Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Tue, 18 Feb 1997 20:26:59 -0500 (EST) | From | "David R. McGown" <> | Subject | RE: linux on nt. |
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I have Softway's OpenNT running on my NT Box. It is an attempt to provide a functional POSIX subsystem to NT (Microsoft's supplied POSIX subsystem was pathetic), capable of running unix command, utilities, and shell programs, with header files and libraries to allow the porting of Unix software to run on NT's POSIX subsystem using Microsofts Visual C++ compiler. The goal is to have OpenNT certified to Spec95, and can be eventially bid as UNIX on government bids and proposals.
It seems to work fairly well, the shell is a port of pdksh, which is a vast improvement over the moronic DOS shell. It will execute both POSIX and Win32 commands from the shell. The last I looked, tar (well pax), could not address tape devices, a serious deficiency for cross platform operability. I have not been successful in porting software to OpenNT, though to be honest, I didn't try very hard.
The architecture of WindowsNT has always allowed subsystems such as POSIX, OS/2, and Win16 riding on top of the NT executive layer, using the Win32 subsystem to handle the user interface.
There are alternative to the approach taken by Softway System, which may give more functionally, albeit using the Win32 Subsystem, not the POSIX subsystem. One is Mortice Kern Systems MKS Toolkit, which provides a set of Unix commands and utilities (including a working TAR, as I understand) running of Windows 3.1, 95, and NT systems. This is commercial, and the last I checked, more expensive than the OpenNT Command and Utilities. The other is an effort to port the entire GNU set of compiliers, commands and utilities to run on Windows95 and WindowsNT. This effort is GNU-Win32 project, under the leadership of Cygnus Software, a commercial supporter of GNU software tools. This is free for the download, go to http://www.cygnus.com for the details. It is significant to note that this effort started on Linux, cross-compiling to Win32 until a self-hosting compiler could be built. A number of major packages have been ported. It should be noted that this compiler produces executables running on the Win32 subsystem, *not* the POSIX subsystem, and therefore cannot take advantage of the POSIX NTFS extensions that OpenNT can.
Having a little familiarity with the NT architectural concepts, I think it would be close to impossible to implement Linux on top of WindowsNT in a way similar to MkLinux. Although NT uses a micro-like kernel, with additional system and modules making up the NT Executive, the Win32 Subsystem must be present in memory at all times, providing the GUI and coordinating I/O with all the other subsystems. I would think that an "NT Linux" would have to be subsystem based, similar to OpenNT's POSIX subsystem, for it to work, and would have to be implemented to talk to the Win32 subsystem.
David
On 18-Feb-97 Kao Moua wrote: >i came across a press release that a company (Softway) will be developing a >unix process for windows nt. > >is this a possibilty w/ linux? > >how different is this from the mklinux project? also are the mklinux >modifactions part of the current kernel? or are they a seperate branch now?
====================================================================== David R. McGown dmcgown@access.digex.net -o-O-o- LINUX INSIDE! Home: (703)683-1599 206 Adams Ave ALPHA GENERATION! Work: (703)416-1240 Alexandria, VA 22301
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