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Another dead end [POSIX programs?]

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  Another dead end [POSIX programs?] Louis Ohland <ohland@charter.net> - 2026-06-11 09:15 -0500
    Re: Another dead end [POSIX programs?] Kevin Bowling <kevin.bowling@kev009.com> - 2026-06-11 20:54 -0700

#71434 — Another dead end [POSIX programs?]

This already seams to unravel just by looking at it...

AIX 1.3 has POSIX compliant abilities. From a short bit 'o surfing, 
POSIX means the script or application uses common commands to do things.

I'm desperate, but not serious....

Does any POSIX-compliant app exist for Unix?

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#71437

On 6/11/26 07:15, Louis Ohland wrote:
> This already seams to unravel just by looking at it...
> 
> AIX 1.3 has POSIX compliant abilities. From a short bit 'o surfing, 
> POSIX means the script or application uses common commands to do things.

In the mid 1980s UNIX was already growing beyond expectations.  This 
sprawl of hardware, vendors, and OSes was becoming increasingly 
difficult to write common software for.  So various people decided to 
standardize some of these UNIX interfaces, and eventually after some 
earlier efforts that became POSIX.  It's still active today 
https://posix.opengroup.org/

Famously, diverse systems like Windows NT and z/OS were adapted and met 
the criteria.  There was a lot of pressure because the US Govt wanted 
every system POSIX capable at one point.

> I'm desperate, but not serious....
> 
> Does any POSIX-compliant app exist for Unix?

Certainly, you can easily reference a POSIX spec and write a shell 
script or C program that is conforming.  Beyond small utilities, 
scripts, and examples it might get more system-dependent where a 
superset of POSIX is being used - and then the software has to know 
about one or more systems to function on them..  so called porting.

So what does it mean for practically?  Well, if AIX 1.3 is the target, 
you'd need to find software roughly period correct for the smoothest 
sailing.  There are archive.org sets like comp.unix.sources or GNU or 
whatever from that time period.  Then you can compile and run it, and it 
will work with minimal fuss.

You can also "backport" software written to newer specs to run on older 
systems, but it's a little more involved.

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