martin@felix.UUCP (Martin McKendry) (10/18/88)
I attended the AT&T/Sun presentations on System V Release 4 in Los Angeles
a couple of weeks back. Very interesting. There are far more Sun features
in Release 4 than I would have anticipated. (If sufficient interest is
expressed, I could repeat what they told me -- send mail).
This leads me to look for more information. Release 4 doesn't look to
be the usual evolution -- more like a complete change. As well as
changing the file formats (to BSD fast file system), they are changing
the process management, virtual memory system (allegedly a 'new'
implementation, but smelling strongly of Sun), the communications
& terminal handling, and so on. The standard directory structure
is also changed (to be more Sun-like, I'm told).
Like many vendors, we add changes to standard releases. In our case,
most changes are specific to image management. So now I'm
wondering, how hard is it going to be to upgrade from Release 3 to
Release 4. For example, are the kernel source files based on BSD,
Sun, AT&T, or what? If I have a set of changes that I want to move
forward, how hard will they be to re-integrate? Between now and
when Release 4 arrives (scheduled for 2/3Q '89), is there any way
we can prepare?
Is anyone knowledgable out there? What kind of animal are we
dealing with here? Is it truly a full integration of Sun, AT&T,
BSD, etc., or is that a 'political' claim?
Another question: is the C++ version of Unix underway at Sun
going to be Release 5? What is the schedule there, and how hard
will it be to upgrade for that?
All data/gossip etc., appreciated.
Martin McKendry
--
Martin S. McKendry; FileNet Corp; {hplabs,trwrb}!felix!martin
Strictly my opinion; all of itguy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) (10/20/88)
>As well as changing the file formats (to BSD fast file system), It supports both the V7 file system, as used by current S5 releases, and the BSD file system, under the VFS (Virtual File System) interface (basically the SunOS 4.0 VFS, with some assorted changes and improvements). >virtual memory system (allegedly a 'new' implementation, but smelling >strongly of Sun), Yes, it's based on the SunOS 4.0 VM implementation, with some additional stuff. >the communications & terminal handling, It's now (finally) streams based (based on the SunOS 4.0 "ldterm" "line discipline" module, with some additional...). >The standard directory structure is also changed (to be more Sun-like, >I'm told). Yes (and future-Berkeley-release-like, I think); the intent was to more carefully segregate files that would generally be shared between machines and those that would be specific to machines. >For example, are the kernel source files based on BSD, >Sun, AT&T, or what? All of the above. Yes, it'll be work to merge changes to R3-based systems into R4, but I suspect it was work to merge changes to R2-based systems into R3. The same is true of just about any OS out there, I suspect, or at least OSes of sizes >= that of UNIX.... Note, though, that if a lot of the changes in question involved adding BSD features, you won't have to do much, if anything, with them in R4.
crgabb@sdrc.UUCP (Rob Gabbard) (10/23/88)
In article <64481@felix.UUCP>, martin@felix.UUCP (Martin McKendry) writes: > changing the file formats (to BSD fast file system), they are changing Will this mean reformatting our disks that are using vanilla System V.3 ? I'm going through this process right now with Apollo's SR10 and I'd hate to go through it again. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Rob Gabbard | UUNET: uunet!sdrc!crgabb Workstation Systems Programmer | PHONE: (513)576-2600 Structural Dynamics Research Corporation | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) (10/25/88)
>> changing the file formats (to BSD fast file system), they are changing > >Will this mean reformatting our disks that are using vanilla System V.3 ? >I'm going through this process right now with Apollo's SR10 and I'd hate to >go through it again. S5R4 will support both the V7-derived S5 file system and the BSD file system. If your vendor used to provide the S5 file system, and doesn't do so in their S5R4 release, complain.