HP-UX 11i Version 1.5 Release Notes, May 2001

HP-UX Features
Changes to Machine Identification
Chapter 3 39
Changes to Machine Identification
For HP-UX 11i Version 1.5 (B.11.20), the uname (1) and uname (2)
interfaces are replaced by new confstr (3C) interfaces as a means to
obtain a unique machine identification number. The previous uname (1)
and uname (2) interfaces are supported in HP-UX 11i Version 1.5
(B.11.20), with limitations, and will be obsoleted in a future release.
The model string returned by the uname (1), uname (2), getconf (1),
confstr (3C), and model (1) interfaces on HP’s Itanium-based platforms
will not begin with 9000/, as has been the case on previous PA based
HP-UX systems. Instead, the model string is, or begins with, ia64.
The following command and function return the string ia64 on all IPF
platforms.
• uname -m
• machine field of the utsname structure returned by uname (2)
The model command, per its existing definition, returns the same output
as uname -m, possibly with additional information. If available, the
additional information can be used to distinguish between different
systems. The command getconf MACHINE_MODEL and the library call
confstr(_CS_MACHINE_MODEL,...) will return the same output as the
model command.
Machine ID Compatibility
Applications running on HP-UX 11i Version 1.5 (B.11.20) that require ID
numbers guaranteed to be unique across all platforms must be converted
(a source code change) to use the new confstr (3C) orgetconf (1) interfaces
in place of the uname (2) and uname (1) interfaces. Applications that do
not require completely unique ID numbers may continue to use the
uname (2) and uname (1) interfaces on this release. However, those
applications must change to use the new interfaces in a future release.
Applications which recognize HP platforms as a class or HP-UX itself by
examining the model string value (e.g., testing for a leading 9000/) will
need to be changed.