*BSD News Article 31088


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From: jlr@usoft.spb.su (John Lynn Roseman)
Subject: Re: Need good OS for intel X86 platform. LINUX!!!
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Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 06:45:00 GMT
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Robert Sanders (gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu) writes in <2s7vop@acmex.gatech.edu>:
> magnus@haukugle.ii.uib.no (Magnus Y Alvestad) writes:
>> Hurd is Mach-based. A lot of people are working on a Mach
>> port of Linux. They could co-exist.
>
>They could, but there's not much reason to except for binary compatibility.

Actually, binary compatibility is probably not an issue.  The sources are 
almost always available, so it makes more sense to create native binaries.


>Many of Linux's advantages -- speed, small size, hardware compatibility --
>would be lost when it's converted to a Mach server (or servers).  

The biggest advantages of Linux are its worldwide community of 
developers and users; and the Internet.  Linux has a development 
team as dynamic, capable and diverse as any ever assembled.  
Moreover, Linux is the first OS to take full advantage of the
resources of the Internet: comp.os.linux, the mailing lists and 
FTP sites.  These are the advantages that the Hurd needs today.  


> The Hurd will probably be a superset of most everything's functionalty, 
> including the Hurd itself (eventually).

But where will the UNIX functionality come from?  
All of the UNIX single servers for Mach (CMU, OSF, HUT) are based 
on BSD, and none of them are free.
BSD is tainted by the use of AT&T source code at Berkeley and is 
subject to constant harassment by lawyers.  And the BSD community 
today is in what might charitably be called a state of disarray.