Re: Hurd on Mach on GNU/Linux (verion 0.0.0)

[Jonathan Hunt]

On Mon, 19 Nov 2001 16:40, Farid Hajji wrote:
> On the l4-hurd mailing list, we're discussing the need for and form of
> a layer between the [micro]kernel and the Hurd that will isolate the
> Hurd from a specific kernel that it is running on top of. I called
> this layer VK (virtual kernel). The idea is that the Hurd (and glibc)
> should use _only_ functions from this layer to access the VK. VK
> itself will relay those calls either directly to its underlying
> [micro]kernel or will emulate missing functionality in user-land.

Thanks this clarified a  lot about the VK. But I still have a couple of 
questions. They're probably obvious or ridiculous but I'm still new to 
microkernels etc.

1 - You didn't mention it but won't there have to be IDL bindings to the VK 
IPC facilities (assuming hurd begins using IDL instead of mach definition 
files). Or will each version of the VK (POSIX, Mach etc) have separate IDL 
bindings?

2 - Wouldn't the VK be better off as a seperate but related project to hurd. 
It doesn't sound hurd specific but rather a very useful library. This might 
help to attract developers from other projects which might make use of it. Of 
course one would have to be careful to keep it small and specific. (This is 
of course to do with politics and management so it's really none of my 
business but just wondering).

3 - Is there any timeframe to actually start righting code for l4-hurd. I 
know there are no absolute timeframes but any idea?

Thanks,

Jonathan Hunt

-- 
Jonathan Hunt (The Real Jonathan Hunt) <address@hidden>
Jabber at address@hidden
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." 
Jim Elliot