Re: [dev] Suckless operating system

On 13 June 2010 23:09, Martin Kopta <martin_AT_kopta.eu> wrote:
> Some philosophical questions..
>
> What does it mean for an operating system to be suckless?

I think the Unix philosophy makes an OS "suckless". Each tool does
just one task and solves this task in the best way; and a universal
interface between each of these tools that allows combining those
tools to solve bigger tasks.

This approach is modular and quite future proof as the past has shown.

> What features should (or should not) an OS have in order to be suckless?

The point is not about the features it's more about the structural organisation.

> Are there suckless or close-to-be-suckless operating systems out there?

Sure, original Unix and Plan 9 are quite suckless. I think one can
achieve a suckless Linux system as well -- I know that the Linux
kernel is more complex than it needs to be, but if one sees the kernel
as single entity, the rest of a system can be quite suckless.

Cheers,
Anselm
Received on Mon Jun 14 2010 - 07:17:50 UTC