Orphaned Response

[jad at hpcnoe.UUCP]

> /***** hpcnoe:net.unix-wizar / sun!tut /  5:04 pm  Feb 24, 1986*/
> Let's not lose perspective by emphasizing differences between 4 BSD
> and System V.  The two UNIX variants are at least 95% similar.  It's
> not overly difficult to write software that will run on both (the more
> complicated the software, the harder it is, though). 

	I beg to differ.  Considering UNIX system calls, 50% of
	Berkeley's are unique to them; 23% of the SystemV syscalls (of
	which there are far fewer: 71 vs BSD's 121) are unique to System
	V.  Of the C library calls supplied by System V and 4.2BSD, only
	61% are even compatible.  And approximately 50% of the commands
	in each UNIX system are unique.	[1]

	Sure they're both UNIX, and I agree that a lot of the good stuff
	hasn't changed much (they both have IO redirection and pipes, a
	major niceness, and the ability to write shell scripts and C
	programs).  But you can't ignore differences like the absence of
	csh(1), or the absense of shared memory and semaphores (both have
	their advantages, I admit).

	I too am a regular user of 4.2BSD, System V, and HP-UX, and
	agree that the transition is not too difficult.  But I maintain
	that there are differences major enough to make switching
	undesirable, especially with respect to kernel and network
	specific tasks.

			      --      jad      --
				 John A Dilley
			      Hewlett Packard Co.
			   Colorado Networks Division
			     Fort Collins, Colorado

AT&T:				 (303)229-2787
UUCP:		          {hpfcla,hplabs} !hpcnoe!jad


[1]	"UNIX System V and BSD4.2 Compatibility Study", March 1985,
	Joseph Uniejewski, Apollo Computer Inc.

*	UNIX (and System V) are trademarks of AT&T Bell Labs (I think)
*	HP-UX is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard, Co.