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Making sense of Solaris distributions

There are a few different Solaris distributions out there produced both by Sun and the Open source community. Here is a quick run down on the differences.

The OS source code is distributed at http://opensolaris.org.

Bleeding Edge - Community/Developer

OpenSolaris 2008.11 (Indiana releases)

* Based on Open Solaris
* This comes with a live CD
* It is released in a 6 month cycle with 18 month support from Sun
* Uses IPS packaging/repo
* Free

Sun Support - Commercial

Solaris 10 10/08

* Six month updates - latest version: Solaris 10 u6
* SPARC and x86 platforms
* SRv4 packaging/repo
* Free

SXCE (Nevada releases)

* Based on Open Solaris
* Slated to become the next version of Solaris
* Updates available twice per month
* Has some additional features that Sun does not release to the Open Source community
* Srv4 packaging/repo
* Sun support not available
* Free

There are also several other Open Solaris distributions. One of which is NexentaOS, a OpenSolaris based OS topped with GNU software.

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