Preface

Purpose

Read this guide for information about system interfaces provided by SunOS libraries. Rather than teaching you to write programs, this guide supplements programming texts by concentrating on other elements that are part of getting programs into operation.

Audience and Prerequisite Knowledge

This guide addresses programmers. Expert programmers, such as those developing system software, might find that this guide lacks the depth of information they need. Expert programmers should see the Solaris 7 Reference Manual Collection.

Knowledge of terminal use, of a UNIX system editor, and of the UNIX system directory and file structure is assumed. Read the Open Windows User\'s Guide to review these basic tools and concepts.

The C Connection

The SunOS system supports many programming languages. Nevertheless, the relationship between this operating system and C has always been and remains very close.

Most of the code in the operating system is written in the C language. So, while this guide is intended to be useful to you no matter what language you are using, most of the examples assume you are programming in C.

Hardware And Software Dependency

Except for hardware-specific information such as addresses, most of the text in this book applies to any computer running the Solaris 7 operating evnironment and compatible versions.

If commands work differently in your system environment, your system might be running a different software release. If some commands do not seem to exist, they might be in packages that are not installed on your system--talk to your system administrators to find out what commands you have available.

Typeface Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide:

• Prompts and error messages from the system are printed in listing type like this.

• Information you type as a command or in response to prompts is shown in boldface listing type like this. Type everything shown in boldface exactly as it appears in the text.

• Parts of a command shown in italic text like this refer to a variable that you have to substitute from a selection. It is up to you to make the correct substitution.

• Output to the screen by the system or an application are in courier, inputs from the keyboard are in courier bold:

$pwd
 /home/traveler/scotty

• You are expected to press the RETURN key after entering a command or menu choice, so the RETURN key is not explicitly shown in these cases. If, however, you are expected to press RETURN without typing any text, the notation is shown.

• Control characters are shown by the string "CTRL-" followed by the appropriate character, such as D (this is known as CTRL-D). To enter a control character, hold down the key marked CTRL (or CONTROL) and press the D key.

• The default prompt signs for an ordinary user and root are the dollar sign or percent sign ($ or %) and the number sign (#). When the # prompt is used in an example, the command illustrated can be executed only by root.

Command References

When a command is mentioned in a section of the text for the first time, a reference to the manual section where the command is formally described is included in parentheses: command(section). Numbered sections are in the Solaris 7 Reference Manual Collection.

For example, "See priocntl(2)" tells you to look at the priocntl page in section 2 of the Solaris 7 Reference Manual Collection.

Information in the Examples

While every effort has been made to present displays of information just as they appear on your terminal, it is possible that your system might produce slightly different output. Some displays depend on a particular machine configuration that might differ from yours.