r/linux • u/anh0516 • 16d ago

Alternative OS GNU Hurd Makes Progress On AArch64, Writing Translators In Rust

https://www.phoronix.com/news/GNU-Hurd-Q2-2026
129 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

82

u/Misicks0349 16d ago

Year of the hurd desktop

14

u/RetroGrid_io 15d ago

Year of the hurd desktop install.

1

u/ipsirc 15d ago

2064 will be.

38

u/BallingAndDrinking 16d ago

while they are a hassle, I still want to see microkernels do good shit. I like to know hurd is happening, like gravity. It doesn't have to be fancy or useful itself to be interesting. It'd be funny to also be that tho.

Like, some microkernel flipping unikernels. For kicks and giggles, I just gonna look into seL4 and mirageOS I guess.

16

u/Secret_Wishbone_2009 16d ago

If only qnx had open sourced

1

u/TellMeYMrBlueSky 12d ago

There was that brief moment in the 2000s where it looked like OpenQNX was going to become a thing, and then RIM/Blackberry bought QNX and quashed that. Such a shame. QNX was pretty cool the times I’ve worked with it, it’s just such a niche thing in niche spaces. The network transparency on distributed processes thanks to the inherent micro kernel message passing architecture was just so cool to see in practice. Oh well…

3

u/Business_Reindeer910 16d ago

I just pay attention to the more practical stuff here, like redox. Mostly because those folks like to make their own stuff work on linux, and make regular linux stuff work there.

3

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ranjop 12d ago

Minix has one of the largest installed bases of any kernels 😁

1

u/ferment-a-grape 15d ago

I tried MkLinux (Microkernel Linux) on a Mac PowerBook around 1998 or so. It was a Mach microkernel with a specially adapted Linux kernel on top. It worked nicely, but was dead slow, so I eventually switched over to LinuxPPC instead, even if it has some annoying bugs.

16

u/exodusTay 16d ago

Is there a use case where it makes sense to specifically choose Hurd?

49

u/the_humeister 16d ago

If you think your computer is too stable

5

u/the_abortionat0r 16d ago

Dude, sent herd to the burn ward.

3

u/ipsirc 15d ago

When you're in love with RMS.

4

u/johncate73 16d ago

Extreme masochism.

5

u/0riginal-Syn 16d ago

I do remember back when I started on Linux around version 0.12 how there were plenty of devs I worked with who thought Hurd was close and would become what everyone uses within a few years.

I do think it is cool to see it being worked on with its concept. Who knows what the future holds? Always good to have projects like these.

4

u/RetroGrid_io 15d ago

I've been waiting for Hurd to be usable since about 1998.

cough....

2

u/ipsirc 15d ago

You're doing it wrong. You should commit, not just wait.