Subject: 1.000: The AIX operating system - what is it? This is best answered by reading the text files in /usr/lpp/bos. The README file there contains general information and the bsd file contain useful information if you know BSD and/or System V. The last release for the RT PC is 2.2.1. The latest release for PS/2s and Intel architecture machines is AIX 1.3; for PS/2s only, 1.2.1. For the RS/6000, there are five major levels, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and various intermediate levels. IBM has dropped support for 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1. Y2K compliancy issues have been addressed by PTF's on 3.2, and 4.*. For those who don't have a copy of /usr/lpp/bos/README or bsd, I'll sumarize: IBM tried to follow IEEE, POSIX 1003.1, ANSI C, FIPS and then X/Open Issue 3. Beyond that, AIX is a combination of System V and BSD. ------------------------------ Subject: 1.001: I know neither Unix nor AIX - where do I find more information? If you are new to Unix, you should look at the other newsgroups in the comp.unix hierarchy, in particular comp.unix.questions. There are FAQs more most of these groups as well. If you need information about C programming, try comp.lang.c or comp.std.c, the latter for Standard ANSI C issues. comp.lang.c has a FAQ posting. ------------------------------ Subject: 1.002: What is the Object Database? From: Uwe Geuder AIX stores most of the system management information in /etc/objrepos, /usr/lib/objrepos, and /usr/share/lib/objrepos. Files (also referred to as system object classes) in these directories are adminstered by the Object Database Manager, ODM, which is a set of library routines and programs providing basic object oriented database facilities. Under most circumstances, only SMIT or the commands SMIT call (see 1.100) should be used to change the contents of the system object classes. A harmless way to look at the object database is to use odmget where is one of the files in /etc/objrepos. Experienced users can use the ODM editor, odme, to navigate the database in detail. Modifying the database should only be attempted if you know exactly what you are doing. ------------------------------ Subject: 1.003: How do I get rid of the verbose error messages? From: Bjorn P. Brox Many of the messages from the Unix commands are available in different languages. This is controlled by the LANG environment variable, the default being En_US meaning English in the US. All the default messages have a message number associated with them, e.g.: $ cat no-such-file cat: 0652-050 Cannot open no-such-file. If you prefer the terser Unix-looking error message, set your environment variable LC_MESSAGES to C, and you will get: $ cat no-such-file cat: Cannot open no-such-file. By default LC_MESSAGES is the same as your environment LANG. Setting LANG does also work, but should be avoided since it changes app-defaults lookup etc. See locale(): LC_ALL ------------------------------ Subject: 1.004: Which release of AIX or other products do I have? New with 3.2.5: The oslevel command shows OS and component levels. Run oslevel -help to see options The command 'lslpp -h bos.obj' will show all lines referring to the BOS, Basic Operating System. E.g.: Fix Id Release Status Action Date Time User Name ------- --------------- --------- ---------- ---------- -------- --------- Path: /usr/lib/objrepos bos.obj 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 12/31/69 18:00:00 root U401864 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 11/12/92 20:09:35 root U401968 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 11/12/92 23:18:21 root U401969 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 11/12/92 23:18:20 root .......................... U418349 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 08/28/93 15:34:13 root U419950 03.02.0000.0000 COMPLETE COMMIT 08/28/93 15:34:11 root For AIX 3.2, you may come across discussions on 3.2.0, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3 extended, 3.2.4 and 3.2.5. There is no absolute way to tell which of these you are running since the newer releases are simply 3.2.0 with some sets of PTFs added. See above example listing. These selective fixes could mean there are literally thousands of slightly different variations of 3.2 in use. Please see section 6 to request some useful faxes to help with this number game. AIX 3.2.4 and later attempts to resolve this confusion. The OS is broken down into subsystems so that updates can be applied to an entire subsystem. lslpp also sports a new option; use 'lslpp -m bos.obj' to show what level and update the system is running. You can also use the new oslevel command. Unless you have a pressing need (such as applications unsupported on > 3.2.3), it is recommended that you update to this level. Also see 1.128. ------------------------------ Subject: 1.005: What hardware do I have? What is availible? WITS? From: C.Deignan@frec.bull.fr (C.DEIGNAN) The wits script is unfortunately no longer maintained. I just don't have the time, and I'm not sure it is a realistic proposition anymore. There are so many different models that have the same model-ID that it's impossible to be "definitive." [Editor's note: I've deleted the source to the wits program from the FAQ,but it is listed as being part of the aix.tools.1.3.0.0.exe archive at Bull's freeware download site . Press the "Download" button once the top page loads, then look for "The Large AIX Freeware and Shareware Archive" link.] ------------------------------ Subject: 1.006: Is IBM "dropping" AIX? AIX 3 discontinued. No. IBM sells and supports AIX 4. However, on January 31, 1997 IBM will "withraw AIX 3.2.5 from marketing." That is, you won't be able to purchase AIX 3.2.5 anymore. On December 31, 1997, IBM will "discontinue Program Services" for AIX 3.2.5. Translation: they will no longer respond to (most) defect reports for AIX 3.2.5. The US announcement letter can be read via . Pick the US as region, look for "Announcement Letters," then search for document number 996-245. ------------------------------