HP-UX 11i Version 2 December 2007 Release Notes

HP-UX 11i v2 Compatibility
HP-UX 11i Compatibility for HP Integrity and HP 9000 Servers
Introduction
Hewlett-Packard (HP) understands your need for investment protection. By providing multiple
levels of compatibility between operating system versions, between hardware platforms, on
virtual machines, and even between chip architectures, we believe the HP-UX operating system
provides the most comprehensive investment protection in the industry. (For a definition of
levels of compatibility, see “Definition of Terms and Levels of Compatibility” (page 36))
Compatibility across Operating System Releases and Hardware Platforms
For “Well-behaved” user space applications Hewlett-Packard (For a definition of “Well-behaved”
and other terms, see “Definition of Terms and Levels of Compatibility” (page 36)):
Maintains forward data, source, build environment, and binary compatibility across all hardware
platforms of the same architecture family (e.g., Integrity or HP 9000) which are supported by the
same version of HP-UX;
Provides forward data, source, build environment, and binary compatibility across HP-UX
versions on HP 9000 servers and Integrity servers on their respective architectures. This is true
for 32bit or 64bit applications on either architecture family;
Delivers new features and improved performance with each new HP-UX release. Binary
compatibility across Operating System versions applies to legacy features (features that were
present in the earlier release) and often still holds true for new features. There are some instances,
however, where applications may be required to recompile in order to use or leverage a new
feature. See the release notes for each version of HP-UX for information on new features that
may require changes to applications.
Compatibility within HP-UX 11i Virtualization Solutions
“Well-behaved” applications built on HP-UX 11i are binary compatible to run within HP-UX
Virtual Partitions (vPars) on the same architecture family. No changes, recompilation or
re-certification is necessary.
“Well-behaved” applications built on HP-UX 11i Integrity are binary compatible to run within
an HP Integrity Virtual Machine. This binary compatibility applies to applications with no specific
device dependencies and to applications that depend only on devices currently virtualized by
Integrity VM. Most applications do not have specific device dependencies. However, if your
application has specific device dependencies, please refer to the HP Integrity Virtual Machines
QuickSpecs at http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12715_div/12715_div.HTML for
details.
Compatibility between Architecture Families
In addition to the compatibility provided within an architecture family, HP-UX 11i on HP 9000
servers is data, source, and build environment compatible with HP-UX 11i on Integrity servers.
Build environments and source files can be moved from HP 9000 servers to Integrity servers and
be rebuilt without modification.
Application binaries that were built on HP-UX on HP 9000 servers are binary compatible, with
some limitations, with HP-UX on HP Integrity servers when running through the Aries Dynamic
Code Translator. The use of Aries can be completely transparent. For more information about
Aries, see http://www.hp.com/go/aries.
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