arch(1)

NAME

     arch - display the architecture of the current host

SYNOPSIS

     arch [-k | archname]

DESCRIPTION

     arch displays the application architecture  of  the  current
     host  system.   Due to extensive historical use of this com-
     mand without any options, all SunOS 5.x SPARC based  systems
     will  return  "sun4" as their application architecture.  Use
     of this command is discouraged; see NOTES section below.

     Systems can be broadly classified  by  their  architectures,
     which  define what executables will run on which machines. A
     distinction can be  made  between  kernel  architecture  and
     application  architecture  (or,  commonly,  just  "architec-
     ture"). Machines that run different kernels due to  underly-
     ing  hardware differences may be able to run the same appli-
     cation programs.

OPTIONS

     -k    Display the kernel architecture, such as sun4m, sun4c,
           and  so forth.  This defines which specific SunOS ker-
           nel will run on the machine, and has implications only
           for programs that depend on the kernel explicitly (for
           example, ps(1)).

OPERANDS

     The following operand is supported:

     archname
           Use  archname to  determine  whether  the  application
           binaries for this application  architecture can run on
           the current host system. The  archname must be a valid
           application architecture, such as  sun4, i86pc, and so
           forth.

           If application binaries for archname can  run  on  the
           current  host system, TRUE (0) is returned; otherwise,
           FALSE (1) is returned.

EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     0     Successful completion.

     >0    An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:
     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     mach(1), ps(1), uname(1), attributes(5)

NOTES

     This command is provided  for  compatibility  with  previous
     releases  and  its  use is discouraged.  Instead, the  uname
     command is recommended.  See  uname(1)  for  usage  informa-
     tion.