bent@lccinc.UUCP (Ben Taylor) (02/12/91)
Hello world, In my quest for software my the machines I administer, I have seen some really nice software come and go. However, this one really takes the cake. Someone posted the sysv386 binaries of groff (for Interactive I believe.) Since I spend maybe 5% of my time on an ISC box, and the rest under SCO Xenix, I thought that a ISC binary distribution would make life easier. Groff for ISC is well done. However, much to my amazement, it works under SCO Xenix as well. File says the binaries are 386 Coff format. I wasn't aware that Unix 3.2 binaries would run under Xenix. I knew they would go the other way tho? Any one care to comment on this. Maybe this is an isolated incident, however if it is the case, I wonder what kind of limitations would hold for V3.2 binaries on Xenix. I suspect any kind of software using shared libraries, and specific V3.2 kernel calls would be an exception. Ben Taylor Systems Administrator LCC Incorporated uunet!lccinc!bent "If Unix is in California, where is Xenix?"
clay@uci.com (Clayton Haapala) (02/16/91)
In article <453@lccinc.UUCP> bent@lccinc.UUCP (Ben Taylor) writes: >Hello world, > are 386 Coff format. I wasn't aware that Unix 3.2 binaries would > run under Xenix. I knew they would go the other way tho? Any one > care to comment on this. Maybe this is an isolated incident, however Not isolated, at all. XENIX could do COFF before the SysV vendors could do XENIX -- but it all comes from the binary compatibility agreements made between the major players a couple of years ago. One Gate's major smart moves, in my estimation. Limitations? You can't do COFF 387 fpp emulation under XENIX, but it all works great if you have a co-processor. Shared-libs (libc libnsl) are provided under /shlib for XENIX, just like you'd expect on a COFF machine, so these work, too. I run Microport's old DWB package and used to run Green Hill's C under XENIX. I replaced GCC with GNU GCC, and I may replace the DWB with Groff, now that it's out. Cheers. -- Clayton Haapala (clay@uci.com) Unified Communications Inc. "Every morning I get in the Queue. 3001 Metro Drive - Suite 500 'n get on the Bus that takes me to you." Bloomington, MN 55425 -- the Who