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Posted by David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson
9,716 Points

POSIX - what exactly is "it"?

Hi all. This may be a simple question, but I'm having trouble researching what exactly POSIX is... I've heard it mentioned throughout a few videos of the Console Foundations section, but I just can't seem to find a straight-forward answer online. Any help would be appreciated :-)

2 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

I'll take a stab at it.

I believe it's the "standards" for the console or command line interface between the operating systems. Much like the WC3 sets web standards, POSIX sets console standards.

Basically meaning that "cd" in a console means "change directory" whether you're on a Mac, Windows, or Linux unit.

David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson
9,716 Points

Ah, makes more sense to me now. I had a feeling it had a similarity to the W3C in that regard. Thank you...

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Basically meaning that "cd" in a console means "change directory" whether you're on a Mac, Windows, or Linux unit.

For the official specification of how cd should work check out:

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/cd.html

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
  • POSIX is an IEEE standard, IEEE 1003, the IEEE is the group who makes all of the networking standards.
  • The POSIX standard is developed by The Open Group with help from the community
  • The current version of the standard is referred to as POSIX.1-2008.

POSIX.1-2008 defines a standard operating system interface and environment, including a command interpreter (or "shell"), and common utility programs to support applications portability at the source code level. It is intended to be used by both application developers and system implementors.

From: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/

David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson
9,716 Points

Thanks James, much appreciated.