Re: Hurd FAQ

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

Comments inlined.

   --- FAQ.en.in        2002-05-26 20:38:05.000000000 +0200
   +++ FAQ.en.in.new    2004-01-20 14:32:06.000000000 +0100
   @@ -116,52 +140,125 @@
    Back when Unix systems were booted from two tapes, a small root tape
    and a big user tape.  Today, we like to use different partitions for
    these two spaces.  The Hurd throws this historical garbage away.  We
   -think that we have found a more flexible solution called shadow
   -filesystems.  Unfortunately, support for shadowed filesystems is not yet
   -implemented.
   +think that we have found a more flexible solution called shadow filesystems.

They are called union file-systems.  The same applies to all
references to `shadow file-systems'; i.e. s/shadow/union/ (in
general).

   -??  Where do I get Debian GNU Hurd?
   +??  Where do I get Debian GNU/Hurd?

   -{NHW} As GNU/Hurd is an official unstable Debian port, you can find
   -the binaries at your local Debian mirror.  There are, however, several
   -core packages that do not compile cleanly from source and have
   -several, unfortunate, hacks.  These can be found at:
   +{NHW,MM} As GNU/Hurd is an official unstable Debian port, you can find the

As Debian GNU/Hurd is ....

   +??  How do I install Debian GNU/Hurd?

    {NHW} Consult one of the installation guides.  The most up to date guide
    can be found at:

           http://web.walfield.org/papers/hurd-installation-guide/

   +Note that this guide isn't up-to-date yet: the installation tarball
   +mentionned no longer exist, and has been replaced by the package

s/mentionned/mentioned/

   -??  Can I use partitions larger than 1GB?
   +??  Can I use partitions larger than 2GB?

That limit really depends on several things, better leave it as 1GB,
and just note that >1GB but <2GB file-systems might work.

    ??  Where is the documentation?

   -{NHW} There are neither man pages nor info nodes for the Hurd translators
   -and commands.  Documentation lives inside of the binaries and can be
   -found by passing the `--help' option to a given command.  For instance:
   +{NHW,MM} The most up to date and complete documentation you can get
   +lives inside of the binaries and can be found by passing the `--help'
   +option to a given command.  For instance:

           # /hurd/ext2fs --help

   -will tell you what types of options the ext2fs translator accepts.
   +will tell you what types of options the ext2fs translator accepts. 
   +
   +The GNU/Hurd User's Guide and the GNU/Hurd Reference Manual both provide 
some
   +help about the usage of and concepts behind the GNU Hurd.  You can find 
them,
   +among others, at:
   +
   +    http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/docs.html

Make that a link, I'm not sure if the gen-faq script needs some
special tag, if that is the case, make all URLs/URI's links.  P +You
can find more documentation on the Wiki, as usual (see above).

   +can set your terminal to `mach-color'.  For instance:

   -{NHW} There is currently no support for virtual consoles.  You can,
   -however, use `screen'.  It is much more flexible anyway.
   +    # export TERM=mach-color

   -Kalle Olavi Niemitalo <address@hidden> began working on colortext.
   -His aim was to provide a featureful program that multiplexes the console
   -in userspace by reading from the /dev/kdb device.  Check:
   +The new console (see later) supports colors by default. 

   -    http://stekt.oulu.fi/~tosi/
   +??  How can I enable virtual consoles?

Please note that the new console does not work with GNU Mach 2.x; it
currently only works with GNU Mach 1.x.

   @@ -437,23 +585,48 @@
    Instead of `free', use `vmstat' and `vminfo'.

    For kernel messages, read `/dev/klog' directly.  Note, once you read
   -this, it is gone forever.
   +this, it is gone forever.  Therefore, you might want to cat the current
   +content to a file.

"And hit C-c (^C) after a while."  Because /dev/klog does give cat a
EOF so that cat stops reading the file.

   @@ -568,15 +754,19 @@

    {NHW} The source is stored in CVS at:

I would suggest that we just point to:
http://sv.gnu.org/cvs/?group=hurd, that way we won't have to bother
about it (the same really applies to all the material that talks about
the CVS repoistory on hurd.gnu.org)

   -    :pserver:address@hidden:/cvsroot/hurd
   +        :ext:address@hidden:/cvsroot/hurd

   -You do not need a password to login.  The modules that you are interested
   -in are: `hurd', `mach' and `mig'.
   +Anonymous access occurs via SSH, so you should set the CVS_RSH
   +environment variable to ssh. You do not need a password to login.  The
   +modules that you are interested in are: `hurd', `gnumach',`mig', and
   +`hurd-l4' for the L4 port.

   -A web interface is also available at: http://subversions.gnu.org.
   +A web interface is also available at: 

   -To get the source to the latest debian package, look on any debian
   -mirror.
   +    http://subversions.gnu.org
   +

http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/hurd/

    ??  What is OSKit-Mach?

   -{NHW} There are two versions of Mach: GNU Mach and OSKit-Mach.  The
   +{NHW,FH} There are two versions of Mach: GNU Mach and OSKit-Mach.  The

Nowadays there is only one, both called GNU Mach and usually refered
to by version numbers, GNU Mach 1.x and GNU Mach 2.x (or CVS HEAD).

    former uses the drivers from Linux 2.0.x while the latter uses the
   -University of Utah's OSKit.  If all goes well, OSKit-Mach will be
   -stabilized and become the official kernel.  You can find out more about
   -the OSKit at:
   +University of Utah's OSKit.  You can find out more about the OSKit at:

           http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/oskit

   +GNU Mach 2.0 (a.k.a. OSKit-Mach) is usable by now, and should soon be

s/a\.k\.a\./was also known as/

   +the default microkernel at install, but some things are still missing
   +(or not working), such as the new console's vga client, XFree86, ...

I think it should be: s/console's/consoles/, but not I'm sure.

    ??  What format should I use for patches against the Hurd and GNU Mach?

    {MB} All patches should be sent in unified context diff format (option
   -`-u' to GNU diff).  It is helpful for us if you also use the `-p'
   -option which includes information about the function changed by a
   -patch.  Changes that are similar can be grouped together in one file,
   -but unrelated changes should be sent in seperate files.  The patches
   -can be included in the message or as a MIME attachement.  They should
   -not be compressed and/or archived unless they are very large, and if
   -they are very large it is probably better to store them on-line at
   -some place and only sent an URL.
   +`-u' to GNU diff).  It is helpful for us if you also use the `-p' option
   +which includes information about the function changed by a patch.
   +Changes that are similar can be grouped together in one file, but
   +unrelated changes should be sent in separate files.  The patches can be
   +included in the message or as a MIME attachment.  They should not be
   +compressed and/or archived unless they are very large, and if they are
   +very large it is probably better to store them on-line at some place and
   +only send an URL.

    Write a ChangeLog entry for each change, following the format of the
    existing files.  Here is an example:

I would suggest that we just refer to the GNU Coding Standards.

   @@ -701,5 +924,6 @@
    Answers were given by:
    * {NHW} Neal H Walfield  <address@hidden>
    * {MB} Marcus Brinkmann  <address@hidden>
   +* {FH} Fr�d�ric HENRY  <address@hidden> 
   +* {MM} Manuel Menal    <address@hidden>
    
   - vim:ts=8:sw=8:tw=72

I don't see the point in removing that.


Cheers.