john kroll writes: > Thanks for your reply as a geekwanttobe I've been trying to follow Sun's > progression. Could you better explain? Originally the software compiled to > binaries with sun's compilers were incorporated into distro's by another > party belenix,martux_mbe,nexentaos,schillix, of course not in that order but > done just the same.
That's still true. There's just now another binary distribution (in addition to the ones you mentioned), that's made by Sun and that calls itself "OpenSolaris" and uses "opensolaris.com" as a web site. > Now 2008.05 is its own distro indiana cross? 2008.05 is one release of that OpenSolaris distribution, and was produced by the Indiana project. > All of this is real confusing to a newbe but to me the core difference lie in > what is compiled with a sun compiler and what is compiled with gnu. No, that never had anything to do with it. The Solaris product has always been built with a number of different compilers, including both Sun's C compiler and GNU's gcc -- even going way back in time to Solaris 10, 9, 8, and earlier. That's still true. The core difference is in distribution rules. The OpenSolaris distribution is (unlike Solaris) freely redistributable. You can give it away yourself if you want. The regular Solaris product (including Solaris Express) includes licensed components that can't be redistributed. They can be given away free, but each copy requires a license to use and distribute. That's why there's a click-through license for downloading Solaris. The OpenSolaris distribution doesn't include those parts. > The subsequent userland of the server and software. > Sun actually gets even more complicated in that it has compiled software > available in separate directory usr/sfw which is not in root path environment > but ties to applications delivered. Could you give any clarity to any of > these points?? I realize my interpretation is not correct. /usr/sfw has nothing to do with any of the above. That was once a place where we installed some software that derived from open source. It's now obsolete. The new rules (for Solaris and OpenSolaris) are to place things where they naturally belong -- which means /usr/bin for most applications. (Obviously, other distributions based on the OpenSolaris source code can do as they see fit, but I'd expect most to follow suit.) Basically, /usr/sfw was a mistake. When we realized that, we fixed it. -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677 _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
