"sparcv9" means a 64-bit sparc processor which executes 64-bit binaries.
"sun4v" is a "sub-architecture" used in the T1 and T2 processors (v stands for virtualisation). The other sub-architecture currently being sold by sun is sun4u (u stands for ultra). A binary compiled for sparcv9 should work on any sparcv9 system, whether it is sun4v or sun4u. Obviously this isn't true if the binary uses features only available on sun4v (i.e. hardware virtualisation). Additionally, sparcv9 systems running Solaris have support for sparcv8 Solaris binaries, which are 32-bit. Cheers Andrew. This message posted from opensolaris.org
