Platform Support

CIAO 3.4 has been made available for the platforms listed below:

Solaris 8 (SunOS 5.8)

Note that we no longer support Solaris 2.6 (SunOS 5.6) and Solaris 7 (SunOS 5.7); CIAO will not run on these platforms.

Redhat Linux 6.2

This build will work well on most Linux platforms, and is thus labelled as "linux 6" on the download page. The binaries are compatible with Redhat 7.x and SuSE 7.x.

Redhat Linux 8

This build will work on Redhat 8, and is thus labelled as "linux 8" on the download page. Several users have also reported successful installation and use on RedHat 9 machines (a binary-compatible platform), as well as other flavors of Linux (e.g. Debian, Fedora, Mandrake).

In general, if you are using a newer version of Linux, it is recommended that you try installing this CIAO package.

Mac OS X PowerPC

While Mac OS X PowerPC 10.2.8 (Jaguar) is the official version of this CIAO platform, the binaries are compatible with 10.3 (Panther) and 10.4 (Tiger).

Refer to the OS-X Platform bug page for known issues.

Mac OS X Intel

The Mac OS X Intel release of CIAO 3.4 is compatible with any Intel Mac running 10.4 (Tiger).

The CIAO software for Intel runs under Apple's Rosetta software, which is included in Mac OS X for Intel machines. A native Intel build of CIAO will be released in 2007.

Refer to the OS-X Platform bug page for known issues.

Please read the bugs and caveats page for a particular application to see if there are known issues and contact the Helpdesk if you have any problems.

Note on Linux Platforms

In November 2003, the Red Hat Network stated that they will discontinue maintenance on Red Hat Linux 7.x and 8.0 by the end of December 2003, and on Red Hat 9.0 by the end of April 2004. Additionally, they do not plan to release another product in the Red Hat Linux line.

Several users have emailed us about the future of CIAO on Linux platforms on account of this announcement. For the current time (e.g. CIAO 3.x), we will continue to produce two versions of the Linux build: linux6 and linux8 (see above for details). We are looking into migrating to a Linux Standard Base (LSB) build for CIAO 4.0, which would allow CIAO to run on nearly every current Linux distribution.

While we currently offically support only these versions of Red Hat Linux, in general the linux8 build has worked without issue with most modern Linux platforms. If the user encounters problems then they should try the linux6 build.

Explanation of Platform Support

The CXC's commitment to support a platform - i.e. a version of an operating system - means that we undertake to fix bugs on that system. This requires that we are able to compile CIAO from source on each platform, which is a much greater committment than simply providing a compatible binary. Additionally, it is typically necessary to support three versions of each operating system: former, current and new.

Currently Supported

• Solaris 8
• Linux Redhat 6.2
• Linux Redhat 8.0
• Mac OS X PowerPC 10.2.8
• Mac OS X Intel 10.4

Binary Compatible Only

• Linux Redhat 7.x
• Linux Redhat 9.0
• Linux SuSE 7.x
• Mac OS X PowerPC 10.3 and 10.4

When we support a system:

1. We test every tool on every platform via a large number of regression tests and scripts; this requires a greater amount of time when the number of systems increases.
2. We have to have current machines running each of these systems.
3. We make a tarball and install it on each system; this process is never problem-free, and takes manpower and time.

As a result, we are not able to support a larger number of systems than we currently do. We gather information from users on what platforms they are running (or want to use) in order to prevent the overextension of our resources to little-used platforms.