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What is difference between unix and linux

Where can I get complete information about Unix and Linux differences? I want specific detailed information even in architecture level.

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Kamran
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    Which UNIX and which LINUX? – Eric Petroelje Jul 19 '10 at 20:54
  • The last Unixes and the first Linuxes! –  Jul 19 '10 at 20:57
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    Sounds like a homework assignment. –  Jul 19 '10 at 20:58
  • It would be a preface of a research project! – Kamran Jul 19 '10 at 21:01
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    UNIX is not one thing, it is system V, BSD, etc. There isn't a source for what you want, probably because it is not a very good qustion. Read Stevens 'Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment' and you will see what I mean. Linux is UNIX. – jim mcnamara Jul 19 '10 at 21:19
  • @jim - Linux isn't UNIX, BSD isn't UNIX. Nothing you listed there has passed the SUS afaik. – MDMarra Jul 19 '10 at 21:27
  • @MarkM-- SUS!=UNIX unless you decide to define SUS==UNIX. Which is okay. System 7 was UNIX, but it would not pass SUS... there are still System 7 boxes in existence. I started with system 7 a long time ago.... So, my definition does not match yours. – jim mcnamara Jul 20 '10 at 20:01
  • @jim - I don't care much either way, but I think that the Austin Group and the IEEE do. – MDMarra Jul 20 '10 at 20:33

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There are lots of differences between different Unix systems. There are also lots of differences between various Linux systems. While there are tons of things that USUALLY distinguish a Linux system from a Unix system, you'll always find exceptions, so the only absolute differences are the Kernels. The Linux Kernel is the one thing that all Linux distributions have in common. The Linux Kernel is open source and well documented. The only problem is that Unix systems do NOT all share the same kernel. Each Unix system has its own proprietary kernel. Some are documented better than others, but they are not open source, so you can't read the source code.

So you could ask, "What are all the differences between the HP-UX Unix Kernel and the Linux Kernel" or "What are all the differences between AIX Unix Kernel and the Linux Kernel"?

The answers to those questions are incredibly vast. The only way to answer these questions would be to pour over the documentation for the HP-UX Kernel and the Linux Kernel and compare item by item how they perform scheduling and system calls and things like that. At the end of the day this won't even be all that useful in answering the differences between how the systems are used, like if you are trying to migrate programs from HP-UX to Ubuntu, because that will depend a lot on which core-utils you use and which libraries you use and how those differ in their structure on the two systems.

Jarvin
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Your question would require a book (possibly multiple volumes) to answer.

However, whether this answers your question or not, the Rosetta Stone for Unix will give you a bit of an overview and is a useful reference in its own right.

Dennis Williamson
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