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:

• Chapter 1, Introduction, discusses the benefits of migrating to the Solaris operating environment and summarizes the main differences between SVR4 and the Solaris operating environment.

• Chapter 2, Overview of Major Changes, is an overview of some of the principal changes between the SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 environments. It provides background for topics in subsequent chapters, focusing on procedures, tools, and concepts that have changed between releases.

• Chapter 3, Converting a SunOS 4.x System to the Solaris 7 Environment, suggests what to consider to facilitate a smooth transition through software installation and post-installation so that SunOS release 4.x data can most easily be restored in the Solaris 7 operating environment.

• Chapter 4, Using the Compatibility Packages, discusses the SunOS/BSD Source Compatibility Package and the Binary Compatibility Package. These packages make the transition easier by enabling you to use SunOS release 4.x commands and applications during migration to the Solaris 7 operating environment.

• Chapter 5, Security , describes the major differences between SunOS release 4.x and Solaris 7 security, and points out how those changes might affect system administration procedures.

• Chapter 6, User Environment Administration, describes differences in tasks used to set up a local user environment after installing the Solaris software. It includes discussions on setting up a default shell, customizing the user environment, the window system, and user and group administration. It also discusses changes regarding man pages.

• Chapter 7, Device Administration, explains SunOS release 5.7 device naming conventions and discusses changes to device-related tasks such as getting information about disks, adding devices to a system, and using volume management.

• Chapter 8, Startup and Shutdown, describes changes to procedures for booting and shutting down a system.

• Chapter 9, File System Administration, familiarizes you with changes to file-system layout and the changes to file systems, virtual file systems, directories, and files. It also describes changes to file-system administration.

• Chapter 10, Setting Up a Solaris 7 Server to Support SunOS Release 4.x Diskless Clients, discusses setting up servers for clients. It describes three programs-discover4x, install4x, and convert4x-that work together to help prepare a Solaris 7 server to serve SunOS release 4.x clients.

• Chapter 11, Managing Printers, Terminals, and Modems, describes how to set up and administer printers after you install Solaris 7 software and changes to printer commands. It also describes terminal and modem management using Admintool and the Service Access Facility (SAP).

• Chapter 12, Network Service Administration, outlines changes to the network facilities, TCP/IP and UUCP.

• Chapter 13, Using Name Services, discusses NIS+ and the domain name system (DNS), and compares NIS+ to NIS and DNS.

• Chapter 14, Solaris Common Desktop Environment, describes the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and how to make the transition from the OpenWindows environment to CDE.

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:

• Chapter 15, Compilers, Linkers, and Debuggers , discusses which capabilities have been added to or removed from compilers, linkers, and debuggers.

• Chapter 16, Tools and Resources , discusses changes to tools and resources for the development environment including changes to ioctl() requests, ptrace() request values, libraries, and the make and SCCS facilities. This chapter also describes how to determine application compatibility, how to use Solaris 7 packaging capabilities, and how to find SunOS release 4.x tools.

• Chapter 17, Networking and Internationalization, discusses Solaris 7 networking features as they relate to the programming environment. It also describes improved internationalization features.

• Chapter 18, System and Device Configuration, describes aspects of system and device configuration that have changed, including the dynamically loaded kernel and kernel layout, config and boot commands, and the /etc/system file.

• Chapter 19, Device Drivers and STREAMS , discusses device drivers issues such as changes to device driver interfaces, the devinfo command, porting considerations, STREAMS, and the Solaris 7 driver architecture.

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:

• Appendix A, Commands Reference Table, compares SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 commands.

• Appendix B, System Calls Reference Table, compares SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 system calls.

• Appendix C, Library Routines Reference Table, compares SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 library routines.

• Appendix D, System Files Reference Table, compares SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 system files.

• Appendix E, / and /usr File Systems Changes, compares SunOS release 4.x and SunOS release 5.7 system files.

• Appendix F, Quick Reference for Basic Changes, is a quick reference for changes in common commands, files and directories, and daemons and standard processes.