Re: running hurd in linux
> This is just a thought. Do you think it will be possible to run hurd
> cuncurrently with linux, i.e in some sort of virtual machine of some sorts?
Not yet ;-). GNU/Hurd needs Mach right now. If you want to run GNU/Hurd
from Linux or other Unices, you'll have to either
1. provide an environment for Mach to run
OR
2. retarget the Hurd completely.
If you opt for 1, you've got some alternatives
* VMware (Linux/x86, or {NetBSD,OpenBSD,FreeBSD}/x86 with Linux Emulation)
* Plex86 (Linux/x86, support for NetBSD/x86 available recently as well)
* Bochs (Every Unix on every conceivable platform/CPU with X11).
I didn't try to boot GNUmach with those emulators (yet). IIRC, Marcus
tried plex86 recently. I don't remember what stopped him back then.
2. is much more promising, but currently no-one is _really_ doing any
work on it. There is an effort at l4-hurd@gnu.org to port the Hurd to
L4 (just theoretically right now), and the current status there is,
that we'll have to rewrite the Hurd from scratch and put it on top of
a virtual kernel.
I'm currently thinking about ways to port the Hurd to such a virtual
kernel (with L4 as a special case of a real uKernel, Unix/POSIX being
the other special case, Mach being yet another possible implementation
of the virtual kernel). Should I find experienced programmers willing
to help, it would be much easier and faster to really get started ;-).
Right now, I'm experimenting with various IDL stub compilers and the
next step would be to write IDL specs for the Hurd servers (*.defs ->
*.idl) which should produce code that runs under L4, Mach as well as
Unix (Corba IIOP being the special case here). Of course, there will
be a long way to go, but the path there seems nearly clear to me now.
If you're interested to help, please contact me directly.
To summarize: The Hurd currently _needs_ Mach. In the future, it may
be able to run on top of a virtual ukernel, where such v-ukernel may
be implemented with Mach, L4 or even Unix (Linux or whatever). Without
serious volunteers, this will remain fiction for quite a long time
though....
-Farid.
--
Farid Hajji -- Unix Systems and Network Admin | Phone: +49-2131-67-555
Broicherdorfstr. 83, D-41564 Kaarst, Germany | farid.hajji@ob.kamp.net
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One OS To Rule Them All And In The Darkness Bind Them... --Bill Gates.
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