GNU
GNU ( German and English [ gnu ː ], listen to? / I ) is a Unix-like operating system and completely free software that is developed as part of the GNU project, initiated in 1984 as a collection of software applications, libraries, and tools for developers. GNU stands under the GNU General Public License ( GPL). Since the kernel of the project, GNU Hurd, is not yet suitable for practical use, GNU is now generally used with the Linux kernel. This combination is the GNU / Linux operating system, which is often shortened to Linux.
The name GNU is a recursive acronym for GNU's Not Unix ( GNU is Not Unix ' ) and is intended to avoid confusion, as the German name of the animal wildebeest are pronounced not as in English (not as new). Even as the logo of the head of an African wildebeest antelope was chosen.
- 5.1 Debian GNU / Hurd
- 5.2 Gentoo / Hurd
- 5.3 Arch Hurd
History
Following the announcement in 1983 and the subsequent founding of the GNU project in 1984, which led to the development of GNU goal, the GNU operating system is being actively developed since then. GNU was designed to be as compatible as possible to Unix. This decision had several reasons: First, we were certain that most companies would refuse a fundamentally new operating system if the programs they used, would not run on it. Secondly, the architecture of Unix allows a fast, simple and distributed development, since Unix consists of many small programs that can be developed independently for the most part.
In 1990, a development system were completed with the GNU C compiler and many system programs, but it still lacked a kernel. The Free Software Foundation then decided (after much back and forth ) to use the Mach kernel. Should be written Based on a multi-server operating system so that the system can be expanded easily by adding components, users can also integrate your own components without administrator rights without jeopardizing the stability of the overall system.
The multi-server system has been baptized GNU Hurd. But since it heavily used multi-threading, the debugging proved to be very difficult. The project was very extensive and difficult to manage. At the same time it took the developers to much more pragmatic developed Linux, the GNU Hurd and GNU Mach thus missing. The development of these parts went ahead slowly. During this time, a running gag in which users asked when Hurd was ready, and was referenced in the response to the respective next year came. Hurd is therefore often referred to as vaporware.
1998 called Marcus Brinkmann the Debian-GNU/Hurd-Projekt to life, to give the development more momentum again. The infrastructure of the Debian project has been made available for GNU Hurd and GNU Mach, resulting in a larger number of applications have been ported to the system for the first time. As part of Debian GNU / Hurd a usable installation routine was also Gnome and KDE were X11, ported to the platform. In addition, they benefited from the sophisticated package management with apt -get, dpkg, as well as the other aids that provides Debian system administration. Brinkmann advanced GNU Hurd also a Unicode -enabled console, which is based on a client / server architecture, and therefore the Linux console of flexibility significantly exceeds.
2001, there were also efforts to GNU Hurd Mach microkernel GNU Mach to a L4 kernel to port a microkernel second generation. This L4- Hurd project as Debian GNU / Hurd also significantly advanced by Marcus Brinkmann and coordinated. In February 2005, the first phase of this port was completed. First small programs since run under a GNU Hurd -L4 system. However, so far, neither a shell nor the GNU software available, so that the interaction with the system for the time being limited to the operation of the kernel debugger. In January 2006 there was an attempt to use instead of the L4 microkernel Coyotos.
The GNU project provides the kernel GNU Hurd GNU. The choice of these experimental kernel was an important reason for the faltering development of a usable GNU operating system dar.
GNU Mach microkernel is the favorite of the GNU Project, which allows the abstraction of the hardware. He is an implementation of the Mach kernel and currently (as of February 2008) of the standard GNU Hurd microkernel. Currently, GNU Mach only runs on IA-32 machines, several ports, however, are planned for the future.
" Hurd/L4 " or "L4 - Hurd " is a project that "GNU Hurd " port on the L4 microkernel and thus long-term GNU Mach supposed to replace. L4, however, has been found to be unsuitable.
Since the combination of Mach and Hurd is still poorly productive use, Linux is very often used as the kernel and the entire system mistakenly just " Linux" instead of GNU / Linux called.
GNU / Linux and its components
The combination of GNU and the Linux kernel allows a mature stable operating system for personal computers, servers and embedded systems, and consists of the following parts:
- Parts with OS Relevance GNU packages ( with operating system relevance): consisting of Shell, Coreutils, GCC compiler, such as, libraries such as glibc and implementation of all functions of the POSIX System Application Program Interface ( POSIX.1 ), etc. The GCC compiler may generate machine code for a large number of computer architectures
- Non- GNU programs with operating system relevance, which are provided by the GNU Project for use with GNU Since these programs were already available as free software (that have licenses that are compatible with the freedom goals of the GNU project ), these programs had to be written not by the GNU project itself. Examples include the X Window System ..
