Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!cluster!softway!gary
From: gary@softway.oz (Gary Corby)
Newsgroups: comp.os.misc
Subject: Re: The value of QNX
Keywords: IBMPC/AT/386, Distributed.
Message-ID: <2525@softway.oz>
Date: 9 Jan 90 22:57:12 GMT
References: <3528@zorba.Tynan.COM>
Organization: Softway Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
Lines: 47

ant@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) writes:

>There is a disagreement as to whether it is *NIX compatible.  From what
>I can work out, there is a fair amount of compatability, but because it
>is developed with the idea of distributed processing on IBM PC's and
>because of some legal probs they had at one stage with AT&T, there are
>a few differences.

I am very far from being a QNX expert, but then again there doesn't 
seem to be a lot of experienced QNX users out there so I'll throw in
what little I know.  QNX is not *NIX compatible, though there tends to
be enough similarity that porting is relatively easy.  For example, 
UNIX signals become QNX exceptions.  Exception values do not necessarily
carry the same meaning as the equivalent UNIX signals, but they behave
in pretty much the same way.

QNX does not have a setuid bit.  Processes such as login can read the 
password file but unless the system manager is crazy no normal user can
read the contents.  This feels very weird after being able to read 
/etc/passwd on UNIX.  Because the password file is not public the user
passwords are entered in clear text.

There are lots and lots of little differences such as the above.

What I find most annoying about QNX though is that there isn't really
such a thing as a shell, and the editor supplied with the system could be
better.  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has one of the UNIX shells
ported to QNX.  I may be involved in a project to do just this in the 
near future.

>I plan to contact Quantum in the near future, to ask for more information,
>especially details like distributors in OZ.  If anyone else has done this,
>then please post your findings to the net, as I will when I get further
>details.

There is indeed a distributor in Australia, the name of which I do not
know.  However a friend who is a QNX enthusiast tells me it is considerably
cheaper to order the system from Quantum and import it than to go through
the Australian distributor.  He has imported copies for his own use and
has two QNX systems running.

Disclaimer:  I'm just an interested observer.  I don't really know
	     what I'm talking about.
-- 
Gary Corby  (Friend of Elvenkind)			Softway Pty Ltd
						ACSnet: gary@softway.oz
					UUCP: ...!uunet!softway.oz!gary