Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!mcsun!ukc!yorkohm!u8acb
From: u8acb@ohm.york.ac.uk (+Alex Barclay)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Arrrrghhh... Who needs an operating system anyway!!!!!
Message-ID: <1991Jun28.134614.11869@ohm.york.ac.uk>
Date: 28 Jun 91 13:46:14 GMT
Organization: Electronics Department, University of York, UK
Lines: 23

I have just upgraded my ageing distribution of 1.2 minix to 1.3 and what do
I find.... The _port_in and _port_out have been moved out of klib88.s and
into libc.a. Why bother to have an operating system in the first place if
you are going to allow users to access the hardware?????

I always worked to a very simple rule when deciding if a routine belonged
in the kernel or elsewhere. I ask myself "Does it access hardware?" If the
answer is yes then it goes in the kernel... NO EXCEPTIONS. If the answer is
no then it's a toss up as to wether it belongs in a user process (daemon)
or in a system task. Like mm and fs in minix.

What is going on here? Have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick here
or is 1.3 the biggest mistake since VMS??

Surely you people out there in netland have some views about this. Lets
hear them!!!!

			Alex.

--
She stares at the screen, At the little words of green,
Tries to remember what to do next.  225 - NMA
acb5@vaxa.york.ac.uk (Main) or u8acb@ohm.york.ac.uk (Dept)