Programming Interfaces Guide

Using `appcert` for Application Triage

The appcert utility can be used to quickly and easily discern which applications in a given set have potential stability problems. If appcert does not report any stability problems, the application is not likely to encounter binary stability problems in subsequent Solaris releases. The following table lists some common binary stability problems.

Table 13–1 Common Binary Stability Problems


Problem	Course of Action
Use of a private symbol that is known to change	Eliminate use of symbol immediately.
Use of a private symbol that has not changed yet	Application can still be run for now, but eliminate use of symbol as soon as practical.
Static linking of a library with a shared object counterpart	Use shared object counterpart instead.
Static linking of a library with no shared object counterpart	Convert `.a` file to `.so` file by using the command `ld -z allextract` if possible. Otherwise, continue to use static library until shared object is available.
Use of a private symbol for which no public equivalent is available	Contact Sun and request a public interface.
Use of a symbol that is deprecated, or use of a symbol that is planned for removal	Application can still be run for now, but eliminate use of symbol as soon as practical.
Use of a public symbol that has changed	Recompile.

Potential stability problems caused by the use of private interfaces might not occur on a given release. The behavior of private interfaces does not always change between releases. To verify that a private interface's behavior has changed in the target release, use the apptrace tool. Usage of apptrace is discussed in Using apptrace for Application Verification.

Using appcert for Application Triage

Using `appcert` for Application Triage