Updates

Latest Tweet



What's New?

Check out for latest innovation, a computer based training video collection


Like this Page

UNIX to Linux(R) Porting: A Comprehensive Reference Review by W Boudville

lots of gritty details

This is a reference book, inasmuch as one is unlikely to read it cover to cover. It addresses a necessary but sometimes underappreciated point. That porting from a given Unix operating system to linux can be nontrivial. You probably know that linux tries to be like most unixes, at the command line level. Or indeed, at the structural level in how it partitions the user and kernel functionality. But just like porting from one Unix to another Unix involves a lot of gritty details, so too when decamping to linux.

In recognition of this, there are 3 long chapters, that describe going from Solaris, AIX and HPUX. Long on specifics. Like, consider pipes. A basic enabler of modularity at the command line. Every Unix has this. But did you know that Solaris pipes are full duplex, while linux pipes are half duplex? If you have a Solaris application, you'll have to pull apart some boundary code for its linux counterpart.

The entire book is like this! Nothing fundamentally difficult. Just a lot to check and possibly modify.

The book also has some early chapters which discuss the general aspects of porting from a Unix. It points out issues that you should consider, including a business purpose of why you want to port in the first place. These chapters should give you some clue as to the effort involved, if you decide to port.