Solaris Application Guarantee

The Solaris Application Guarantee program has been introduced for the Solaris 9 Operating System. Through this program Sun will guarantee, at no cost, that existing applications written to the Solaris Application Binary Interface (ABI) will run without modification on the recently released Solaris 9 Operating System. Additionally, existing SPARC binaries submitted through this program will be guaranteed to run unmodified on Sun's UltraSPARC III processor-based systems.

This combination of hardware and software compatibility offers industry-leading investment protection for Sun's customers as they upgrade. The Solaris Application Guarantee reflects the confidence Sun has in the compatibility of applications from one release of Solaris to the next and is designed to make requalification -- let alone porting -- a thing of the past.

To qualify for the guarantee, an application user must run Sun's free Guarantee Test Suite software against the application(s). If the application passes the Guarantee Test Suite, it may then be registered for the guarantee. The Guarantee Test Suite will be available soon. If you have any questions, please contact us.

If a registered application experiences compatibility problems when running on the Solaris 9 Operating System, Sun will analyze the problem and provide the appropriate remedy as set forth in the Solaris Application Guarantee Terms and Conditions Have a question? Please contact us.

Sun will also be offering remote services to enhance applications that do not pass the Guarantee Test Suite as part of its Solaris Adoption Services program. The services offered allow customers the option of getting remote technical assistance and/or having Sun examine the application to determine the cause of failure and to modify the application to conform to the Solaris ABI.

The guarantee applies to all applications which are written to the Solaris Application Binary Interface (ABI). As C++ and Java applications do not interface directly with the Solaris ABI, Sun cannot guarantee these types of binaries. However, the Guarantee Test Suite will analyze C++ binaries for Solaris 9 compliance and report on potential issues. It will, however, analyze C++ binaries for known potential problems, such as static linking to system libraries or usage of private interfaces.

The terms and conditions are similar to those described in the Solaris 8 Application Guarantee program. To view the terms and conditions of the Solaris 8 Application Guarantee program, click here.

Please Note: The last day to download the test suite will be September 30, 2004. The last day to register an application will be December 31, 2004.