- Linux kernel: The Linux kernel is hardware-related software, with which the system can operate on a large number of computer architectures; the kernel implements Schedulung, multitasking, device drivers, memory management, etc. Linus Torvalds released the Linux kernel in 1992 under the GNU General Public License; this is not part of the GNU project.
- Programs under free license ( eg, application programs, partly also from the GNU project ) e.g. Bazaar, GIMP or GNU Octave
- Proprietary programs These programs are strictly rejected by the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, because they do not meet their freedom locations, including Adobe Flash Player
Programs
To enable a complete operating system, a collection of software applications, libraries and utilities for developers were - GNU software packages or called - and programmed GNU Hurd kernel.
Since GNU Hurd as the system kernel so far is not suitable for production use, GNU is used as operating system usually together with the Linux kernel. However, Linux as the kernel also contains proprietary firmware, which is why there is with the aim of a free version of the Linux - libre Fork in development.
Unix utilities have been replaced by corresponding the GNU project, as exposed in comparisons that GNU software was more stable and less prone to error. Some GNU programs, such as the GNU Compiler Collection, have been ported to virtually all of today's popular operating systems.
Other well-known software from the GNU project, the GNU C library, the bash ( Bourne Again Shell), the GNU Emacs text editor and the GNU Debugger.
It should be noted that not every software that is usually supplied with a GNU / Linux distribution that was created by the GNU project. Thus, the GNU project waived for example on developing its own X window system, because in the meantime by another a free implementation was created.
History
The first written for GNU program was the text editor GNU Emacs by Richard Stallman. Work on it began in September 1984, beginning of 1985, there Stallman himself was first classified as usable. At this time the software distribution via the Internet was not yet common as additions were rare. It was instead sold on floppy disks.
In 1991, Linus Torvalds inspired by GNU, a new kernel Linux. This was released under the GNU General Public License in 1992 and has been used by some distributors as a variant of the unfinished GNU Hurd kernel system. It is due to Linux that today a version of the GNU system is actually executed. In the course of increasing popularity, this variant GNU was mistakenly called "Linux". Richard Stallman puts hence the name GNU / Linux worth. ( See also GNU / Linux naming controversy. )
Status
The operating system will continue to be updated constantly. GNU Hurd also is still in development, as not all areas Hurd were completely implemented. The development of the micro- kernels is now asleep in part. On the other hand GNU utilities but complete. GNU been used for years mainly in the Linux-based version called GNU / Linux and free as proprietary Unix systems in all areas.
Debian GNU / Hurd
The most advanced and most active GNU distribution based on Hurd is currently Debian GNU / Hurd. About 68 % of the packages contained approximately 30,000 in the official Debian archive have been successfully translated for Debian GNU / Hurd. In the first half of 2005 large programs like KDE and Gnome are ported to Debian GNU / Hurd. As part of the Google Summer of Code 2011, the Java runtime environment is currently being ported to Hurd.
From Debian GNU / Hurd is a snapshot in the form of CD -ROMs is currently about every six months published. The installation, use and administration of the system differs, apart from existing restrictions, hardly Debian GNU / Linux. For version 7.0 ( Wheezy ) the official release of Debian GNU / Hurd was discussed. However, this was rejected.
Sound cards as well as modern peripheral devices via USB, FireWire, Bluetooth and automatic hardware detection ( hotplug ) are not yet supported, also lacks support for many file systems ( ext3, ReiserFS etc. )
Gentoo / Hurd
In addition to the Debian-GNU/Hurd-Portierung still exist Gentoo / Hurd projects, but are since September 2006 in peace and seek support.
Arch Hurd
Since January 2010, is actively working on a Hurd distribution, which represents the principles of Arch Linux.
Variants
The GNU system was in fact an operating system, which lacked a kernel. Since the software can be transferred to other kernel GNU Hurd, there are systems that can be referred to as variants of GNU. GNU / Linux is by far the most popular variant of GNU, and is often referred to as Linux ( see GNU / Linux naming controversy ).
Also exists, developed by Cygnus Solutions Cygwin, a running on Microsoft Windows GNU system.