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From: bp@cs.brown.edu (Boris Putanec)
Newsgroups: comp.os.mach
Subject: Re: OS/2 3.0 and Mach
Message-ID: <BP.91May2142827@hobbes.cs.brown.edu>
Date: 2 May 91 18:28:27 GMT
References: <91May2.133443edt.8766@orasis.vis.toronto.edu>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Brown University
Lines: 51
In-reply-to: green@vis.toronto.edu's message of 2 May 91 17:35:03 GMT

In article <91May2.133443edt.8766@orasis.vis.toronto.edu> green@vis.toronto.edu (Anthony Thomas Green) writes:

   "...OS/2 3.0's core component is the Executive, a kernel that performs
   memory management, process and thread management, and synchronization
   between multiple processors.
    On top of the Executive is a set of protected subsystems that provide
   the necessary services to run a mix of applications, including Windows,
   OS/2 and POSIX programs."

   OS/2 3.0 is designed to be mostly hardware independent for easy ports to
   different machines.

   Am I crazy or does this sound exactly like Mach?

Actually, it sounds exactly like Chorus. Protected subsystems
(supervisor actors) is a feature of Chorus used to implement servers
that exist in the system address space. This allows a subsystem to
provide a trap interface to the outside world. Incidentally, Chours
also calls their core component the Executive.

Interestingly enough, OS/2 3.0 seems to lack IPC as a fundamental
service. IPC plays a major role throughout the design and
implementation of both Chorus and Mach. I wonder how Microsoft is
going to do it.

If anyone is interested in getting Chorus information, here is a blurb
from one of their README files,

    The following papers/reports describing the Chorus Micro-kernel, its
    distributed, multi-server version of Unix (MiX), and a few sundry items,
    are available via anonymous FTP from two sites:

	     For Europe (or if it's closest) from Chorus systemes in France

	     opera.chorus.fr
	     192.33.15.3

	     in directory pub/chorus-reports


	     For the USA (or if it's closest) from Oregon Graduate Institute
	     in the USA

	     cse.ogi.edu
	     129.95.10.2

	    in directory pub/chorus-reports


boris
bp@cs.brown.edu