[wplug] kernels

[Chris Romano]

Sorry Bill I didn't mean to send that to you.

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:07:17 -0400, Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
>
>
> Chris Romano <romano.chris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Because the list is so quiet today, I will throw this out to everyone
> > to see what they think.  I have been thinking about this lately.
> >
> > Will kernels become interchangable?  The next version of Novell's
> > server OS will include the netware kernel and the linux kernel.  With
> > the BSDs working on running Linux apps, and the possibility of Sun
> > opening up Solaris, that list could grow.  Will you be able to
> > download the Distro of choice and pick the kernel that you want?  So
> > all the apps stay the same but just different kernels?
>
> This would be a logical next step, and A Good Thing(tm) in my
> opinion.
>
> Since one of the primary goals of a kernel is to abstract the userland
> software from the hardware, it would make sense that each hardware
> manufacturer could generate their own kernel.  Then you could install
> whatever userland you preferred on top of that, and be happy.
>
> Obviously, the world isn't that ideal.  The BSD kernels don't even
> do syscalls quite the same way the Linux kernels do, and there are
> certain features that the BSDs have that Linux doesn't (kqueues,
> for example) and I'm sure there are features that that each different
> kernel has that not all others have.
>
> So, I don't think it will ever get to the point of kernels being
> completely interchangable.  I do think that we already have an
> excellent amount portability.  Look at how many programs were
> designed for Linux that complile and run just fine on FreeBSD!
> Look at how much OSS stuff builds and runs without problems on
> Solaris.

I completely agree and hope that it goes that way, but I don't see it
happening anytime soon.  Although, I don't think that hardware venders
should create/maintain their own kernels.   I think that doing that
would be to hard to switch hardware platforms and such.  Where would
you draw the line to who has their own kernel?  Any/All CPU,
motherboard, SCSI, encryption chips, GPU, etc manufactors or companies
that sell complete machines like Dell, IBM, SUN, HP, etc?

Chris