In this chapter
After the initial scoping work is done, we need to perform a more detailed analysis of the application. The analysis includes but is not limited to examining the application in terms of use of application programming interfaces (APIs), dynamic library loading interfaces, threads, networking interfaces, and other functionalities that the operating system may provide. This chapter assumes that the porting engineer is knowledgeable about the application to be ported or has access to someone who knows the application design. Each section in this chapter has two purposes. The first one is to help educate the porting personnel as to the standards and features supported in the Linux environment. And the second is to invite the porting engineer to analyze the application to be ported in terms of the topics discussed. For example, take a look at Section 3.5 on library versioning. The porting engineer is expected to know whether the application uses library versioning. If the application uses library versioning, he can then learn how library versioning is implemented on Linux. This knowledge will give him some sense about how much effort it will take to implement library versioning for the application. Here are the suggested steps to help the porting personnel through this chapter:
Remember, analysis from a porting perspective is the step during which we examine the application in more detail. We need to know what the application needs and whether these needs are available on Linux. Let's begin. |