people who are interested in hurd should take a look at redox. Its a new microkernel with similar design goals that uses rust as its implementation language.

CameronNemo 7y ago
The L4 ecosystem is much more mature. There are formally proven variants like seL4, and more widely used variants like wrmOS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family I am excited to see how redox evolves, but unless they start writing, virtualizing, or porting drivers it is not much more than an experiment in how well Rust can handle OS programming.

nameismypw 7y ago

Hurd is part of the GNU system; it's the intended kernel for the GNU userspace. Linux has been used as an intermediary because Hurd isn't ready for widespread use. But the idea has always been that Hurd would replace Linux and create a GNU system that is entirely under the FSF. Beyond the philosophical differences, another difference is that Hurd is a microkernel and Linux is monolithic. Hurd can be considered a research project for exploring microkernels. The most well-developed microkernels are not open source or free.

jcranmer 7y ago
> But the idea has always been that Hurd would replace Linux and create a GNU system that is entirely under the FSF. I don't think that's the case. The FSF has long been satisfied that Linux meets its goals for an OS kernel, and the Hurd project has changed somewhat from "this will be the final piece of the GNU operating system" to "this is something we're working on to explore microkernel design." I think its developers have given up on it ever replacing Linux, as it's very behind in hardware support, and the gap is only ever growing rather than shrinking. For example, it doesn't support multicore or 64-bit userland (in a time when projects are pulling 32-bit userland support!).