GNU Hurd | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

GNU Hurd is a collection of microkernel servers written as part of GNU, for the GNU Mach microkernel. It has been under development since 1990 by the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation, designed as a replacement for the Unix kernel, and released as free software under the GNU General Public License. When the Linux kernel proved to be a viable solution, development of GNU Hurd slowed, at times alternating between stasis and renewed activity and interest. The Hurd's design consists of a set of protocols and server processes (or daemons, in Unix terminology) that run on the GNU Mach microkernel. The Hurd aims to surpass the Unix kernel in functionality, security, and stability, while remaining largely compatible with it. The GNU Project chose the multiserver microkernel for the operating system, due to perceived advantages over the traditional Unix monolithic kernel architecture, a view that had been advocated by some developers in the 1980s. In December 1991 the primary architect of the Hurd described the name as a mutually recursive acronym: It's time [to] explain the meaning of "Hurd". "Hurd" stands for "Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons". And, then, "Hird" stands for "Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth". We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms. As both hurd and hird are homophones of the English word herd, the full name GNU Hurd is also a play on the words herd of gnus, reflecting how the kernel works. The logo is called the Hurd boxes and it also reflects on architecture. The logo is a graph where nodes represent the Hurd kernel's servers and directed edges are IPC messages. Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project in September 1983 with an aim to create a free GNU operating system. Initially the components required for kernel development were written: editors, shell, compiler, debugger etc. By 1989, the GNU GPL came into being and the only major component missing was the kernel.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (51)

Related lectures (10)

Open Source Software Evolution

Explores the evolution of open-source software and the concepts of open data and open science.

Shell and OS organization

Covers system calls, kernel space, process management, file descriptors, pipes, and hardware isolation in OS organization.

Openness in Technology

Discusses the history and impact of open source software, open data, and open science, emphasizing the benefits of sharing information in the digital age.

Linux

Linux (ˈlɪnʊks ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name "GNU/Linux" to emphasize the use and importance of GNU software in many distributions, causing some controversy.

GNU Hurd

Linux kernel

The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU operating system, which was written to be a free (libre) replacement for Unix. Linux is provided under the GNU General Public License version 2 only, but it contains files under other compatible licenses.