The Solaris OS Compared to the SunOS Software
- SunOS software--A base operating system
SunOS software is Sun's version of the UNIX[R] platform.
-
Solaris OS--A product composed of two parts:
-
SunOS software
-
Graphical user environment and the ONC[TM] system with networking \(NFS, NIS, and NIS\+\)
Version History
-
SunOS software: The earlier versions of Sun's operating system were simply called SunOS.
-
SunOS 4.1.1 software: With the advent of SunOS 4.1.1 software, the name Solaris 1 was adopted to describe the operating system with the additional graphics-networking environment.
(Refer to Appendix A for a SunOS 4.x/Solaris 1 equivalence list.)
-
SunOS 4.x software: The SunOS 4.x software range is the Berkeley \(BSD\) standard and is superseded by the SunOS 5.x software range that conforms to the System 5 Release 4 \(SVR4\) standard. This group of operating systems is also known as the Solaris 2.x software range. To confuse the issue further, the web site for the SunSolve[SM] program refers to the SunOS 4.x software range as just SunOS and refers to the SunOS 5.x range as just Solaris. Note: No further reference will be made to the SunOS 4.x software range in this document. This software is supported on a best-efforts basis only because it has reached the end of the support life.
-
Solaris 2.x software: When the 2.x range of operating systems changed from 32 bit to 64/32 bit, the number "2" that preceded the version number was dropped. Therefore, there is no Solaris 2.7 OS, only Solaris 7 OS.
Equivalence List for Solaris 2.x OS and SunOS 5.x Software
The following list includes only those operating systems that are still popular and in use by customers
Solaris 2.x OS version
Equivalent SunOS 5.x Software Version Type
2.5.1 5.5.1 32 bit
2.6 5.6 32 bit
7 5.7 64 bit/32 bit
8 5.8 64 bit/32 bit
9 5.9 64 bit/32 bit
The Solaris 2.x OS range and the SunOS 5.x software range are available to run on both SPARC[R] technology and INTEL architecture.
Which Version of Solaris OS Do I Have Installed?
To identify the Solaris 2.x OS version that you have installed, you can the following command to display the /etc/release file:
cat /etc/release
The following output appears:
The /etc/release file may contain entries that show a "month/year" date following the version information:
Solaris 9 12/02 s9s_u2wos_10 SPARC
In the preceding example, the 12/02 indicates that this is a hardware release of this version of the operating system, that is, Solaris 9 hardware release December 2002.
When there are no entries with a "month/year" date version, the release is one of the following:
FCS or Blank First Customer Shipment
Solaris 2.6
Solaris 8 FCS
Beta release
Solaris 8 Beta
MU Maintenance Update
Solaris 8 Maintenance Update 2 (MU2)
Which Version of SunOS Software Do I Have installed?
The command to identify the SunOS 5.x software version that you have installed installed is uname -r or uname -sr.
uname -sr
Appendix A: Equivalency List for Solaris OS and SunOS Software
Solaris 1.0 = SunOS 4.1.1
Solaris 1.0.1 = SunOS 4.1.2
Solaris 1.1 = SunOS 4.1.3
Solaris 1.1.1A = SunOS 4.1.3_U1 Version A
Solaris 1.1.1B = SunOS 4.1.3_U1 Version B
Solaris 1.1.2 = SunOS 4.1.4
The following SunOS 4.x software revisions were not referred to as the Solaris 1 OS.
SunOs 4.1.1B (FCS Feb. 1991)
SunOs 4.1.1.1 (FCS Jul. 1991)
SunOS 4.1.1_U1 (FCS Nov. 1991)
SunOS 4.1 PSR_A (FCS May 1990)
SunOS 4.1 (FCS Mar. 1990)
SunOS 4.0.3 PSR_A (FCS Jul. 1989)
SunOS 4.0.3c (FCS Jun. 1989)
SunOS 4.0.3 (FCS May 1989)
SunOS 4.0.2 (FCS Sept.1988)
SunOS 4.
Appendix B: The Solaris OS Releases From 2.5.1 Onward
Solaris 2.5.1 4/97
Solaris 2.5.1 8/97
Solaris 2.5.1 11/97
Solaris 2.6
Solaris 2.6 3/98
Solaris 2.6 5/98
Solaris 2.6 Maintenance Update 2
Solaris 7 FCS
Solaris 7 3/99
Solaris 7 5/99
Solaris 7 8/99
Solaris 7 11/99
Solaris 8 Beta
Solaris 8 Beta Refresh
Solaris 8 FCS
Solaris 8 Update 1 (6/00)
Solaris 8 Maintenance Update 1 (MU1)
Solaris 8 Update 2 (10/00)
Solaris 8 Maintenance Update 2 (MU2)
Solaris 8 Update 3 (1/01)
Solaris 8 Update 4 (4/01) Beta
Solaris 8 Update 4 (4/01)
Solaris 8 Update 5 (7/01)
Solaris 8 Update 6 (10/01) Beta
Solaris 8 Update 6 (10/01)
Solaris 8 Update 7 (2/02)
Solaris 8 HW 12/02 (PSR1 Product Specific Release)
Solaris 8 HW 5/03 (PSR2 Product Specific Release)
Solaris 8 HW 7/03 (PSR3 Product Specific Release)
Solaris 8 2/04
Solaris 9 Beta
Solaris 9 Beta Refresh
Solaris 9 FCS
Solaris 9 Update 1 (9/02)
Solaris 9 Update 2 (12/02)
Solaris 9 Update 3 (4/03)
Solaris 9 Update 4 (8/03)
Solaris 9 Update 5 (12/03)
Solaris 9 Update 6 (4/04)
