Gnu Hurd an alternative to the Linux kernel?

GNU Hurd

Today Linux kernel turns 25, a holiday for all of us who believe in Free Software and its philosophies, but it is also a time to look back and see something that surrounds the history of the linux kernel, a kernel that was not going to be as popular as it has become.

At first it came out as a Linux Torvalds project and later it was part of the Gnu project, but Why was it part of Gnu? The answer is in your free alternative, the Hurd kernel. This kernel is not only an alternative to Linux but it was to be the kernel of the Richard Stallman distribution. However, Hurd's development is a somewhat unstable and harsh, which has meant that after 26 years, the kernel is still not as good an answer as the Linux kernel.

Hurd was born in 1990. The kernel was born as the central part of the Gnu project but it did not fulfill the expected projects and Stallman quickly spoke with Linus to incorporate his kernel into a distribution development. However, Hurd has not been abandoned and little by little it is developing to a point that is closer to working with the Linux kernel than it was 26 years ago.

Hurd kernel development is over 26 years old and not stable yet

What's more, some distributions have created a version with Hurd as the kernel of the distribution. In this aspect it stands out debian hurd, one of the first distributions to use Hurd but also there is Arch Hurd or Minix 3, a simple but powerful distribution with Hurd.

Hurd is characterized by being a kernel that uses servers instead of modules and this makes the kernel more powerful than other kernels, private or free. These servers also allow the use of scripts to customize the operation, something interesting for many users but also that can open the field to insecurities.

Hurd is slowly being considered as an alternative to the kernel… But it is not yet. That is why if we want to test distributions with Hurd, it is best to use a virtual machine, something safer than directly using a computer for it. Do not you think?


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  1.   Courage said

    See linux code and revolution os on youtube

  2.   madara-sama said

    I would like to know more about this code and what are its bugs to help in the development of this one that sounds more promising than the linux kernel, where do I find information?

  3.   WILLIAMS said

    You can see these two articles:

    Wikipedia: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Hurd
    GNU PROJECT PAGE: https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html

  4.   normal said

    Many, like you, thought the same about linux, MacOS, windows and now look if they were joined, echo case when they said that it was stupid where we would be now, stupidity would be to stop doing the things that make us want to listen to people like you who think that everything should be one color.

  5.   leoramirez59 said

    Is there an Ubuntu Hurd?

  6.   jonabasque said

    Debian Hurd i386, I'm going to test it on a virtual machine to see…. https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/index

  7.   dario said

    I use debian / hurd but it is a true marimorena as the hardware detection is missing a lot to be stable the people of arch are doing a good job but it is very far with the current kernel

  8.   Abraham said

    One thing is stability and another lack of drivers, let's not confuse it, and the author of the post, do not mix the HURD with the MINIX, which are two different things.