New in the Solaris 2.5 Release

Table 2-1 lists the new and enhanced features in the Solaris 2.5 release.

Table 2-1

Category	Platform Feature A On SPARC x86		vailable Power PC	Solaris 2.5 New Features/Changes	Description
Standards	X	X		XCU4 Conformance	Utilities conform to the XCU4 portion of the X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 4 specification from X/Open(TM).
	X	X	X	POSIX.1c Conformance	Conforms to standards based on draft 10, which defines multi-threading interfaces.

Table 2-1

Category	Platform Feature A On SPARC x86		vailable Power PC	Solaris 2.5 New Features/Changes	Description
Networking	X	X	X	Network File System	Improves NFS(TM) version 2 and adds version 3. The following features have been added: - Support Access Control Lists - NFS over TCP - Version 3, safe asynchronous writes on a server and has improved performance - NFS Lock Manager - Support for X/Open Federated Naming
	X	X	X	Point-to-Point Protocol	PPP links computers and networks at separate locations using modems and telephone lines. New levels of security added.
	X	X	X	Telnet/telnetd	- Telnet client has been upgraded to the 4.4 BSD version. - rlogind/telnetd, remote login capacity improved.
	X	X	X	Name Service Cache Daemon	Improves responsiveness of name service requests.
Security	X	X	X	NIS+ Security	Password aging enhances system security.
File Systems	X X	X X	X X	UFS Error Recovery UFS Filesystem Debugger	Improved error detection and soft failure modes. Changes to UFS improve operation of fsdb_ufs(1M).
	X	X	X	UFS Access Control Lists	Provides a more precise way of managing file access permissions.
	X	X	X	CacheFS(TM) Statistics	Improves NFS server performance and scalability by reducing server and network load.
Installation	X	X	X	Service Setup for Clients	The installation program has changed and no longer sets up services for clients. To complete client and network setup, use Solstice's Host Manager.

Table 2-1

Category	Platform Feature A On SPARC x86		vailable Power PC	Solaris 2.5 New Features/Changes	Description
System	X X	X X	X	System Administration Tools	- Admintool(TM) now used only for administering local systems. - Solstice(TM) AdminSuite(TM) now used for
Administration					managing systems in a network.
	X	X	X	Proc Tools	New process tools are available in /usr/proc/bin that display highly detailed information about the active processes stored in /proc, the process file system.
OpenWindows	X	X	X	OpenWindows with Kodak Color Management System Calibrator Tool	OpenWindows version 3.5 includes KCMS calibrator tool that provides adjustments for accurate color representation to scanners, color monitors, and other output devices.
Graphics	X X	X	X	PEX(TM) 3.0 Runtime Environment XGL(TM) 3.2 Runtime Environment	The PEX application programmer interface (API) provides application portability across platforms and 3-D graphics on local and remote displays. XGL, a 2-D and 3-D immediate-mode API, provides portability across hardware platforms and optimal performance from graphics acceleration. XGL includes support for raster text, environment and vertex-level texture mapping, 4-component texture mapping, DGA transparent overlay, and triangle list Gcache.
	X	X	X	XIL(TM) 1.2.1 Runtime Environment	A foundation imaging library, suitable for libraries or applications requiring imaging or digital video, such as document imaging, color prepress, or digital video generation and playback. Version 1.2.1 contains bug fixes and performance enhancements.
Hardware	X X	X X	X X	Enhanced Hardware Support St Driver	A wider range of new hardware configurations is supported. St driver supports tape drive models without waiting for new versions of the binary driver. Supports all tape positioning commands.
	X			Support for SPARCstorage Array(TM)	Installation is improved.

Table 2-1

Category	Platform Feature A On SPARC x86		vailable Power PC	Solaris 2.5 New Features/Changes	Description
	X X	X X	X X	Sendmail X/Open Federated Naming Service	- Is now compatible with older sendmail files. - Selects all hosts at a given priority through an MX randomizer. - Support for ESMTP. - Reduces duplicate mail if server fails. FNS combines different naming systems that are regulated under a single interface.
Miscellaneous Features	X	X	X	Nologin	System administrators can warn users about impending down-time with /etc/nologin.
	X	X	X	Font Support	- CID fonts provide improved performance for DPS(TM) clients. - X11 clients can now access fonts rendered by the DPS extension through the XATM interface.
	X			Compatibility	- More Solaris 1 binaries are now able to run on
	X	X	X		Solaris 2.5. - Some shell scripts from 4.x now work under 2.5.
Performance	X X	X X	X X	Time-sharing KAIO	Improved performance under time-sharing workloads. Improves the performance of asynchronous reads or writes for raw devices.

