I don't know how many of you subscribe to the perl journal (you all should, it's a good magazine) but in the latest issue, there is an article on Perlix, a unix OS using only perl, such as GNU/Linux uses C. The state this OS was in had it currently sitting on top of a Linux kernel, and the writer asked for anyone willing to take the challenge to write a kernel in Perl.

I would like to start some sort of project to write this kernel in Perl. I know quite a bit of perl, but hardly enough to truly lead this project, let alone even try to write the kernel on my own. I have always wanted to learn low level programming (like device drivers) and this sounds like a fun thing in which i could partake. What i would need is for a monk that is very knowledgable to lead this (someone who knows how to actually write a kernel. I don't) I would help as much as I could, i think I could get the hang of it quite quickly. The kernel should be POSIX compliant of course, and will use perlfs. Any interested parties, email me with information on experience, knowledge, etc. Newbies are of course welcome (I being one myself) and I will try to organize some way that we can discuss working on this. I hope this idea can get organized enough to work. It would be alot of fun if it did.

@:::::::((==========Rydor====>

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
(bbq) RE: Perlix Kernel project
by BBQ (Curate) on Aug 16, 2000 at 02:29 UTC
    Sounds like a cool project! But, if you're thinking of developing a serious kernel, wouldn't it be wise to remember ye 'ol saying? (right tools for the right job)

    Just because you can write anything in perl,
    its not necessarily a good idea to do so!

    #!/home/bbq/bin/perl
    # Trust no1!
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      : But for some things, Perl just isn't the optimal choice.
       
      (yet) :-) -- Larry Wall in <199702221943.LAA20388@wall.org> 
      Paris Sinclair    |    4a75737420416e6f74686572
pariss@efn.org    |    205065726c204861636b6572
http://sinclairinternetwork.com
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RE: Perlix Kernel project
by Rydor (Scribe) on Aug 16, 2000 at 05:19 UTC
    Well, i think perl is the best programming language with which to write an all perl operating system. It would nice if the OS was serious, but remember ye old other saying:

    You don't know how good something is until you take a monkey wrench and beat it like a dead horse

    @:::::::((==========Rydor====>
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RE: Perlix Kernel project
by Mork29 (Scribe) on Aug 20, 2000 at 05:55 UTC
    I guess i'm going back to that quote thats been said, just cuz you can doesn't mean you should. However, in the end, what is the point a normal unix machine can run lots of languages, including perl (of couse with an interpreter) this one runs only perl what is the point? is there any bonus in this? or are there really people with that much extra time on their hands?
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RE: Perlix Kernel project
by princepawn (Parson) on Aug 16, 2000 at 21:41 UTC
    Well, there was also a lot of talk about Perl Power Tools, Tom Christiansen's project to re-implement the unix utilities in Perl.
    And an earlier issue of TPJ had some guy talking about a Perl machine, which he never produced.
    Just two other unfinished ambitious Perl projects to add to the list...
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      I believe the perl machine (shaped like a clam shell?) was an april fools joke of some sort, though more of the 'kernel of truth in humour' sort of thing. I'd think the tough part of a kernel in perl would be ... well, wouldn't the driver level stuff have to be compiled to machine code to get it to work? I mean, if you boot up enough of a kernel to get a perl interpreter working, haven't you just got linux (or whatever) running perl?

      'course there's talk of embedded perl for odd devices, so maybe I should shutup.

      a (but not logged in due to password/cookie troubles)

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