Re: [Ghm-discuss] Main Topic for 2012

[Rick C. Hodgin]

Neal,

Well, it's not a joke, Neal.  And I'm not to be harsh or mean.  But GNU 
is incomplete without the HURD.  Linux works, but it's not GNU.  It's 
GNU plus Linux, or GNU/Linux.

We need a complete free operating system that is not tied to Linux, but 
is largely compatible with it.

Consider the time involved:
1984 - GNU begins.
1991 - Kernel development begins.
2012 - Everything is complete except the kernel.

That's 21 years of explicit kernel development time, and 28 years of GNU 
development overall.

The topic seems clear. What exactly is our plan to get this thing [GNU] 
finished?

Stallman almost collapsed recently.  Had to cut a speech short early, go 
to the hospital.  He used to joke about writing a free operating system, 
or die trying (he would say, "Presumably of old age").  Why does it have 
to be like that?  How many GNU hackers are there?  How many of them 
would be willing to agree to devote their energies to helping the HURD 
developers complete the project, get it out of a wonky unusable, 
untrustworthy state, and into something that's ready for production?  
And also to move it out of i386-only, and into supporting i386 and x86-64?

Something needs to happen.  GNU is not complete and never will be until 
there is a functioning GNU-based kernel at its core.

My thoughts and opinions.  Call me if you like.  317-879-6374.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

On 06/01/2012 12:25 PM, Neal H. Walfield wrote:
> At Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:55:25 -0400,
> Rick C. Hodgin wrote:
> > I suggest this:
> >
> > WHAT EXACTLY IS OUR PLAN TO GET THIS THING FINISHED???
> I guess this is a joke: I'm not sure software is ever finished, just
> abandoned.  Or, what do you mean?  In particular, what is "THIS"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Neal