This is GNU Mach, the GNU distribution of the Mach microkernel, . Welcome. GNU Mach is the microkernel upon which a GNU Hurd system is based. It provides an Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism that the Hurd uses to define interfaces for implementing in a distributed multi-server fashion the services a traditional operating system kernel provides. GNU Mach runs on 32-bit x86 machines. A version running on 64-bit x86 (x86_64) machines is in progress. Volunteers interested in ports to other architectures are sought; please contact us (see below) if you'd like to help. libmach, bootloaders, default pagers, and the like are not part of this distribution. For libraries, we refer you to the GNU C Library, which has Mach support. For bootloaders, we refer you to GRUB. (This kernel can be loaded by any bootloader that uses the multiboot standard.) For default pagers, we refer you to your particular system that you will run on top of Mach. The Mach Interface Generator (MIG) is no longer part of this distribution, and instead is packaged separately: GNU MIG. Generic installation instructions may be found in the file INSTALL. By default, most drivers for network boards are included, as well as drivers for IDE, SCSI and AHCI disks. If you want the in-kernel debugger compiled in, specify --enable-kdb to configure. This is only useful if you actually anticipate debugging the kernel, of course. We don't turn it on by default because it adds considerably to the unpageable memory footprint of the kernel. GNU Mach can be cross-built. No specific options need to be given when building on a 32-bit x86 ELF userland such as GNU/Linux. Manually switch the compiler to 32-bit mode when using a 64-bit x86 (x86_64) ELF toolchain: $ [...]/configure --host=i686-gnu CC='gcc -m32' LD='ld -melf_i386' or point to a 32-bit ELF toolchain: $ [...]/configure --host=i686-gnu CC=i686-linux-gnu-gcc LD=i686-linux-gnu-ld Also, GNU MIG needs to be a 32bit version to properly compile the interfaces, you can specify for instance $ [...]/configure --host=i686-gnu CC=i686-linux-gnu-gcc LD=i686-linux-gnu-ld MIG=i686-linux-gnu-mig Please read the FAQ at . Bug reports should be sent to or filed on . Requests for assistance should be sent to or filed on . You can also find us on the Freenode IRC network in the #hurd channel.