[TUHS] SVR4 vs. Solaris 2

[Clem Cole via TUHS]

I know that a large amount of x86 was done by NCR with their Unix team in
Columbia, SC.  That was partly because NCR had already been heavily
involved in the m88k support for SVR3 (their m88k system was cancelled when
they switched to be Intel only across their product line).

Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual


On Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM Charles H. Sauer (he/him) via TUHS <
tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:

> I assume Larry and others can be definitive about the inside Sun
> perspective on this regarding SPARC, but I hope someone can say more
> with regards to X86. I remain curious about how/why Zander et al wanted
> the Dell SVR4 team involved. Michael told me of discussions he had with
> McNealy, but I still don't see how it could have worked for either
> company. Charlie
>
> On 11/11/2025 8:35 PM, Clem Cole via TUHS wrote:
> > My memory is a bit hazy here so Tom or Larry are probably better sources
> > but … IIRC they were close but not 100% identical. Remember Sparc was
> not a
> > reference platform for SVR4 (386/486 were). The big thing Solaris lost
> was
> > the work SunOS had done in the memory system. I never knew for sure, but
> I
> > think that was a big reason the boot/init and the command system became
> > AT&Ts version.  However some of the earlier SunOS value add was put back
> > in.
> >
> > For instance my memory is that Solaris could use sockets while SVR4 still
> > was pushing TLI/Streams plus Solaris supported Sun Threads as well as
> > pthreads while SVR4 was only pthreads. Also I don’t remember if SVR4 had
> > dtrace which was a huge advantage.
> >
> >   I also believe the compilers were different. As Sun had early had
> > (finally) invested in their own compilers with CMU/DEC style code
> > generators and optimizers; while AT&T was still using PCC2. Interestingly
> > enough because Sun was charging for their new compilers suite many end
> > users/customers installed the Gnu family.
> >
> > Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Pardon if this question has already been asked and answered
> >> before, but I find myself curious.  System V Release 4 was a
> >> joint effort between USL and Sun, which involved contributions
> >> from both parties as well as other improvements.
> >>
> >> I often see it suggested that the first version of Solaris was
> >> SVR4 itself, but my question is: Was the initial stock Solaris 2
> >> release identical to USL SVR4, or were there still additional
> >> value-adds that Sun made to the inaugural release of Solaris
> >> beyond just the joint SVR4 trunk resulting from the project
> >> between the two organizations?  In other words, when one
> >> purchased and installed the initial release of Solaris, were they
> >> in essence also installing SVR4 from USL, or was there some
> >> appreciable difference?
> >>
> >> - Matt G.
> >>
>
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