Why Oracle’s New Solaris CBE Doesn’t Match Monthly SRUs – What Developers Need to Know

When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in 2009, it also launched a new version of the Solaris operating system.

The new OS version is called the Common Build Environment (CBE). As Oracle senior software engineer Darren Moffat explained this week, CBE is similar to a beta because it includes pre‑release versions of upcoming Solaris releases.

These releases are called Support Repository Updates (SRU) and are now issued monthly. Any security fixes provided in Oracle’s Quarterly Critical Patch Updates (CPU) are included in the SRUs.

All SRUs apply to Solaris 11.4—the current, and possibly final, version of the operating system.

Oracle’s Solaris license allows free use for testing, development, or personal purposes.

However, as Moffat noted, the free Solaris version offered by Oracle does not stay in sync with all changes delivered in the SRUs.

Consequently, Oracle sees the new CBE product as necessary because the shift to a continuous release cycle and monthly SRU cadence prevents developers from obtaining a free‑license Solaris that contains the latest updates.

Nevertheless, CBE does not always stay fully synchronized with the code provided in the SRUs.

“We intend to release CBE versions regularly,” Moffat wrote, meaning CBE will not match the SRU or CPU release rhythm. When they finally materialize, CBE will include all changes found in previous SRUs and CPUs—but may lag by several months.

The free product targets open‑source developers or non‑production personal use and is offered under Oracle’s early‑adopter license. Upgrading to the full SRU is also possible if the user is willing to sign an Oracle support contract.

Oracle has pledged to keep Solaris alive and supported through 2034, making it one of the few proprietary environments with a strong outlook for the next decade. Fujitsu recently set 2030 as the end‑of‑life for its mainframes (see “Unix’s Mission Ends”) and 2029 as the last year for SPARC servers capable of running Solaris in production.

IBM continues to rely on its mainframes and POWER PC platforms, viewing them as growth sources.

If you want to try CBE, you can download it from http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release.

Edited by the site manager