UNIX KERNEL SOURCE CODE ??

[Ti Kan]

In article <1991Jan3.112435.5509 at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> bc at uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Ben Cox) writes:
>Minix is terrific.  It goes for around $80, not including the book (whose exact
>title I forget) which is available separately for around $50.  Check the group
>comp.os.minix for details -- there is a monthly post which gives the details.
>Minix is a very good way to learn the basics about how the kernel works,
>although it's not *really* the same.

Minix is not at all like real UNIX.  The design and source is _completely_
different.  Minix supports no virtual memory, and many customary UNIX
kernel functionality (such as the filesystem and process scheduling) are
implemented as user processes that communicate with the kernel via a
special message scheme.  Minix is useful for a student learning about
a possible way to approach operating system design, but it is _not_ useful
as a tool to learn about the internals of real UNIX (whichever flavor of
UNIX you prefer, be it System V, BSD, Xenix, or whatever) because of
the drastic differences, and it is certainly _not_ a useful OS to do real
work on due to its limitations.

-Ti
-- 
Ti Kan | vorsprung durch technik!                                       \\\
Internet: ti at altos.com                                                   \\\
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