Re: A proposed Roadmap

[olafBuddenhagen]

Hi,

On Fri, Sep 07, 2007 at 02:18:55AM -0400, Sprink wrote:

> I've tried installing and running the the hurd at home, which seemed
> almost impossible,

I wouldn't know why. If your machine is too new to run Debian GNU/Hurd
natively, it is surely fast enough to run it in qemu. Other options are
KVM if your hardware supports that, or Xen if you are adventerous. There
is really no good reason not to run the Hurd, if you really want to.

> I know if I could have at least got it up and running, I would be
> helpful to the project, as I am technical enough to submit good bug
> reports, fix minor (easy) bugs, and be a additional user (supporter)
> of the GNU OS and the Hurd.

Sorry, I don't see how filing bug reports etc. against a Linux-based
system would help the Hurd. I think this is an absurd notion.

> I knew what the GNU License was, I knew what proprietary software was,
> I knew enough to know I would prefer to support GNU/Linux over
> windows, regardless if windows worked better for me.

Well, I -- like the vast majority of people -- switched to GNU/Linux
because it worked better for me. Only later I learned about the GNU
philosophy.

But well, that's beside the point. You are right that some people might
choose to run something that works worse, if there is some really good
inclination to do so. However, there is presently very little
inclination to run the Hurd :-(

> It wouldn't be just another GNU/Linux distro, it would be a
> distribution aimed at developing the hurd and the GNU OS. That would
> be its main goal. People like me, and many others, who want to support
> the hurd, would choose to run this distribution, test it, talk about
> it, submit bugs, keep it active, and people who don't plan to use the
> hurd in the future, would not. There would be no users of this
> distribution who don't want to use linux instead of the hurd. I think
> just getting people involved in wanting to support the hurd, is a
> advantage in itself. Get people excited about the hurd and the GNU OS.

We already have a perfectly fine, native development platform in the
form of Debian GNU/Hurd. I do not see how creating another GNU/Linux
distribution, and putting the label "GNU" on it, should help in
developing the Hurd, or getting people excited about it. It would be a
huge backwards step actually.

Releasing a true, Hurd-based GNU system could help, by making better use
of Hurd features than Debian GNU/Linux does. But a Linux-based GNU
system won't.

-antrik-