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POSIX Brings Code Portability to OS X


There has been a lot of discussion recently about support of POSIX threads on OS X recently, particularly on MacOS Rumors. A reader sent an explanation of what this means and why it will be important for development on Darwin and OS X.

POSIX is a standard. If you can say your OS is POSIX compliant, that means than code written to that POSIX standard can be ported to other POSIX compatible platforms. According to the POSIX programmer’s guide (by Lewine, published by O’Reilly) “POSIX defines a standard way for an application program to obtain basic services from the operating system. More specifically, POSIX describes a set of functions derived from a combination of AT&T UNIX System V and Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) UNIX . . . When applications follow POSIX rules, it is easier to move programs from one POSIX OS to another”

POSIX compatibility allows developers ro move UNIX components onto OS X quickyl and easily. As a resource saving measure, Apple plans to maintain POSIX compliance in OS X, but not follow the lengthy and intensive process of attaining POSIX certification.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.