Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpfcso!hpfcdc!perry
From: perry@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Perry Scott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Backwards compatibility in Series 300 HPUX?
Message-ID: <5570455@hpfcdc.HP.COM>
Date: 27 Jul 90 22:59:56 GMT
References: <9992@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: HP Ft. Collins, Co.
Lines: 27

>Can I take the executable file of a program compiled under HPUX 7.0
>and run it under earlier versions (say 6.5 or 6.2)?
>
>Presumably the answer is "it depends".  The particular case I'm interested
>in today is a program that uses curses(3) and hence the terminfo database;
>it does not use X Windows or any other graphics stuff, nor any networking
>libraries.  For future reference, though, I'd also like to know about
>object code portability of X Windows applications.
>				tom lane

HP generally makes an effort to allow programs compiled on previous
systems to work on the current system without recompiling.  If you
think about all the 3rd party binaries out there, you can see why
this is important.

You're talking about the opposite direction, though.  If fields have
been added to structures in release N+1, then revision N software is
going to have trouble understanding it.  This is probably true for X
applications, where data structures are passed between the application
and X server.

Trouble spots are usually found where the program talks to the outside
world, such as the kernel or to the X server.


Perry Scott
"not necessarily representing the policy of HP"