Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!mtuxo!mtgzx!avr
From: avr@mtgzx.att.com (a.v.reed)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What kinds of things would you want in the GNU OS?
Summary: Fix design bugs
Keywords: GNU OS features kernel
Message-ID: <5054@mtgzx.att.com>
Date: 25 May 89 21:24:05 GMT
References: <106326@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <10317@smoke.BRL.MIL> <106584@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ
Lines: 24

In article <106584@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM (news) writes:
> In article <10317@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>>What kinds of things should be in the GNU Kernel?
>My opinion is that the GNU kernel should either provide an exact
>duplicate of a standard UNIX system interface, preferably SVR4,
>or it should be a quantum leap forward in OS design.  The latter
>will not be achieved by piling "features" into it.

The problem with most evolved OSs is that implementation bugs
get fixed, but fundamental design bugs tend to stay around. How
many times have you wished that directories were flat text files,
so you could use "grep" and other text tools on them? How many
times have you wished for a flat text "/inodes" file for each
file system? How many times have you wished that /proc contained
directories with a separate file for each segment? or to be able
to attach a shared memory segment just by opening an in-memory
file?

I would applaud GNU if, instead of copying an existing
design, or trying for a quantum leap, or piling on features, they
just designed their kernel and file system to correct the most
annoying wrong turns of the existing designs. Am I dreaming?

				Adam_V_Reed@att.com