<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Hurd and Linux - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE> <LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:web-hurd@gnu.org"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="hurd, linux"> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#9900DD"> <H1>The Hurd and Linux</H1> [ <!-- Please keep this list alphabetical --> <!-- PLEASE UPDATE THE LIST AT THE BOTTOM (OR TOP) OF THE PAGE TOO! --> <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.cn.html">Chinese(Simplified)</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.zh.html">Chinese(Traditional)</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.he.html">Hebrew</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.html">English</A> | <a href="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.es.html">Spanish</a> <!-- Español --> ] <P> by <A HREF="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</A>. <P> People sometimes ask, ``Why did the FSF develop a new free kernel instead of using Linux?'' It's a reasonable question. The answer, briefly, is that that is not the question we faced. <P> When we started developing the Hurd in 1990, the question facing us was, ``How can we get a free kernel for the GNU system?'' There was no free Unix-like kernel then, and we knew of no other plan to write one. The only way we could expect to have a free kernel was to write it ourselves. So we started. <P> We heard about Linux after its release. At that time, the question facing us was, ``Should we cancel the Hurd project and use Linux instead?'' <P> We heard that Linux was not at all portable (this may not be true today, but that's what we heard then). And we heard that Linux was architecturally on a par with the Unix kernel; our work was leading to something much more powerful. <P> Given the years of work we had already put into the Hurd, we decided to finish it rather than throw them away. <P> If we did face the question that people ask---if Linux were already available, and we were considering whether to start writing another kernel---we would not do it. Instead we would choose another project, something to do a job that no existing free software can do. <P> But we did start the Hurd, back then, and now we have made it work. We hope its superior architecture will make free operating systems more powerful. <HR> [ <!-- Please keep this list alphabetical --> <!-- PLEASE UPDATE THE LIST AT THE BOTTOM (OR TOP) OF THE PAGE TOO! --> <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.cn.html">Chinese(Simplified)</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.zh.html">Chinese(Traditional)</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.he.html">Hebrew</A> | <A HREF="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.html">English</A> | <a href="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.es.html">Spanish</a> <!-- Español --> ] <HR> Return to <A HREF="/home.html">GNU's home page</A>. <P> FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to <A HREF="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><EM>gnu@gnu.org</EM></A>. Other <A HREF="/home.html#ContactInfo">ways to contact</A> the FSF. <P> Comments on these web pages to <A HREF="mailto:web-hurd@gnu.org"><EM>web-hurd@gnu.org</EM></A>, send other questions to <A HREF="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><EM>gnu@gnu.org</EM></A>. <P> Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA <P> Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. <p> Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> $Date$ $Author$ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> <HR> </BODY> </HTML>