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ECN Suns Upgrading To SunOS 4.0.3

Over the past few weeks the ECN software staff has been installing the latest in a series of SunOS upgrades. The latest upgrade, 4.0.3, is a so called "point" release. It is intended to fix a number of bugs that have been found in the previous SunOS release, 4.0.1. The name "point" comes from the change to the last number after the decimal point.

Among the bugs fixed in this release are:

• various bugs in suntools
• updates to the latest release of a number of minor tools
• bugs in terminal and pseudo terminal drivers (pseudo terminals are what you are using when you rlogin into a machine or run a window system such as suntools),

These changes are to fix bugs rather then add or change features. The major impact Sun users will experience is increased reliability; always a welcome addition.

Much of the upgraded software has been installed already or is being installed as you read this. The ECN staff will be scheduling brief downtimes to complete the software installation. A "point" release, such as this one, requires only a brief interruption in service to install.

You may have noticed that the Suns received software upgrades such as this one fairly frequently. This is due to fast pace of change in the workstation market. Sun's software is continually being upgraded to support new machines (e.g.. the SPARCstation1, 4/390) as well as to provide more reliable operation on their existing machines. Like other manufacturers in this market, Sun provides upgrades at least yearly, often twice a year.

As workstation technology moves ahead, expect more changes and additions to our workstation software. The ECN will be working hard to make these changes as convenient as possible to give you the most current software with the least bugs.

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