Advantages of the UDK

The most important advantage of the UDK is that it provides UnixWare 7 application developers the ability to be able to sell software developed with the UDK into a large, already installed base of SCO OpenServer Release 5 and SCO UnixWare 2.1.X systems.

This is done through the Binary Compatibility Modules (BCMs). The BCMs allow SCO OpenServer Release 5 and SCO UnixWare 2.1.X systems to run a subset of applications developed with the UnixWare 7 UDK.

To run UDK applications on SCO OpenServer Release 5 or SCO UnixWare 2.1.X systems, you simply install the appropriate BCM on the SCO OpenServer Release 5 or SCO UnixWare 2.1.X system, and then install and run the application using the installation tools for the target system.

The BCM provides a modified dynamic linker, modified versions of the shared C library and networking libraries, other shared libraries, and a modified debugger.

Other benefits of using the UDK include:

• The UDK merges SCO OpenServer Release 5 and SCO UnixWare 2.1.X APIs and moves forward.

• A single set of development tools for all three platforms.

• Developers can take advantage of some new UnixWare features on SCO OpenServer, such as UNIX^®95 APIs and C++ extensions.

• An application developed using the UnixWare 7 UDK can be executed on SCO OpenServer Release 5 or SCO UnixWare 2.1.X systems, if that application is written using a well defined subset of UnixWare interfaces.

The interfaces supported by the UDK and the systems on which they are supported are listed in ``Base kernel compatibility'' and ``API compatibility''.