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Solaris Transition Guide

Preface

The Solaris(TM) 7 operating environment, SunSoft's(TM) distributed computing solution, comprises SunOS(TM) release 5.7 software with ONC(TM), OpenWindows(TM), ToolTalk(TM), and DeskSet(TM) utilities as well as other features. Solaris Transition Guide focuses on the differences between the SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 operating systems for people already familiar with the SunOS release 4.x software. This guide also handles other aspects of the Solaris 7 operating environment that can help you through the transition.

If you are looking for more information about features now available with the Solaris 7 operating environment, see OpenWindows User's Guide.

The system administration tool covered in this book, Admintool, is part of the Solaris 7 product and can be used only for local system administration. System administration tools used to manage a network of systems are provided with the Solstice family of products.

Note -

The term "x86" refers to the Intel 8086 family of microprocessor chips, including the Pentium and Pentium Pro processors and compatible microprocessor chips made by AMD and Cyrix. In this document the term "x86" refers to the overall platform architecture, whereas "Intel Platform Edition" appears in the product name.

Who Should Use This Guide

This guide can help users, system administrators, and software developers make the transition from a SunOS release 4.x computing environment to the Solaris 7 operating environment.

What to Expect From This Guide

The purpose of this guide is to give you an overview-level understanding of the differences between SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 operating environments to make your transition to the Solaris 7 operating environment a smooth one. As a result, Solaris Transition Guide covers a wide range of topics. Because it is not practical to list detailed procedures for tasks here, you will find references throughout this guide to publications in the Solaris 7 documentation set where detailed information is available.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is divided into 2 parts with 19 chapters and 6 appendixes as outlined here.

Part 1: Transition Information for Users and System Administrators

You can use this part of the guide to help install Solaris 7 software, to understand changes to the local computing environment, and to understand changes to routine tasks.

This part of the guide contains the following chapters:

Part 2: Transition Information for Developers

This part of the guide concentrates on the changes that most affect developers. It describes these differences, points out similarities, and explains the implications for your programming environment.

This part contains the following chapters:

Reference Appendixes

The following appendixes comprises reference tables showing SunOS 4.1 interfaces and their status in several operating systems. This information is useful to users, system administrators, and developers. The appendixes are:

Ordering Sun Documents

The SunDocs(TM) program provides more than 250 manuals from Sun Microsystems, Inc. If you live in the United States, Canada, Europe, or Japan, you can purchase documentation sets or individual manuals using this program.

For a list of documents and how to order them, see the catalog section of the SunExpress(TM) Internet site at http://www.sun.com/sunexpress.

What Typographic Changes and Symbols Mean

Table P-1 describes the type changes and symbols used in this guide.

Table P-1 Typographic Conventions

Typeface or Symbol 

Meaning 

Example 

AaBbCc123

The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output 

Edit your .login file.

Use ls -a to list all files.

system% You have mail.

AaBbCc123

What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output 

system% su

Password:

AaBbCc123

Command-line placeholder: 

replace with a real name or value 

To delete a file, type rm filename.

AaBbCc123

Book titles, new words or terms, or words to be emphasized 

Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options.

You must be root to do this.

Code samples are included in boxes and may display the following:

%

UNIX C shell prompt 

system%

$

UNIX Bourne and Korn shell prompt 

system$

#

Superuser prompt, all shells 

system#

man Page References

When commands, system files, or library routine names are first mentioned in the text, the number of the manual page section where the term is fully described is appended; for instance: mv(1). The manual pages are in the man Pages(1): User Commands section.

Related Books

For more information the Solaris 7 operating environment, see the following documentation:

Getting Help from Sun Microsystems' WWW Site

You can get additional Solaris transition information by accessing the following URL:

http://www.sun.com/smcc/solaris-migration/index.html

The Solaris Migration Initiative home page is a central point for the distribution of tools, documentation, and information to aid you in your migration to Solaris 2.x. You can always find the most current resources and pointers here.