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Mac OS X Leopard Certified as 100% UNIX

Mac OS X Leopard Certified as 100% UNIX

by , 3:50 PM EDT, August 1st, 2007

The Open Group has certified Apple's Mac OS X version 10.5 as UNIX. Prior to Leopard, Apple had to describe Mac OS X as UNIX-like or UNIX-based.

It was a minor technical caveat by Apple that was easy to overlook.

In the early days of Mac OS X, 100 percent POSIX compliance was not considered a priority for a primarily consumer-based OS. The variations from standard POSIX APIs was very small, and didn't have any real effect on Mac OS X or its functionality. There were many more important tasks to attend to.

However, over time, it became increasingly important for Apple to have full UNIX certification for Mac OS X, and Leopard will have that distinction.

In some cases, that lack of certification could have had an influence on some government contracts. With some UNIX professionals, it occasionally brought some unfounded suspicion about Mac OS X being somehow inferior, somehow not real UNIX.

However, that will all be behind Apple when Leopard ships, and Apple will be able to claim that Leopard is UNIX. It seems like a small issue in general, but it's been a nagging issue in some very technical circles, best put into the history books at last.

  

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Guest
Subject: Easier to compile from source?

I hope this means that it will be easier to pull in apps for/from other *nixes, and actually get them to compile without pulling one's hair out! Or better yet, in package form! Darwinports and Fink just don't provide enough variety--while I appreciate their efforts...

Close Name:Guest
Subject: compile from source

As long as the source that you are compiling is designed to compile on Unix, then you should not have a problem. The problem is that many of those packages are written for Linux not Unix.

Close Name:Fairly Posts: 25 Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Subject: No Big Deal

I don't think this is a big deal. Microsoft have more POSIX certs than almost anyone for example. FOSS can't afford these expensive certs yet Linus' code made it to Mars with NASA vehicles. Ars wrote that this 03 means programmers can know their code works on other 03 platforms but the major players are not and will not go for these certs. Seriously: SCO are 03 certified and we all know where they stand on "open source". After the brouhaha with Open Darwin it appears as if Apple want to crush FOSS if anything.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: good points, yet

remember the old maxim "no one ever got fired for buying ibm." (that was true once.) apple probably doesn't want explicitly to crush f&o software, but to carve out market share. should f&os disappear they probably wouldn't shed a tear, but neither will they engage in any MS-like skulduggery to wring money out of open source foundations for concocted "IP infringements."

in the interest of carving out market share, unix certification is going to make it easier for IT people to make a claim similar to that of the old IBM saw; and that, apple hopes, will bring in lots of moolah. they're probably right.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Missed point...

Perhaps you have missed the point. The certification isn't for US. It's for THEM.
Lard, I mean LARGE, scale procurement operations are generally run by mindless, pencil-neck, bureaucrat drones with no knowledge of IT. That's why they have ISO guideline manuals that take up entire shelves. If it says in their Big Manual-O-$#!%-We-Can-Buy that it has to be certified UNIX, then it doesn't matter if MacOS can fly the space shuttle and find the highest prime number while juggling POSIX certs.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: re: Tards

O MY GOD!!! finally a website for total ARTARDS!!!!!!!!!!

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Will Leopard destroy my G4's ability to boot OS9? Thanks.

Pardon the newbie question, but does anyone know if OS X 10.5 will require a firmware change to my MDD G4 that will destroy its ability to boot OS 9? Will it be possible, do you think, to preserve this ability if I partition my hard disk? Thanks for your input.

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