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Unix Operating Systems Software

Compile Farms for Commercial Software? 32

Posted by Cliff from the for-unix-shops-with-low-hardware-budgets dept.
unix-coder asks: "How can a small software company get to 'rent' accounts for short times on a wide range of machines running different commercial Unixes with different CPUs? SourceForge's compiler farms are great for open source projects (and besides, open source projects will get ported/tested/fixed on all the platforms that matter to the people that use them). But what about commercial projects where you want to port/build/test for a wide range of architectures and OSes (AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, ...) but don't want your several server rooms full of weird hardware of your own?"
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Compile Farms for Commercial Software? More

Compile Farms for Commercial Software?

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  • If SourceForge wants to make money... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @05:13PM (#4857392)
    They should sell this service for closed source types. They've obviously got the know how to do it.

    Yes, making money! It can be done.

  • Compaq (HP) Test Drive (Score:5, Informative)

    by mnordstr ( 472213 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @05:18PM (#4857437) Journal
    http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/ [compaq.com] might do the trick. Never used it though...

  • Call vendors...ask for demo units. (Score:5, Informative)

    by j-turkey ( 187775 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:25PM (#4858088) Homepage

    You have a couple of options -- you could just call the vendors and tell them that you're a VC funded software startup and you want to evaluate thair systems. They'll send you a demo unit, and you'll be able to build on their systems (for a short time). Sure, its dishonest, but I leave the ethics up to you. You could also tell them the truth -- maybe some of these struggling Unix vendors would give you a free workstation (or a deep discount on one) if you're selling 3rd party software that will enhance their platform (though its a longshot).

    An alternative would be to start looking for ISP's who will sell you shell accounts on a month-to-month basis. If any of your employees are alumni of colleges and universities, some may still have accounts on legacy Unix systems...these may help too.

    The downside of using shell accounts on other folks' systems for building commercial software is that you run the chance of building on inconsistent environments. This can lead to a host of problems that you will not want to deal with.

    The final alternative is to go out and buy the systems (I recommend this one). It may be cheaper than you think...although the affordable systems may not be so cutting edge, I'd recommend eBay [ebay.com]. There are tons of old SGI [ebay.com], HP-UX [ebay.com], Digital Unix [ebay.com], Sun [ebay.com], and AIX [ebay.com] stations out there for very cheap...probably as cheap as a year's worth of shell hosting (and you'll own the machines). You'll also have the security of knowing that you're building on a "clean" environment.

    I hope this helps!

    -Turkey

    • Re:Call vendors...ask for demo units. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by aridhol ( 112307 ) <ka_lac@hotmail.com> on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @07:05PM (#4858431) Homepage Journal
      Another advantage of using old hardware is that you will test your code on a low-spec machine. You will know that it is usable on a low-spec machine, and will probably fight software bloat to make it run on your own test machines.

      If marketing makes you add something, you can always make them run it on your test boxes, too. Show them why it's a bad idea.

    • I definitely agree with this idea of getting demo gear. If you have a decent alliances guy this shouldn't be too tough to swing. Thing is, renting other folk's equipment can be problematic. You cannot just get rid of the equipment the moment the software compiles. There are too many support issues that require you to keep those exotic pieces of hardware around, or something equivalent you can get your hands on quickly, like in a few days.

      Alternatively, try to get some used lower end gear that will still work and still be usable for a few more versions of the OS. Your alliances guy could probably find some other small non-competing software companies you could partner up with to share some of these resources.
    • Search for "sgi" and you'll find even more silicon graphics machines. Most auctions don't have "workstation" in the title.
      • Search for "sgi" and you'll find even more silicon graphics machines. Most auctions don't have "workstation" in the title.

        There were far too many listed -- I wanted to narrow down the search by removing the newer, more expensive machines (it sounds like this guy doesn't have much of a budget for the newer SGI's anyway).

        -Turkey

  • Sourceforge (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ikeleib ( 125180 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:54PM (#4858343) Homepage
    I'm sure that VA, who is always looking for some money, would be happy to strike up some sort of arrangement. They obviously have the resources already in place.

  • I think it was on Slashdot that I read about a conversation between two users, one new to Unix operating systems and the other an old hand.

    The new user was asking the older user why a lot of the packages had i386 in the title, warranting a reply from the experienced user of something along the lines of "because that is what they were compiled on...", leaving the new user to ponder about large farms of 386-processor machines.

    Perhaps a compilation farm such as this could generate an even greater level of confusion!

  • Use machines at vendor's offices (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gadfium ( 318941 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @08:50PM (#4859072)
    This is what I did about 10 years ago, when I was selling a program on many different versions of Unix.

    I bought the most common 386 unix versions (SCO Xenix, SCO Unix, 386/ix), and had one risc machine (an AViiON, since DG was my main customer base). If a user wanted an RS6000 version, I just rang my local branch of IBM, arranged a time to pop in, and compiled my latest code on a machine there. It cost IBM nothing, and may have sold a few machines for them.
  • I mean depending on the software, just don't support it...

    Say "Hey, we made it nice and portable as we can, and it *should* work on AIX,HP-UX, etc... but has not be verified." and tell your salespeople that if customers want to run on AIX, HP-UX, etc that the QA/dev team will need some time (and a box probably) to verify everything will work smoothly for them.
    • That's a nice idea, but remember we're talking BUSINESS here. If you can't deliver the goods, the customer goes elsewhere. They won't hang around waiting for you to port it - unless the application in question has a very small niche market.

      Certainly, if I was selling commercial software, I'd try to avoid giving an answer like that. Best thing to do in that situation is to say "I'll have an answer for you by tommorow/next week/in half an hour" (depending on how desperate you are for the sale and how competitive your market is :). Then you go and verify your software runs on their platform, probably through an arrangement with the computer manufacturer. As software helps sell systems, most manufacturers should be willing to help.

      Of course, it's all dependant on your relationship with your customers and the nature of the software you are selling. The more "mission-critical" an application is, the more the customer will want a firm answer. The more competitors you have in your market, the quicker your customers or potential customers will want an answer - or they go elsewhere. Niche markets - well, as long as they're not desparate for it, they will wait.

  • And therefore unsuited to closed source porting.

    HP offers a closed source developer platform similar to IBM's Solution Partnership Centres [ibm.com] at the Developer and Solution Partner Program [hp.com].

    I agree that SourceForge could/should provide this service, but the big guns offer it for cheap/free to have a larger family of ISVs servicing their platform. Maybe the question should be re-phrased.


  • If you really want to test compile on all those exotic UNIX platforms, that's great.

    You get extra credit for thinking about cross platform portability, which is closely related to thinking ahead. You'll reap long term rewards in reduced maintenance costs from having less fragile code.

    So why not go ahead and buy some of those machines used?

    Through `em all together in a room with reliable power and an Ethernet switch and you'll be ready to go. Given that you can get free *NIX flavors on x86 that are good performers, the old boxes are typically quite cheap.

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