The basic 64-bit Solaris operating environment looks unchanged from the previous 32-bit environment. You can use a new command to determine whether a system has 64-bit capabilities enabled, which means the system is booted with the 64-bit kernel.
The isainfo(1) command, (for instruction set architecture information), has two functions:
It describes the supported applications of the running system (the isainfo -v command).
It reports the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system, which can be passed as a token to scripts (the isainfo -b command).
An UltraSPARC system running a 32-bit kernel looks like this:
$ isainfo -v 32-bit sparc applications |
The output means this system is capable of supporting only 32-bit applications.
An UltraSPARC system running a 64-bit kernel looks like this:
$ isainfo -v 64-bit sparcv9 applications 32-bit sparc applications |
This output means this system is capable of supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
Use the isainfo -b command to display the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system.
The output from a SPARC, Intel, or UltraSPARC system running the 32-bit Solaris operating environment looks like this:
$ isainfo -b 32 |
The output from a 64-bit UltraSPARC system running the 64-bit Solaris operating environment looks like:
$ isainfo -b 64 |
The command returns 64 only. Even though a 64-bit UltraSPARC system is capable of running both types of applications, 64-bit applications are the best kind of applications to run on a 64-bit system.
The uname -p output remains sparc or i386 to ensure that existing 32-bit applications continue to run without interruption.