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author | Thomas Schwinge <thomas@codesourcery.com> | 2013-03-19 18:47:23 +0100 |
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committer | Thomas Schwinge <thomas@codesourcery.com> | 2013-03-19 18:47:23 +0100 |
commit | d166bfaaa3ddf8b83b5cc6bde62f8872e6a80c82 (patch) | |
tree | 4d8a8904c2c49122c37895ed4573a5fcbd19ed4f /faq/0-still_useful.mdwn | |
parent | 64f867bbc45d265009a1bad590bc1d4d9ea91d6e (diff) | |
parent | ce8c2531cdb7ee05784437da4c38459e5d3897d6 (diff) | |
download | web-d166bfaaa3ddf8b83b5cc6bde62f8872e6a80c82.tar.gz web-d166bfaaa3ddf8b83b5cc6bde62f8872e6a80c82.tar.bz2 web-d166bfaaa3ddf8b83b5cc6bde62f8872e6a80c82.zip |
Merge remote-tracking branch 'savannah/master'
As part of the merge, fix some typos, add copyright and licensing headers, and
a few more minor changes.
Diffstat (limited to 'faq/0-still_useful.mdwn')
-rw-r--r-- | faq/0-still_useful.mdwn | 68 |
1 files changed, 68 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/faq/0-still_useful.mdwn b/faq/0-still_useful.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..85e3ec43 --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/0-still_useful.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 Free Software +Foundation, Inc."]] + +[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable +id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this +document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or +any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant +Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license +is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation +License|/fdl]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="What are the advantages with the Hurd over Linux/BSD?"]] + +The Hurd will be considerably more flexible and robust +than generic Unix. Wherever possible, Unix kernel features have been +moved into unprivileged space. Once there, anyone who desires can +develop custom replacements for them. Users will be able to write and +use their own file systems, their own `exec' servers, or their own +network protocols if they like, all without disturbing other users. + +The Linux kernel has now been modified to allow user-level file +systems, so there is proof that people will actually use features such +as these. It will be much easier to do under the Hurd, however, +because the Hurd is almost entirely run in user space and because the +various servers are designed for this sort of modification. + +> Notably, flexibility for the user: +> +> transparent ftp +> +> $ cd /ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian +> $ ls +> +> personal filesystem +> +> $ dd < /dev/zero > myspace.img bs=1M count=1024 +> $ mke2fs myspace.img +> $ settrans myspace /hurd/ext2fs myspace.img +> $ cd myspace + +>> Just curious, but I keep seeing these (and other similar) concepts being +>> brought up as the amazing selling points of the Hurd, but all of this is +>> entirely doable now in Linux with FUSE or things like it. + +>>> Nowadays, at LAST, yes, partly. +>>> And only on machines where fuse is enabled. Is it enabled on the servers you have an account on? + +>> I'm not sure if an ftp filesystem has been implemented for FUSE yet, but its +>> definately doable; and loopback filesystems like in your second example have +>> been supported for years. + +>>> As a normal user? And establish a tap interface connected through ppp over +>>> ssh or whatever you could want to imagine? + +>> What, then, are the major selling points or benefits? + +>>> These were just examples, Linux is trying to catch up in ugly ways indeed +>>> (yes, have a look at the details of fuse, it's deemed to be inefficient). +>>> In the Hurd, it's that way from the _ground_ and there is no limitation +>>> like having to be root or ask for root to add magic lines, etc. + +> It also for instance provides userland drivers, for instance the network +> drivers are actually Linux drivers running in a separate userland process. + +> It also for instance provides very fine-grain virtualization support, such as +> VPN for only one process, etc. + +> etc. etc. The implications are really very diverse... |