ernest@pegasus.dsg.tandem.com (Ernest Hua) (03/11/91)
Submitted-by: ernest@pegasus.dsg.tandem.com (Ernest Hua) This has probably been hashed out before ... What is the real definition of "sysname" field in the uname struct? It seems that at some hardware vendors put in the operating system revision (as 1003.1-1988 defines on p. 77, ugly green book). But others use "nodename" and "sysname" as equivalent. What is the real story? -- Ernest Hua [ ernest@tandem.com ] Tandem Computers 408-285-5580 Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 5 -- Sean Eric Fagan, moderator, comp.std.unix.
gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) (03/14/91)
Submitted-by: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) In article <125382@uunet.UU.NET> ernest@pegasus.dsg.tandem.com (Ernest Hua) writes: >What is the real story? The real story is that sysname and nodename were inadequately specified, so different vendors did different things with them. Sorry. Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 11
karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) (03/14/91)
Submitted-by: karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) In article <125382@uunet.UU.NET> ernest@pegasus.dsg.tandem.com (Ernest Hua) writes: >What is the real definition of "sysname" field in the uname struct? >It seems that at some hardware vendors put in the operating system >revision (as 1003.1-1988 defines on p. 77, ugly green book). But >others use "nodename" and "sysname" as equivalent. The real definition, in the POSIX.1 context, anyway, is the one Mr. Hua cites: "Name of this implementation of the operating system". In practice, vendors use the fields of the uname structure in very different ways that long predate POSIX. It's useless to try to interpret these fields other than on an implementation-specific basis. Another example of the differences we see in struct uname: Some vendors use the "release" and "version" fields to convey major release and build/patch numbers for their implementation, while others use them to hold the release identifiers for the porting base from which their implementation was derived. I've seen very different versions of a vendor's operating system both identified as "3.2.2". Other vendors change the "version" field for each upgrade of the OS. Chuck Karish karish@mindcraft.com Mindcraft, Inc. (415) 323-9000 Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 12