Re: public opinion about Debian GNU (Hurd)
On 4 Aug 2001, Thomas Poindessous wrote:
> But you are right, most of computer users doesn't think Hurd is a different
> OS.
Hmmm... really? I think the hurd pages are somehow confusing in respect to
this, or exactly to what is an operative system. I've checked the
introduction found at http://hurd.sf.net, and the first exact description
is "The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel.".
This makes me think that Linux is the kernel of an OS (hence that flamewar
about saying "I use GNU/Linux" instead of "I use Linux"), and that HURD is
the software which will replace that kernel and it's functionality, be it
in form of a micro-kernel and user-land servers.
It's shortly contradicted by the sentence: "The Hurd is not the most
advanced operative system known to the planet...", which looks to me
wrong, because Unix is an OS, and HURD is only replacing a part, no?
Somewhere (I belive at http://www.gnu.org) I have read that an OS is all
the software which makes a computer a useful tool and includes text
processors, compilers, games, simply because a computer with "just a
kernel" is next to useless without programs running under it.
I like to think the latter is the correct term for OS, but is it right?
Looks like your opinion is different. Does anybody have a good reference
about what is an operative system? Couldn't the Hurd web pages be more
specific or at least less contradictory?
--
Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz gradha@terra.es http://gradha.infierno.org
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