Re: LINUX is obsolete Linux Inside
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Re: LINUX is obsolete

In article <1992Jan30.013643.3248@menudo.uh.edu>, by kevin@nuchat.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown):
 
> The *entire* system call interface in Minix needs to be rethought.  As it
> stands right now, the file system is not just a file system, it's also a
> system-call server.  That functionality needs to be separated out in order
> to facilitate a multiple file system architecture.  Message passing is
> probably the right way to go about making the call and waiting for it, but
> the message should go to a system call server, not the file system itself.
> 
> In order to handle all the special caveats of the Unix API, you end up writing
> a monolithic "kernel" even if you're using a microkernel base.  You end up
> with something called a "server", and an example is the BSD server that runs
> under Mach.
> 
> And, in any case, the message-passing in Minix needs to be completely redone.
> As it is, it's a kludge.  I've been giving this some thought, but I haven't
> had time to do anything with what I've thought of so far.  Suffice it to say
> that the proper way to do message-passing is probably with message ports
> (both public and private), with the various visible parts of the operating
> system having public message ports.  Chances are, that ends up being the
> system call server only, though this will, of course, depend on the goals
> of the design.
 
It gets to sound more and more like Tripos and the Amiga :-)

Allan Duncan	ACSnet	 aduncan@trl.oz
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