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Date:      Fri, 18 Aug 2000 15:38:30 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
To:        "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net>
Cc:        "James A Wilde" <james.wilde@telia.com>, questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Sun OS (Was: BSD Inquiry...) 
Message-ID:  <14749.40646.311975.30537@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <200008181644.e7IGiuU23126@ptavv.es.net>
References:  <002801c00905$504109e0$8208a8c0@iqunlimited.net> <200008181644.e7IGiuU23126@ptavv.es.net>

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Kevin Oberman writes:
> > From: "James A Wilde" <james.wilde@telia.com>
> > Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 13:13:19 +0200
> > > Linux isn't based on Unix source code. It's a rewrite from scratch
> > > based on the SysV manuals. So the flavor is a lot like SysV (or
> > > Solaris). On the other hand, there's no centralized source for Linux
> > > code outside the kernel, so you never know...
> > ...and presumably then Posix is SysV-like cos I know Linus has said that the
> > Linux kernel aims to be Posix compatible.
> Just to avoid confusing many, many people, Posix is NOT an operating
> system. It is a standard for code portability and specifies things
> like utilities and libraries. It, in no way, specifies an OS. VMS was
> Posix and I think Windows NT might well be.

Some of the things Posix specifies are system calls. However, since
the goal is code portability, whether what you're discussing is a
system call or a library call is moot. This is why VMS can be Posix
compliant. And why Windows NT can do it, thought I believe it requires
an add-on.

> Posix has a few dumb things in it, but it is a good concept and it's
> generally a good idea to comply. (Posix regular expressions being a
> significant exception, IMHO.)

I'm one of the people who believe that if Unix vendors had managed to
get behind a standard in the '80s, rather than all of them doing their
own extensions, the world would be a much different - and better -
place. So I concur!

	<mike



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