QNX was the first realtime operating system (RTOS) vendor to certify conformance to POSIX.1. Compared to the conformance claimed by other RTOS vendors based on earlier POSIX editions, the 2003 edition of the specification triples the scope of programming interfaces required for conformance. To become POSIX certified, the QNX Neutrino RTOS will be tested with more 1,300 POSIX interfaces. Full certification is expected to be achieved within six to twelve months.
QNX Affirms Leadership in POSIX Conformance
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Eugenia Loli
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Is that “1300 POSIX interfaces” or “1300 POSIX functions” ?
So now QNX will be UNIX(R)? Or am i missing something ?
their website is *very* slow, almost down…
Both. POSIX calls the functions and macros in the System Interfaces volume ‘interfaces’. There’s only 1123 of them in the current version though. Maybe QNX is including the userland.
Makes porting unix apps that much easier. Qnx rocks.
Check this recent article in an Canadian newspaper :
http://drivingspecials.calgary.canada.com/sections.asp?sec=6752&art…
POSIX certification hardly has anything to do with being allowed to use the UNIX trademark. POSIX (though inspired by UNIX) specifies APIs that theoretically any OS can conform to. There were plans for Windows NT to implement POSIX. Unfortunately, they never materialized, and the only real API choice for Windows in win32.
I doubt if porting becomes easier when QNX gets the certification. QNX has to be the most conforming OS I’ve seen, certainly better than Linux, GNU, and the BSDs. This means that an application written to POSIX standard works on QNX, but might fail on other systems – it’s still not portable.
No, Posix stands for “Portable Operating System Interface” and can be implemented on any os. Even Windows NT implements some parts of the posix standard : http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windowsnt/4/workst…
Actually, there IS a POSIX subsystem in NT 4, 2k, and XP. Much like the various security certifications, many government organizations require a certain level opf POSIX compliance before an OS can be used inside the organization. The real issue is that the POSIX subsystem is a fourth class citizen – it is less a full member of the OS than the OS/2 subsystem.
Win XP and Server 2k3 64 bit editions will loose OS/2, Win16, and POSIX subsystems. I suspect that the DOS subsystem will go the way of the Dodo as well, though I expect the DOS shell to remain. The DOS environment has a (nearly) complete x86 and PC BIOS emulator so that DOS apps would run on the Alpha port of NT. I think that MS wants to drop all of this stuff
Really, the POSIX subsystem isn’t the migration tool that it ought to be. Instead MS pushes SFU for that.
>POSIX (though inspired by UNIX)
Actually, to be UNIX(tm)(r)(whatnot) , you have to conform to a great deal of standards and specifications, including a lot of the posix standards.
i am yet to see any real-life benefits from “POSIX compliance”. maybe in scientific environment ?
in my view it is mostly management/journalists/academics talks about “how great”, “terrific possibilities”, “unbearable ease of porting”….
IMHO real life does not work this way. look at “cross-platform” development – all talk about it, no one seems _need_ it. except for personal fun/enlightment projects.
also please do not forget that POSIX is a pure example of “science-by-committee”
I could imagine the importance of ease-of-porting long ago, when computers still were not a commodity. now it seems easier to buy a sun if one needs solaris, than port to… er… anywhere.
POSIX and the Single UNIX Specification merged a few years ago; full POSIX conformance now brings you pretty close to being a basic UNIX(R).
It presents you with a stable, publically available Operating System definition, which a lot of applications are already written for.
So, like Linux, you can take those applications and use them as a testbed for your OS.
And as such, of course QNX would support it. It’d be a waste of time, money and opportunity to do otherwise.
In one of Tannenbaum’s books, he has a chapter about “simpler is better.” He points out POSIX as an example of one of the few committe-standardized APIs that were actually pretty small and elegant. No noted, however, that “work was underway to remedy that.” Well, 1300 calls? Still not 1/10 as big as Win32, but looks like that work is progressing at a nice clip!
True.
though … where did you get “1300 calls” ? from the article? please note that in posix-speak an interface == an API, not a single function call!
my understanding that POSIX today is … they have some funny name … “initiative 1150” or “initiative 1170” … do not remember … smthing like that … per number of APIs included (not calls!)
please correct me if I am wrong, but as I remember the posix started as unix vendors committee to get a common (union!) of different unix dialects – so the more political clout a vendor/company had – the more chances its APIs were pushed forward as part of standard.
for example: NeXT did not manage even to put their foot into it, if I remember “raging 80s” correctly 😉
Does QNX run on anything other than propritary “reference boards” I can’t find specific information on the website other than downloading a 30 day trial.