[GRLUG] What is Linux ?

[Ron Lauzon]

Bob Kline wrote:
> Your last line seems key.  An extreme statement, put "everything" in 
> to the kernel and call the result Linux.

No.  "Put everything in the kernel" is Windows.  That's one of the 
reasons why something like a printer driver can destablize Windows.

> I don't doubt there are a lot of philosophical wars waged about this 
> point.  For most of us it's probably much ado about nothing,  because 
> in the end the issue of the usefulness of the result - OS + 
> applications - and most of us probably don't care much how things are 
> partitioned in achieving the result.  One way or  another,  the 
> "stuff" has to go somewhere.  The argument for a smallish kernel,  
> a.k.a. resource manager,  based on standard system calls is the 
> portability of applications of all kinds.

Computer science has already proven that building systems out of small, 
easy to test, components makes for more robust and reliable systems.

By extension, building an OS from small, easy (relatively speaking) to 
test, components makes for a more robust and reliable OS.

-- 
Ron Lauzon - rlauzon at acm dot org
   Homepage: http://7lauzon.home.comcast.net/
   Weblog: http://ronsapartment.blogspot.com/

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Microsoft Free since July 06, 2001
Running Mandriva Linux 2007