Name: Anonymous 2009-05-27 11:28
To attain Mastery, how many Kernels do I need to take apart and reassemble?
this question reveals that indeed thou hast touched upon an Ineffable Truth about Unix --- that thou canst not Plumb its Mysteries by mere Study but must become One with it through Practice. The true Way to the Knowledge of the Source is not the timid and footling way of the Student, but the Divine Foolery of the Hacker. Hack, then; strive against Mighty Problems, have joy in thy Striving, and let the Crashes fall where they may (maintaining the while, for the Good of thy Karma, a Rigorous Backup Policy).
In this day of Boot-Time Autoconfiguration and Dynamically Loadable Device Drivers, reassembling a Kernel is no longer the daunting Test and Seal of Mastery that once it was. However, writing and verifying thine own Device Driver for some piece of Exotic Hardware is still a worthy challenge to thy Budding Guruhood. Indeed, such Challenge may be found the Crafting of any Program sufficiently Powerful to Extend or Compete with the Tools now available in Open Source.
Therefore: seek thee out the Open Source Unixes: OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and most Especially Linux in many of its Incarnations. Join the Wizards and Aspirants to Wizardhood who Labor Unceasingly to Improve these. Commune with them in their Great Work, their unceasing Extension and Reinvention of Unix. In this wise may thou become one among the Mighty.
this question reveals that indeed thou hast touched upon an Ineffable Truth about Unix --- that thou canst not Plumb its Mysteries by mere Study but must become One with it through Practice. The true Way to the Knowledge of the Source is not the timid and footling way of the Student, but the Divine Foolery of the Hacker. Hack, then; strive against Mighty Problems, have joy in thy Striving, and let the Crashes fall where they may (maintaining the while, for the Good of thy Karma, a Rigorous Backup Policy).
In this day of Boot-Time Autoconfiguration and Dynamically Loadable Device Drivers, reassembling a Kernel is no longer the daunting Test and Seal of Mastery that once it was. However, writing and verifying thine own Device Driver for some piece of Exotic Hardware is still a worthy challenge to thy Budding Guruhood. Indeed, such Challenge may be found the Crafting of any Program sufficiently Powerful to Extend or Compete with the Tools now available in Open Source.
Therefore: seek thee out the Open Source Unixes: OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and most Especially Linux in many of its Incarnations. Join the Wizards and Aspirants to Wizardhood who Labor Unceasingly to Improve these. Commune with them in their Great Work, their unceasing Extension and Reinvention of Unix. In this wise may thou become one among the Mighty.