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Critique of the Hurd
From: |
Neal H. Walfield |
Subject: |
Critique of the Hurd |
Date: |
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:45:57 +0100 |
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Marcus and I have written a critique of the Hurd, which we have
submitted to the coming USENIX Annual Technical Conference. We
welcome feedback and discussion (if it is accepted, we can still make
improvements). You can find it here [1].
The abstract follows:
The GNU Hurd's design was motivated by a desire to rectify a number
of observed shortcomings in Unix. Foremost among these is that many
policies that limit users exist simply as remnants of the design of
the system's mechanisms and their implementation. To increase
extensibility and integration, the Hurd adopts an object-based
architecture and defines interfaces, which, in particular those for
the composition of and access to name spaces, are virtualizable.
This paper is first a presentation of the Hurd's design goals and a
characterization of its architecture primarily as it represents a
departure from Unix's. We then critique the architecture and assess
it in terms of the user environment of today focusing on
security. Then follows an evaluation of Mach, the microkernel on
which the Hurd is built, emphasizing the design constraints which
Mach imposes as well as a number of deficiencies its design presents
for multi-server like systems. Finally, we reflect on the properties
such a system appears to require.
Neal
[1] http://walfield.org/papers/20070111-walfield-critique-of-the-GNU-Hurd.pdf
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