On Fri, 15 Dec 2000, "SteveB" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
SteveB> Sorry for such a basic question, but I have been looking and can't
SteveB> find the answer. Is FreeBSD as microkernel or monolithic kernel like
SteveB> Linux? Can someone point me to the answer/
It's a monolithic kernel, like Linux and all other mainstream UNIX
flavours except for OSF1 (ie. Digital UNIX or True64), which is based
on a hacked-up version of the MACH microkernel. Even then, most
microkernel researchers won't consider OSF1 a microkernel, as Digital
(now Compaq) worked around the MACH problem (which is an i-cache hog)
by moving much functionality back into the kernel. Now that I think of
it, there aren't many commercial microkernel systems out there with
the possible exception of QNX and lots of little embedded toys. NT,
sometimes claimed to be a microkernel, is far from it. Rather, it's
simply another reasonably-well structured kernel. With 300+ system
calls in the nucleus, the NT kernel handles just about everything
except for major GUI tasks.
Pat.
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Patryk Zadarnowski University of New South Wales
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> School of Computer Science and Engineering
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