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Write software for multiple UNIX platforms

Martin Brown (questions@mcslp.com), Freelance writer, Consultant
Martin C. Brown is a former IT director with experience in cross-platform integration. A keen developer, he has produced dynamic sites for blue-chip customers, and is the technical director of Foodware.net. Now a freelance writer and consultant, MC, as he is better known, works closely with Microsoft as an SME, is the LAMP Technologies Editor for LinuxWorld magazine, is a core member of the AnswerSquad.com team, and has written books such as XML Processing with Perl, Python and PHP, and the Microsoft IIS 6 Delta Guide. MC can be contacted at questions@mcslp.com.

Summary:  If you write software for more than one UNIX® platform, you are aware of the difficulty of getting your software to compile on two platforms. This tutorial covers tools and tricks that can make the process of supporting different UNIX platforms significantly easier at the code level. The reason is not the lack of tools or a binary compatibility issue, but rather the problems with the header files and functions that set up a standard UNIX environment.

Date:  21 Feb 2006
Level:  Intermediate
PDF:  A4 and Letter (70 KB | 22 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity:  8834 views
Comments:  

Summary

Developing applications that work under multiple UNIX platforms requires an understanding of the underlying issues that affect the compilation and linking process. For nearly all situations, the problems relate to two distinct areas, the header files that support standard system and kernel functionality and the libraries used to support specific extensions and functionality. Hidden behind these differences are the complex issues of specific operating system limitations. For example, differences in the signals supported by different UNIX variants might cause problems.

Some of these differences can be alleviated by using tricks to get around the differences and issues. To simplify the header, library, and build environment issues, you can make use of the autotools/autoconf package produced by GNU. This uses a combination of known differences and a discovery script to determine the environment on a target during the build process, and then builds a suitable build script and header file to account for the platform-specific issues.

While autotools can simplify the build process, it is not designed to account for all of the differences between platforms. It can't, for example, account for missing functions, libraries, and core OS differences, but it will make a significant difference.

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static.content.url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/js/artrating/
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Zone=AIX and UNIX
ArticleID=106064
TutorialTitle=Write software for multiple UNIX platforms
publish-date=02212006
author1-email=questions@mcslp.com
author1-email-cc=

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