New Features in Previous Solaris Releases

In the Solaris 2.4 Release

Table 2-2 describes new and enhanced features of the previous release, Solaris 2.4.

Table 2-2

Category	Solaris 2.4 New Features	Description
Installation	TM Motif installation GUI	A new GUI--used to install Solaris software.
OpenWindows	Expanded localization (OpenWindows 3.4)	Added to the operating system are four European languages and four Asian languages, as well as Latin American Spanish and U.S. English, for desktop and workgroup server product configurations.
Graphics	Transparent Overlays XIL1.2 Imaging Library Runtime Environment	A graphics API that allows temporary graphical imagery in application windows. A foundation imaging library, suitable for libraries or applications requiring imaging or digital video, such as document imaging, color prepress, or digital video generation and playback.
	PEX 2.2 Runtime Environment	An API that provides application portability across platforms and 3-D graphics rendering on local and remote displays.
	XGL 3.1 Runtime Environment	A 2-D and 3-D immediate-mode API that provides portability across hardware platforms and optimal performance from graphics acceleration.
	Direct Xlib(TM) 3.1	A graphics application that uses the new DGA Drawable Interface and supports systems with multiple frame buffers. Provides modified versions of the standard X11 libraries to accelerate Xlib rendering performance.
Hardware	Enhanced hardware support	A wider range of new hardware configurations are supported.

Table 2-2 (Continued)

Category	Solaris 2.4 New Features	Description
Miscellaneous Features	TM AccessX Enabling Technology OSF/MotifTM Runtime Environment	Provides people with disabilities with a variety of keyboard modifications. Used to run Motif applications.
	ImageTool Enhancements	Functionality enhanced so the user can read Kodak images from a PhotoCDTM disc using Image Tool.

In the Solaris 2.3 Release

Table 2-3 lists the features that were added in the Solaris 2.3 release.

Table 2-3

Category	Solaris 2.3 New Features	Description
Networking	PPP	An asynchronous implementation of the standard data link level point-to-point protocol (PPP), included in the Internet protocol suite, that enables communications links using modems and telephone lines.
	NIS+	Three additional scripts to enable the user to more easily set up a NIS+ domain.
File Systems	Autofs	A new kernel virtual file system that supports automatic mounting of file systems.
	Cache File System (CacheFS)	A nonvolatile caching mechanism to improve performance of certain file systems by utilizing a small, fast, local disk.
System Administration	Serial Port Manager	A tool that enables the user to quickly set up and modify serial port software for terminals and modems.
Graphics	Direct Xlib 3.0 PEX Runtime Environment (RTE)	The first release of Direct Xlib to utilize MIT DDX (device-dependent X) loadable modules to perform X11 graphics rendering. An implementation of the MIT PEX specification that is an extension of the X Window System to support 3-D graphics.
	XGL Runtime Environment	A 2-D and 3-D immediate-mode API that provides portability across hardware platforms and optimal performance from graphics acceleration.

In the Solaris 2.2 Release

Table 2-4 lists the features that were added in the Solaris 2.2 release

Table 2-4

Category	Solaris 2.2 New Features	Description
Installation	User Installation Interfaces	User interfaces that make it easy to install and upgrade Solaris.
System Administration	Volume Management	Software that automatically mounts and unmounts CDs and diskettes.
OpenWindows	Enhanced OpenWindows	OpenWindows enhancements include Image Tool, an improved Properties Tool, integrated international capabilities, and many ease-of-use improvements.
Graphics	XIL 1.0 Imaging Library Runtime Environment	Imaging library runtime environment to use with imaging and video applications developed with the XIL 1.0 Imaging Library Software Developer's kit.
	XGL Runtime Environment	A 2-D and 3-D immediate-mode API that provides portability across hardware platforms and optimal performance from graphics acceleration.
Miscellaneous Features	Multithreaded Library Interface AnswerBook(TM) Improvements	An interface that allows developers access to multithreaded (MT) applications. New AnswerBook administrator's utility, ab_admin(1), a library-based user interface that allows easy access to AnswerBook sets located over networks.