[comp.unix.ultrix] Help with RPC

bo@hubcap.clemson.edu (Bo Slaughter) (06/07/90)

What is the status with RPC on ULTRIX?  After logging on to a Sun, 
we found lots of stuff.  Man pages on C functions and already made 
programs to do RPC, but I've found nothing on ULTRIX.

In /usr/include/rpc I've found rpc.h, auth.h, etc  but haven't found the
cooresponding library .a files for it (at least in /usr/lib).  

I guess my question is:
Is RPC available on ULTRIX?  How do I use it?

Thank you.
Bo Slaughter

fkittred@bbn.com (Fletcher Kittredge) (06/08/90)

In article <9241@hubcap.clemson.edu> bo@hubcap.clemson.edu (Bo Slaughter) writes:
>What is the status with RPC on ULTRIX?  After logging on to a Sun, 
>we found lots of stuff.  Man pages on C functions and already made 
>programs to do RPC, but I've found nothing on ULTRIX.
>
>In /usr/include/rpc I've found rpc.h, auth.h, etc  but haven't found the
>cooresponding library .a files for it (at least in /usr/lib).  
>
>I guess my question is:
>Is RPC available on ULTRIX?  How do I use it?

I will assume that you do not care about which version of Ultrix, since
you do not mention it in your question.

	There are two types of RPC available on Ultrix 4.0 and greater, SunRPC
and NCS based RPC. SunRPC has historically been the most widely used and
successful form of RPC.  It all so widely perceived to have a large number
problems.  It is important to note that one of those problems that it was
invented by Sun.  Obviously, whether or not this is really a problem depends
on where you sit.

	NCS is a newer RPC package which trys to address the perceived problems
with SunRPC including the fact that SunRPC was invented by Sun.  NCS is
part of the DEcorum Distributed Processing standard accepted by OSF.  NCS
is available from the vendor on DEC VMS and Ultrix platforms and HP Unix
platforms.  It is available from Apollo on a range of other platforms
including Suns.

	SunRPC doesn't seem to be documented by the Ultrix Doc. Set.  However,
a quick nm of the normal Ultrix C libraries shows that the RPC procedures
documented by the Sun Doc. Set are there.  If you chose to use these
procedures, then you will probably have to depend on a Sun Doc. Set and
hope that the Ultrix versions of the procedures do the right thing.  I
have no idea if DEC offically supports SunRPC.

	NCS is very much supported by DEC, and is voluminously documented in
the 4.0 Doc. Set.  My personal feeling is that NCS has much greater
functionality than SunRPC.

regards,
fletcher

Fletcher E. Kittredge  fkittred@bbn.com
Platforms and Tools Group
BBN Software Products Company
10 Fawcett St.
Cambridge, MA. 02138