What is the Hurd?

The Hurd is a kernel (technically a set of servers which run on a micro kernel) which can used in a GNU/Hurd installation. Like GNU/Linux it is unix-like, but not unix. Remember, GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix".
At the moment the binaries of GNU/Hurd can be found in "sid" on Debian mirrors. It is about 50% the size of Debian GNU/Linux sid.

The installation CDs

The CD images are produced by Copyleft (that's me) for the GNU/Hurd community. They can be downloaded from http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/

I also have the DVD and CDs for sale. See Special Products for CD description and pricing information.

GNU/Hurd is an os in development and these discs are only recommended for intermediate and better unix/Linux hackers.

Support
I am not a Hurd hacker and I know nothing (yet) about the Hurd other than how to build and test the installation discs. Please refer to the Hurd documentation and mailing lists. However, comments about the installation CD would be welcome.

Legal

The material on the Hurd CDs is the copyright of their various owners. The iso images are Copyright 2008 E.P.G. (Philip) Charles. You can redistribute these CDs in their present or modified form under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or (at your option) any later version. This license can be viewed at www.copyleft.co.nz/GPL.html

I know the following kind notice is attached to almost all free software, but in this case take it seriously. These are beta? alpha? installation CDs of a developing operating system. This is the strongest wording I could find.

THESE IMAGES ARE PROVIDED BY E.P.G.(PHILIP) CHARLES ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL E.P.G.CHARLES OR OTHER CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

How the images are built.

The installation CDs are built with highly modified debian-cd scripts. In theory these CDs can be used to install Hurd on any system that can install Debian 3.0. All the Debian installation methods can be used. The Hurd binaries are included in the standard Debian format which means that they are dpkg, dselect and apt ready. The discs are rebuilt when the os has stabalised and incorporate a snap-shot of the binaries. A special GRUB floppy image is included as is the Debian documentation (it has a Linux taste though). There is some Hurd documentation as well, but a lot more is needed.

The Hurd and Linux - by Richard Stallman.

People sometimes ask, ``Why did the FSF develop a new free kernel instead of using Linux?'' It's a reasonable question. The answer, briefly, is that that is not the question we faced.
When we started developing the Hurd in 1990, the question facing us was, ``How can we get a free kernel for the GNU system?'' There was no free Unix-like kernel then, and we knew of no other plan to write one. The only way we could expect to have a free kernel was to write it ourselves. So we started.
We heard about Linux after its release. At that time, the question facing us was, ``Should we cancel the Hurd project and use Linux instead?''
We heard that Linux was not at all portable (this may not be true today, but that's what we heard then). And we heard that Linux was architecturally on a par with the Unix kernel; our work was leading to something much more powerful.
Given the years of work we had already put into the Hurd, we decided to finish it rather than throw them away.
If we did face the question that people ask---if Linux were already available, and we were considering whether to start writing another kernel ---we would not do it. Instead we would choose another project, something to do a job that no existing free software can do.
But we did start the Hurd, back then, and now we have made it work. We hope its superior architecture will make free operating systems more powerful.

[Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.] Updated: 16 Feb 1998 tower

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