I updated the qoth based on Sergey's suggestions. It does suggest that
Sergey's vm entry merging does help ext2fs performance. Is that true?
Luca seems to think so.
Joshua
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+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]]
+
+[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable
+id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
+document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
+any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
+Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license
+is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation
+License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
+
+[[!meta date="2024-01-05 22:22 UTC"]]
+
+Hello! Welcome to a new qoth. This qoth covers new and interesting GNU/Hurd
+developments in Q4 of 2023!
+[[!if test="included()" then="""[[!toggle id=full_news
+text="Details."]][[!toggleable id=full_news text="[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]"""
+else="
+[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]
+
+[[!cut id="full_news" text="""
+
+Samuel Thibault fixed gcc's Hurd's default pie and [[added static pie
+support|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-10/msg00061.html]].
+He also added a [[whatis
+command|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-10/msg7.html]]
+to GNU Mach's kernel debugger, which can determine what an
+address points to (a stack? a port? some kalloc? ...). He also added
+[[hurd-amd64 support to
+GCC|https://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2023/11/msg00039.html]].
+
+Samuel requested that the Hurd team set up a [[continuous
+integration,|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-12/msg7.html]]
+so that when developers make code changes, they can be certain that
+they did not break anything. It turns out that the Hurd supports
+several different environments: 32 bit, 64 bit, 32-on-64 bit, ACPI,
+non-ACPI, SMP, non-SMP, Xen, etc. Apparently Flavio has a [[personal
+CI|https://github.com/flavioc/cross-hurd/actions/runs/7080757561]],
+but it is set up in a Debian independent way. If you are interested in
+helping the Hurd project set up a CI, then please get in touch!
+
+Luca Dariz worked on adding [[some simple GNU Mach user-space tests
+|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-10/msg00031.html]].
+With a working MiG, a GNU/Linux machine can run make check in the
+GNU Mach source code, which will launch qemu to ensure that 32 bit (PAE
+and non PAE), 32 on 64 bit, and full 64 bit GNU Mach works. We
+currently do this testing on via GNU/Linux, because qemu does not run
+on the Hurd.
+
+Many people worked on the Hurd's new [[x86_64 bit
+support|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-10/msg00036.html]].
+A 64-bit debian bbuild is set up, and we can bootstrap a chroot! The
+hurd-amd64 wanna-build infrastructure is also set up. We are having
+issues reliably building packages on a 64-bit Hurd, which lead Samuel
+to uncover and fix [[a proc
+leak|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-11/msg00035.html]].
+
+Flavio Cruz [[improved GNU Mach's
+IPC|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-11/msg00033.html]]
+by reordering `mach_msg_type_t` fields to byte align `msgt_name` and
+`msgt_size`. He also created a patch series to [[avoid message
+resizing for
+x86_64|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-11/msg00028.html]].
+He also [[removed untyped mach RPC
+code|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-11/msg00026.html]].
+GNU Mach uses typed IPC. The Hurd could support both typed and
+untyped, but it appears that the Hurd only uses typed RPC. So it
+seems best to remove any untyped RPC code.
+
+Sergey Bugaev added [[GNU Mach entry re-coalescing
+support|https://darnassus.sceen.net/~hurd-web/open_issues/gnumach_vm_map_entry_forward_merging/]].
+Essentially, Mach is not always able to merge two vm entries that are
+made next to each other, which slows down ext2 and bash. Sergey
+allowed GNU Mach to merge entries in the common cases, which greatly
+helps ext2fs.
+
+Sergey is also working on [[porting the Ladybird web
+browser|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-11/msg00013.html]]
+to the Hurd. The author of this post uses the [[netsurf web
+browser|https://www.netsurf-browser.org/]] on the Hurd, which works on
+simple websites like wikipedia, but it badly renders javascript heavy
+websites, which makes many websites un-useable. If Sergey is
+successful in porting [[Ladybird|https://ladybird.dev/]], then Hurd
+users could start using sites like Github! It is worth noting that
+someone should update the [[Firefox
+port|https://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2014/
