Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!rex!uflorida!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!se-sd!cns!dltaylor
From: dltaylor@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Dan Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: A3000UX vs. Sun Sparc
Message-ID: <895@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM>
Date: 19 Apr 91 21:23:44 GMT
References: <44277@ut-emx.uucp> <0&1G2r9p1@cs.psu.edu> <892@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <1991Apr17.153934.3192@convex.com>
Organization: NCR Corp. SE-San Diego
Lines: 41

In <1991Apr17.153934.3192@convex.com> swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) writes:

>Sun runs sysV, just like the Amiga.

No, SunOS is not System V, yet.  Sun is MIGRATING to System V, 'specially
since AT&T bought a chunk.  AT&T also included many bsd and SunOS features
into System V.  They do have a port of OpenLook running on the SPARC.

>So how can the Sun OS be closer to BSD than the Amiga SVR4?

SunOS was originally based on a combination of version 7, bsd, and a
proprietary overlay of Sun networking and display features.  The MMU code,
of course, was also proprietary.  I don't have the migration plan docs
here, but, from memory:  Sun originally published a description of the
differences in library calls, and system calls.  They showed which System V
calls were drop-ins, and which would be tougher.  With each new release
of SunOS, they added as many System Visms as practical.  Remember, they
have a lot of customers, and a large software base to support, so they
can't just junk the original OS and switch to System V.  Dropping long-
term support for the 68K products helped, since the SPARC versions were
already migrating.

Anyway, the filesystem is really bsd, and so are the majority of the
system and library calls.  There is a System V bin, now.  But, bsd
application source compiles "as is", and the typical binary has bsd
syntax.

I don't know if SunOS has "streams", yet.  You could ask comp.sys.sun.

Given the SunOS history, and that the Amiga UNIX is REAL, licensed System V,
that's how the difference.

>Seriously, I am a hardware guy, so I may be missing something here, but this
>is what I understand to be the case with the SunOS right now (this box is a
>3/80).

I'm a hardware guy who migrated to software (mostly).  If you want the latest
info, contact your local Sun sales office and ask them when they plan to
complete the migration, and for a list of current SunOS/System V differences.

Dan Taylor