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From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Ftp'able ANSI C and POSIX drafts.
Message-ID: <7337@star.cs.vu.nl>
Date: 17 Aug 90 15:40:03 GMT
References: <27719@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Sender: news@cs.vu.nl
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Lines: 21

In article <27719@nigel.ee.udel.edu> phi@insearch.cam.org (phi) writes:
>Hello Gurus,
>		I have been reading here about ANSIfication and POSIXfication
>		for Minix. Does this mean that when (v2.0 ?) Minix is fully
>		POSIX conformant and equiped with an ANSI C compiler (next
>		release of ACK-C for Minix ?) then I can compile and run any
>		program written in ANSI C for POSIX conformant systems, under
>		Minix ?

Pretty much.  However, there are a couple of caveats.  POSIX has some
options, such as job control.  An application that makes (incorrect)
assumptions about which options are present will not work.  However, an
application that only uses those features REQUIRES to be present, should
work on MINIX, subject to the 64K + 64K address space limit on the PC.
That will be around for the near future, anyway.

Also be aware that there are not many POSIX applications at present.  A
POSIX conformant system will not necessarily run BSD or System V programs
unless these restrict themselves to using only features mandated by POSIX.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)