Kim Tingk?r writes: > I was wondering, is there no cross compatibility with S10 at all? Or are > there restrictions on what base code can be changes in opensolaris so that > some cross compatibility remains?
The restriction is fairly simple: unless otherwise specified, no core OS package from any part of any release of Solaris or OpenSolaris is supported on any other release of Solaris or OpenSolaris. This is just a restriction on the core OS packages. For third party packages, something compiled on an old release of Solaris will install and run on a new release. We support compatibility for third-party applications, not for random hunks of the OS implementation itself. > I mean wont it, if opensolaris branches off to far, present a problem porting > futur software to S10? I kind of understood from the "Project Overview" page > that opensolaris somehow is a platform for developing new functionality for > S10... Or have i got it all wrong? The issues aren't really related. The issue here is that you can't take a core part of the OS implementation and install it on a different release of the OS and expect that to work. Applications developed on S10 will work on OpenSolaris-based releases. And something developed on (say) S7 will work on S8, S9, S10, and so on. As for the web page you're looking at, I think that's a marketing position paper. The idea is that OpenSolaris-based distributions are friendlier for developers, so you should do your work there and then recompile on S10. Binary compatibility actually works in the other direction, though -- applications from old releases work on new ones, not the reverse. -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <james.d.carlson at sun.com> 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