Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bagate!cbmvax!amix!ford From: ford@amix.commodore.com (Mike "Ford" Ditto) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: SVR4 vs OSF/1 (Was Re: A3000UX competition) Message-ID: <636@amix.commodore.com> Date: 13 Dec 90 09:23:33 GMT References: <2346@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> <1990Dec7.201504.11469@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <599@amix.commodore.com> In article mwm@raven.relay.pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) writes: > You're missing the point. You're right - users don't care about SVID. > Or about POSIX, the OSF AES, VR4, or OSF1. Users care about > applications. That's not quite true. Users do want to run applications, and application compatibility these days is specified by those sorts of standards. The ones you mentioned are mostly relevant to source compatibility (the day when people no longer expect Unix software to come with source will be a sad one IMHO), but corresponding binary standards also exist and will be important to users. And even with binary standards, POSIX, etc. still define the behavior of the system calls, system files, shell-level commands, etc. > Application writers care about POSIX/OSF/etc. If they need feature X, > and the standard they're using supplies it, then they can depend on it > being on _every_ system that conforms to that standard. Exactly, and when comparing SVR4, note what standards it provides (POSIX, X/OPEN, BSD, etc.). And all the SVR4-specific capabilities (and the older SysV functionality) are provided *in addition* to those. > If you're afraid that someone will make a stripped-down version of > some OS, that's a legitimate concern. But it's equally likely to > happen to OSF/1 as SVR4. > > Ah, but if they don't comply with the OSF AES, then they aren't an > OSF1 system. If they comply with SVID, and use a SysVR4 base, they are > a System V, and are SysVR4. That's where you're misinformed. The latest version of the SVID describes SVR2 and SVR3 - it's only useful for application writers who want to run on all SysV systems, and don't need the facilities of the more modern standards. I don't think there will be very many such applications. SVR4 has its own documentation and specifications, called the System V Release 4 {programmer's,user's,administrator's} reference manuals. You can buy these *today* at B. Dalton's or any book store with a good computer section. If you don't want to do that, take my word for it: it's a superset of POSIX, X/OPEN XPG3, and the SVID. And it applies to all SVR4 systems. > If AT&T > has changed the rules for what can & can't be called SysVR4, I missed > it, and apologize for the confusion. I think the "rules" for SVR4 have always been as I describe above. No apology necessary, I just hope everyone has this under contol now. -=] Ford [=- "The number of Unix installations (In Real Life: Mike Ditto) has grown to 10, with more expected." ditto@amix.commodore.com - The Unix Programmer's Manual, uunet!cbmvax!ditto 2nd Edition, June, 1972. ford@kenobi.commodore.com