GNU Hurd 2026 Q2: Rust Translators, Dynamic Device Nodes, and AArch64 Progress
GNU Hurd News 2026-Q2
The GNU Hurd project's Q2 2026 update highlights a Rust-based trivfs implementation, dynamic device node population via partfs, and a WIP 9pfs translator. Contributors added write support to 9pfs, fixed POSIX compliance in msync, and enabled privileged users to set task priorities. AArch64 kernel patches were proposed, and OpenNTPD was ported. The community also worked on ext3/ext4 journaling, Neovim, and CI improvements.
Once Mikhail's project is done, then the Hurd will dynamically populate SATA devices at boot time! No more need for static translators!
- inigyou
Cool to finally see some small silly tech stuff here that isn't trying to make money.
- jnpnj
It seems Samuel Thibault is still there, sweet.
ps: some slides from earlier this year https://fosdem.org/2026/events/attachments/7FZXHF-updates_on...
full vid here https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/7FZXHF-updates_on_gnu...
- csb6
Does anyone more familiar with Hurd know how they addressed performance issues encountered by other Mach-based kernels? I remember reading that one of Mach's bottlenecks was validating that each IPC message had proper permissions/access when sending them between processes due to the large number and frequency of messages.
- isityettime
> I plan to build bootable images and boot
the kernel on Apple M1
GuixSD with GNU Hurd would be a really fun way to repurpose an old MBP.
- MisterTea
> 9pfs for the Hurd
From the wiki:
> 9P is perhaps not as robust or as fault tolerant as NFS
How is it not robust? What metric did they use? Fault tolerance is not explained here so I don't know what they mean by this. You can use aan(8) on 9front which runs on each side of the connection and holds it open if the network breaks, then resume on reconnect.
- sirsinsalot
I hope Hurd has its day. Maybe in 100 years or something.
- shaggie76
I can't help but feel disappointed that after 35 years the first thing they're talking about is an SVG logo. I mean, there's a certain novelty that it was made on a laptop running Hurd itself, but still I was left with a sense that progress is meandering and whimsical.
I remember being excited by Hurd's ambitions after studying Tanenbaum's OS book in university and drinking the microkernel kool-aid; now I'm too old and jaded to believe it'll be a viable alternative.
- fithisux
The D compiler port to Hurd is very interesting