Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 19:27:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Dan Feldman <protozoa@locutus.ghs.ssd.k12.wa.us> To: Mohit Aron <aron@cs.rice.edu> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD kernel as a replacement for Linux kernel Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0005231920460.76339-100000@locutus.ghs.ssd.k12.wa.us> In-Reply-To: <200005240156.UAA07049@noel.cs.rice.edu>
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This is definately a matter of opinion. First of all, FreeBSD's kernel can use both the Linux and FreeBSD interfaces at once. Although it might be possible to remove the FreeBSD interfaces, then all you have are the Linux ones - it sounds like a loss in functionality to me. Second, the Linux emulator is actually extremely good - even very complex threaded programs work perfectly. Problems do exist, but these are mostly in the /dev tree and drivers, not in the call interface. Sound, video framebuffers, and SVGAlib all work, but only barely. Thus I think the only advantage would be that FreeBSD userspace apps could use glibc, which is nice, but would break the copyrights on both trees :). If you're really interested in this kind of OS hybridism, why not use the GNU/FreeBSD system put out by Debian a while back? -- Dan Feldman Hacker, webmaster and computer connoisseur Out of sight, out of mind, out of hand. On Tue, 23 May 2000, Mohit Aron wrote: > Hi, > I apologize beforehand if this topic has already been discussed at > length here or elsewhere. > > More and more commerical sites are providing software packages that contain > binaries for Linux. While FreeBSD does provide Linux emulation, this is often > flaky and breaks down more often than not for commercial software. On the other > hand, the FreeBSD kernel is superior than that of Linux. > > Since FreeBSD and Linux have so much in common wrt to the user interface > to the kernel, wouldn't it be so much better if both had the SAME interface > such that the Linux kernel could just be replaced by the FreeBSD kernel. > That way, one would be able to take advantage of both the increasing > development of software for Linux, as well as the strengths of the FreeBSD > kernel. It would give FreeBSD much greater visibility. > > Can someone comment on how difficult achieving the above would be ? > > > > - Mohit > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.1 (FreeBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE5Kz4Zm5zE2gDgwPgRAkSaAJ9UuBDhs/SB5sN3/ItWYNqUSakA9gCgk2Pq 6CTjl972u8UOej+gFqA0m3c= =KY/T -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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