Linux-kernel mailing list archive 1999-22,: Re: is Linux obsolete?

# Re: is Linux obsolete?

Oscar Levi (elf@buici.com)
Sun, 30 May 1999 21:42:33 -0700

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On Sun, May 30, 1999 at 10:39:24PM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> > The quintessential microkernel operating system is Mach. It is based
> > on passing messages between independent services. The memory
>
> Please don't use Mach as an example. Mach is a research tool, it is very
> big, it nowdays uses the same address space for the kernel too.

Oh no. I'm not a Mach fan.

Since the original question was about the nature of microkernels, Mach
is a well-known example from a design standpoint. Amiga's success is
hard to measure since the product failed commercially, albeit in part
by Microsoft's shady maneuverings. Mach lives in the NeXT. Another
commercial product using message-passing microkernel is called Chorus,
produced by a French concern. And, there's QNX as you mentioned. NT
would not be characterized as a message passing system, nor as a
microkernel by any discerning designer.

As far as my studies went, there's a general belief that message
passing tends to be a little slower than kernels like LT's. A
now-defunct project called SPIN at the University of Washington
developed a traditional, procedural kernel using a modified version of
Modula3. They enforced protection within the kernel by using this
strict type-safe language. The idea worked out OK. You could inject
a Web server into the kernel and see impressive throughput. But then
again, you had to code in Modula3.

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