Solaris version number stew

[John Abreau]

On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, David Kramer wrote:

> My understanding is that
> 2.6   =   2.6
> 5.7   =   Solaris 7, but some people call it 2.7
> 5.8   =   Solaris 8, but some people call it 2.8
> But I have seen references to a 4.x series too.  Can someone point me
> towards a Rosetta Stone or babelfish?  Also, what version of the  C++
> compiler comes with each of these?  I think we are currently using visual
> C++ 4.2.

Sun's marketing folks like to screw around with the version numbers. The
original name was "SunOS", and back in the '80's it was based on BSD. I
think it diverged after 4.3BSD.

Around the mid-80's, Sun decided to switch from a pure BSD system to a
hybrid based mainly on AT&T's SYSV, and this is when they came up with the
"Solaris" name. SunOS 4.x was renamed Solaris 1, and the new SunOS 5.* was
named Solaris 2. After 2.6 (5.6), Sun decided to drop the "2." prefix from
the marketing name.

SunOS 4.* -> old style
SunOS 5.[0-6] -> Solaris 2.[0-6]
SunOS 5.7 -> Solaris 7
SunOS 5.8 -> Solaris 8

--
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix 
ICQ#28611923 / AIM abreauj / Email jabr at blu.org

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