Re: L4-HURD , POSIX, UNIX

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Sun, 2005-10-30 at 23:10 -0600, William Grim wrote:
> So I guess the next question in our design should be: What should we
> make the new environment look like?  Is it possible to start with the
> POSIX design, find the flaws, and build a new design based on POSIX
> but with all the flaws removed, or do we need to design something
> completely new?  It doesn't matter to me which one we do; for me, a
> new design would be easier to follow.  However, those that know POSIX
> internals may have a different viewpoint, but I think a totally new
> design could also be easier to build correctly from the beginning.

This is a decision that the Hurd group must make for itself. I have two
thoughts that may or may not be helpful.

1. In the history of computing, no sound design has ever emerged out of
an attempt to patch and recover an earlier design.

2. Designing from scratch is both very easy and very hard. It is very
easy because you have the ability to state your design principles and
stick to them -- hopefully better than the previous OS designer did. It
is very hard because sticking to design principles involves a great deal
of discipline and pain. It is satisfying, but sometimes not very fun. It
does not interact well with a "let's just write some code" orientation.
If this path is taken, all of the key participants will need to buy in
to this idea of "principles drive the code", or it won't work socially.


shap