Dave, In the particular instance you're referencing, Informix, unless IBM shows a version that runs on Linux/390, then they have only ported it to Intel Linux. They don't have a version for Linux/390 (that they'll ship to you), yet. They most likely will, just not yet.
In general, suppliers list the hardware platforms that they are willing to support. If they don't list Linux/390, then they won't support it. If the source code is available, it may very well compile and run on Linux/390, but there's no guarantee. Far too many programmers do things like imbed assembly language code in their C modules, etc. There cannot be binary compatibility between Intel opcodes and S/390 opcodes. It just isn't going to happen. So, ISVs have to commit to supporting a platform and that costs time and money. There are differences between Intel Linux and Linux/390 (size of "int" used to be an issue, etc.) that don't necessarily have anything to do with the OS itself, but perhaps some of the assumptions buried in glibc, and so on. I run into those kinds of things frequently compiling software on Linux/390. I get failures that I don't see on Intel Linux that I have to work around. It gets very frustrating, but the point is that not everything just "compiles and runs" across the platforms. Hence, unless the ISV thinks they'll make enough revenue from porting their product to Linux/390, they won't do it. Mark Post -----Original Message----- From: Dave Jousma [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Another distribution question All, I'm about ready to put up our first linux lpar, and have another question or two..... This question is causing alot of confusion for us. We are getting ready to put up SuSe linux, and also want to put up a couple of relevent applications to actually do a pilot test. When an vendor application says it is certified to run on SuSe(or Redhat) distribution, does that mean it is certified on run on that distribution regardless of the underlying hardware platform? For example, I want to put up DB2-Connect, and on IBM's z/Series Linux page it says that V7.2 is certified to run on SuSe Linux at kernel 2.4, etc. However, we would also like to do INFORMIX, and there is a version for Linux(but not listed as z/Series ready). Will this run on Linux on the mainframe? Or is this another black-eye for the mainframe(like Unix System Services was from a pure UNIX perspective) where it's not quite ready for prime-time, and is just different enough that there are not enough apps available yet. Granted, I'm not up to speed yet, but I thought a distribution of Linux was just that regardless of the platform, and the the application would run anywhere that distribution ran(i.e. binary compatible). Can you guys shed some light? Thanks, Dave __________________________________________________________ Dave Jousma Lead Systems Administrator - Information Technology Spartan Stores, Inc. PO Box 8700 Grand Rapids, MI 49518 (616) 878-2883 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
