Re: Future Direction of GNU Hurd?

--=-=-=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


Jonathan S. Shapiro <[email protected]> writes:

> The fundamental problem with the Hurd is the same as it has always been: =
it
> is a solution looking for a problem. Hurd advocates have not been able to
> clearly articulate what problem is being solved and why it is a problem
> that users should care about or be concerned about. This has been the sta=
te
> of the Hurd *for 30 years*.

This is false.

I wrote clearly in 2011 where the Hurd solves real problems:
http://www.draketo.de/light/english/free-software/some-technical-advantages=
-of-the-hurd

And nowadays SystemD proved that the features that the Hurd makes easy
are so compelling that they make it possible to get distributions to
sign on to constraints that would have been an absolute no-go before.

Reading that I expect your next question to be: "Why doesn=E2=80=99t it get
adoption then?"

The short of it:
=2D USB
=2D Audio

For Audio I hope to be able to build a sound-translator that allows
starting programs without sound access and when the program tries to
access the sound device popping up a desktop notification and/or sending
wall note that asks the user to allow access.

That=E2=80=99s what the browsers do, but on an OS level. You no longer need=
 to
either trust applications not to send your microphone stream to a remote
server at any time or create dedicated users and start programs either
trusted or untrusted, and different from Windows you actually get
notifications when something tries to access audio (instead of silently
failing to work).

> I am reluctant to say something so discouraging, but when a project
> has not moved forward substantially in 30 years

This is false, too.

I used to write the Month of the Hurd before 2013 when I refocussed my
contributions on the Freenet Project to combat pervasive surveillance,
and I saw substantial steps forward every month. And this kept going.
We=E2=80=99re talking about a kernel, so steps might not be graphical, but =
it
moves.

A short story: When I was at FOSDEM a few years ago and Samuel held a
talk about the Hurd, I saw the looks of people who thought "Oh, Hurd
again didn=E2=80=99t move". So I asked a question: "What changed in the pas=
t 3
years?"

What followed by Samuel was a brief excerpt of huge improvements, one of
which was "you can now use subhurds without root access" which means
that in the Hurd there was no more need for anything dockerlike.

I don=E2=80=99t think that many people kept the feeling that Hurd isn=E2=80=
=99t moving
after getting the answer.

I can=E2=80=99t really blame you for thinking that the Hurd didn=E2=80=99t =
move, because
we don=E2=80=99t really communicate that well, and partly I=E2=80=99m to bl=
ame for that
because I don=E2=80=99t find the time in recent years to write updates. But=
 the
Hurd is moving substantially.

If you=E2=80=99re still not convinced, please have a look at the News of the
Hurd up to 2013: https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/news.html
That=E2=80=99s when I was still writing news entries.

Best wishes,
Arne
=2D-=20
Unpolitisch sein
hei=C3=9Ft politisch sein
ohne es zu merken

--=-=-=
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=JrkX
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--=-=-=--