Hi,
hexcoder wrote:
I don't think it would be *too* difficult to get a very basic compatibility, but I think it's interesting to ponder nonetheless.
Are there any major obstacles that would render this impossible?
If you're writing a "monolithic Unix-like kernel", this might actually be easier than not providing Linux ABI compatibility because you won't need to make minor changes to things like C/POSIX libraries (e.g. you'd be able to use GNU's libraries "as is").
If you're not writing a "monothic Unix-like kernel" then it's impossible to say - it could be relatively easy, but it could be an extreme nightmare too.
Of course ABI compatibility isn't very useful on its own - almost all of the software is open source and easy to recompile; and to run Linux binaries without recompiling you'd have to provide more than just the ABI (e.g. same file system layout, same "/proc" file system, same environment variables, compatible graphics and sound libraries, ...).
Cheers,
Brendan