SolarisOpenSolaris

SolarisOpenSolaris is a term that reflects the relationship between the Solaris operating system and its open-source counterpart, OpenSolaris. Solaris is a Unix-like operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems and later maintained by Oracle. It evolved from SunOS/SVR4 heritage and became known for features such as the Zettabyte File System (ZFS), dynamic tracing with DTrace, Solaris Containers (zones), the Service Management Facility (SMF), and strong reliability for enterprise servers and workstations. Solaris has been deployed on SPARC hardware and, in later years, on x86-based systems as well, with Oracle continuing the product line as Oracle Solaris.

OpenSolaris was an open-source project launched around 2008 to release the Solaris codebase under an open license (CDDL) and to involve the community in development. It served as a collaborative platform for developers to contribute to Solaris features, test new ideas, and create freely available build images. OpenSolaris introduced components and tooling aligned with the open-source model, including the Image Packaging System (IPS) for software installation and updates, and it highlighted technologies such as ZFS and DTrace as part of a community-driven distribution.

The OpenSolaris project was discontinued by Oracle after the Sun acquisition in 2010, but its open-source codebase continued to influence a family of open-source derivatives collectively known as Illumos. Illumos-based distributions, such as OpenIndiana, and other projects like SmartOS, carried forward the spirit and technology of OpenSolaris. Today, Solaris remains an active Oracle product, while OpenSolaris exists primarily as a historical reference and as the genesis for a broader open-source ecosystem surrounding Illumos.