Debian > Debian GNU > Debian GNU/Hurd

This page attempts to be a reference for all resources related to Debian GNU/Hurd that can be useful for users and developers. Feel free to add more stuff as you see fit.

"In a discussion with the Debian Hurd porters it was decided that the Hurd port stays on FTPMaster until Wheezy is released. Should they have managed to get the port into a state that it is released together with all the others (probably as a technology preview), it is kept in the archive. Should they not manage this the port will be removed from the main archive and move fully to debian-ports.org."¹

What is Debian GNU/Hurd ?

Debian GNU/Hurd is an operating system from Debian, but which uses GNU Hurd, which a set of servers, running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel instead of the kernel named Linux (thus the name Debian GNU/Hurd). Some day, most applications will exist both in Debian GNU/Hurd and in Debian GNU/Linux.

Basic info

• Official port site

• GNU's GNU Hurd

• Installation and testing:

  • http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install

    • Debian "Sid" debian-installer images available http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/installer/cdimage/.

    • This is the prefered method of install.

  • Cross Hurd

  • Pre-build image files (*.img.*) at http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/hurd-i386/

• ?Debian_GNU/Hurd_FAQ

• TheHurd page. (Merge?)

• User/developer discussion mailing list

• Last bits from the project

• IRC channel: #hurd on irc.freenode.net (not irc.debian.org)

Goals for releasing in wheezy

• buildd
  • security
  • DSA
• proper dhcp support in installed system
  • use ifup/ifdown instead of translators entry?
• debian-ports packages need to be integrated in the main archive.

  • acl, to remove

  • bash, to remove

    • Only to fix a rare segfault, now in unstable.
  • binutils

    • 629866

    • Not critical, can live without
  • cardmgr-gnumach
    • wifi, not mandatory
  • console-driver-xkb
    • we should probably just integrate it in the hurd package

  • cscope, to remove

  • e2fsprogs, to remove

  • ecl
    • not installable, can live without, to remove

  • eglibc, to remove

  • exim4, to remove

  • fakeroot, to remove

  • gamin

    • needs few patches already sent in various bugzilla.gnome.org reports:

      • https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=315644

      • https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=588337

      • https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=605246

    • 637019

    • Fixed, to remove
  • gcc-4.4 gcc-4.6

    • 629866

    • not critical, can live without

  • gdb, to remove

  • gdm3, to remove

  • gem2deb, to remove

    • drops ruby 1.9.1 support, as it is not available on hurd
  • ghc6
    • Difficult hang during build
    • uninstallable in ports

  • gnutls26

    • 636949

    • to remove
  • gopherfs
    • ITP: hurdextras?
  • graphviz

    • 648520

  • grub2
    • decide on partition stuff, and submit

  • gtest, remove

  • guile-1.8

    • linked with -lpthread, to avoid dlopen(lpthread) bug, http://bugs.debian.org/646544

    • 630415 shows that guile-2.0 will have pthread enabled anyway.

  • hdf5

    • 627896 , fixed in experimental

    • to remove
  • hyperestraier
    • not mandatory
  • icon
    • not mandatory
  • ifupdown
    • TODO
  • isc-dhcp

    • 616290

  • libarchive, remove

  • libdrm
    • This is just a stub. integrate in the main archive?

  • libpthread-stubs, remove

  • libusb
    • This is just a stub. integrate in the main archive?
  • lockdev
    • TODO

  • mpi-defaults, remove

    • 553701

  • netio
    • ITP: hurdextras?
  • packagekit

    • 645553

    • "fixed" version now fails to build with old iceweasel 7...
  • parted
    • decide on partition stuff, and submit
  • pulseaudio

    • See http://www.pulseaudio.org/ticket/817 : upstream is not very responsive...

    • see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42715

      • needs also SA_NOCLDWAIT
      • needs symbol fixes in the Debian packaging
  • qdbm

    • make check fails due to unimplemented msync(), 648663

    • does not honor nocheck in DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS, 648649

  • random-egd
    • make it an alternative to Marcus' C implementation
    • not mandatory
  • ruby1.9.1

    • Fix __libc_stack_end in glibc, pending

    • apply patch to fix struct dirent size once upstream agreed.

    • fix PATH_MAX issue, 648055

  • sane-backends-extras
    • not mandatory
  • screen

    • trivial fix on 522689 , uploaded to experimental

  • sudo, to remove.

    • Disable setresuid use, now fixed in libc0.3 .22~.
  • tarfs
    • ITP: hurdextras?

  • tcp-wrappers, to remove

  • wireless-tools-gnumach
    • for wifi, probably not mandatory
• Be able to install from official mirror (should be almost done, missing grub/parted, dhcp)
• Integrate DDE to get nowadays' network support.
• Get Xorg + gnome/kde/xfce (xfce should work, kde is missing working dbus (due to local socket auth and bugs in select() cornercases)) + some webbrowser working (iceweasel works).

• Fix ext2fs uncleanness at reboot http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/open_issues/sync_but_still_unclean_filesystem.html

• Switch to plain sysv startup?
• Enable console by default? (we now have proper kernel message relaying)
• Good archive coverage.
  • We're at 70%, kfreebsd is at 88%. Although probably not reachable, we can probably do better with
    • ghc
    • mono
    • gnat

    • ruby1.9.1

Goals for later

• IPv6 support in d-i (after it is settled for linux).

Developer info

• DD-accessible machines running GNU/Hurd:

  • hurd-i386: see ArchiveQualification/hurd-i386

• ArchiveQualification/hurd-i386

• Debian GNU/Hurd port on alioth

• Debian GNU/Hurd Development

• TODO file, with all sorts tasks we need help on

• NOTES about package status in official archive

• Packages with uninstallable Build-Depends

• Uninstallable packages (EDOS debcheck)

• Basic porting information

• Our patches directory

• Patches that are only needed for Debian (either because they're fixed-upstream, or because of their Debian-specific nature)

• Patches submitted in the Debian BTS

• General FTBFS also affect us (dschepler@gmail.com)

• General FTBFS also affect us (lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net)

• Build logs of Debian GNU/Hurd

• Hurd package on alioth

• crosshurd on alioth

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