Specifications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux to Oracle Solaris Porting Guide
12
systems. Oracle Solaris Studio 12.x is available on both RHEL and Oracle Solaris (SPARC as well as
x64).
It is much easier to transition from RHEL to Oracle Solaris if you can maintain the same build tools
and build environment on the two systems.
The following points need to be taken into consideration while finalizing the target build environment:
• Build tools and other build dependencies (gmake, dmake, make, ANT, and so on)
• Tools used by the applications
• Command-line options provided by the tools
Assess Food Chain Dependencies
Another very important factor that needs special attention is dependency on third-party components.
For example, check whether the applications use or depend on the following:
• Any third-party proprietary libraries available in the public domain as a ready-made binary (no source
code)
• Open source code or open source library
• The order in which symbols are resolved; that is, which symbols get resolved from which library if
symbols with the same name are defined (implemented) in multiple libraries
The most important part of the migration process is to check for the availability of the above
mentioned dependencies on the target Oracle Solaris 11 platform, because sometimes the availability of
a third-party dependency can become a limiting factor.
Below are some guidelines that will not only help reduce migration effort but also help the applications
work better on Oracle Solaris 11:
• Evaluate the benefit of using native tools (Oracle-provided tools) versus open source tools.
Choosing the right tools and libraries and, at times, changing the environment to a native
implementation can be beneficial. In almost all cases, you will find that the return on investment
(ROI) and operational improvements you gain by transitioning to an Oracle Solaris 11
implementation are compelling and significant.
• Check whether you can upgrade to the latest libraries and scalable infrastructure without affecting
the supported functionality of the existing applications.
• Explore the availability of Oracle Solaris built-in features, infrastructure, and tools that can provide
similar functionality.
• Look for alternatives from different venders providing similar functionality.