Re:Sortix: small self-hosting OS aiming to be a clean, moder...
by lomnakkus on Thursday March 15, 2018 @03:56PM
(#16596049)
> POSIX doesn't say anything about an ABI, and there's nothing holding the system as a whole to a C-based API. It's specifying C compatibility, of course it's talking about a C API! If you want a different language API, POSIX (1003.1) isn't relevant to you.
(Double-replied because I wanted to separate this bit out.)
Effectively, it seems you're saying: "Ok, you don't want to implement a C API"[1], well, jolly good luck to you, then. The premise of this whole conversation was that POSIX was a dominating force, and now you're saying you don't have to participate...?
[1] A C API, obviously, requires an extreme amount of either 1) being C, or 2) being compatible enough with C that it doesn't matter either way, or 3) giving up entirely on the POSIX ecosystem. So... how is that not being absurdly badly influenced by POSIX?
This shows a bit of a misunderstanding about what POSIX is. It isn't about operating systems, it (IEEE 1003.1) is about source-code compatibility for 2 languages: C99, and Shell. POSIX doesn't say anything about an ABI, and there's nothing holding the system as a whole to a C-based API. It's specifying C compatibility, of course it's talking about a C API! If you want a different language API, POSIX (1003.1) isn't relevant to you. Totally non-UNIXy systems like z/OS are POSIX certified, because they have source-code compatibility with C99 and Shell programs written against POSIX; that doesn't mean it is held to a C-based API.