Heterogeneous Sun3/Sun386i Development Environment

[mcvax!ritd.co.uk!mr at uunet.uu.net]

Can't answer all your questions, but here are a couple of hints used
locally. First off (and not directly connected with your questions), this
is mailed from a diskless 386i/150 booted and served from a 3/280, in a
network with at least one of nearly everything else (quite a lot still
running 3.2). It works! Sometimes the Sun shines after all.

Coping with a mixed 3.2/Sun-3 | 4.0.1 Sun-* environment makes .login, etc
a little bit fun. I have resorted to the following .login, based on bits
from Sun and my own fevered imagination (lightly editted to remove local
irrelevancies):

setenv PRINTER lp3
setenv NEWSHOME /vol/NeWS
setenv SYBASE /vol/sybase
setenv SYBFORMLIST .:/vol/sybase/sample/aptforms
setenv SUNTRAC /vol/suntrac/lib
setenv FMHOME /vol/frame
setenv TSEE_FONT_DIR /rabin/sfont
setenv EXINIT 'set autoindent number showmatch redraw'
set arch=`arch`
set path=(/usr/ucb /usr/bin /bin . ~/bin/$arch ~/bin /vol/local/bin.$arch \
        /vol/local/bin /usr/local/bin \
        /rabin /usr/hosts \
        /etc /usr/etc \
        $SYBASE/bin \
        $FMHOME/bin)
#set path=($path $NEWSHOME/bin)
#set path=($path /vol/suntrac/bin)
#set path=($path /usr/bin/X11)
if ("$TERM" == "sun" && "`tty`" == "/dev/console") then
        if ($arch == "sun386") then
                setenv DEFAULTS_FILE ~/.defaults-386
                setenv MAILRC ~/.mailrc-386
                input_from_defaults
                suntools -s ~/.sunview-386
        else
                input_from_defaults
                suntools
        endif
endif


In other words, I have to run a different set of .defaults, .mailrc and
.sun{tools,view} under 3.2 and 4.0. Luckily, the above achieves this.  My
.cshrc is pretty well based on that provided with the 386i, because this
gives me pretty name stripes which work under 3.2 and 4.0. It does not
differentiate which environment it is in. The stuff about bin`arch` and
plain bin in the PATH is to allow architecture dependent binaries to be
found before architecture independent scripts.

On 3.2 machines we have to mount file systems like /vol/frame explicitly
(e.g. via /etc/fstab). I am trying to train everyone to get used to
automount conventions ready for the glorious revolution.

One final hint from my .login (which I believe I "proved"): set your path
in one statement, rather incrementally building it; its faster that way.

[[ This is probably due in large part to the cshell's path hashing.
Surrounding the incremental building with "unhash ... rehash" should make
it almost as fast as setting it in one statement.  --wnl ]]

        Martin Reed, Racal Imaging Systems Ltd

uucp: mr at ritd.co.uk, uunet!ukc!ritd!mr, sunuk!brains!mr
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